Jeshma's body was found eight days after her disappearance

Jeshma Raithatha, 17, was stabbed to death on 16 May, by a footpath near her home in Sudbury Hill, west London.

A 42-year-old Latvian man, who lived near Jeshma but had disappeared, was arrested on Thursday. He could be extradited within weeks.

British police officers are in the capital Riga to help local police.

Interpol contacted

Jeshma's aunt told BBC News: "It is difficult for her parents to be happy in the circumstances.

"But they are elated that someone has been arrested so soon. The police are doing a great job."

The man was arrested at 1900 BST in Livani, 150 miles east of Riga, on Thursday, and is being held under a European arrest warrant.

He will appear in court in Latvia on Sunday, where a judge will decide whether there are any obstacles to his extradition. If not, he could be back in the UK within weeks, but it could take months.

Jeshma's last day was caught on CCTV

Scotland Yard detectives have been liaising with Interpol and the Latvian authorities as part of the murder investigation.

On Wednesday, they released CCTV footage of the murdered girl's last movements after she left school that morning, in an effort to jog potential witnesses' memories.

The footage shows Jeshma shopping on Wembley High Road, north-west London, at about 1420 BST on 16 May, before catching a bus to Sudbury Hill.

She got off the bus at about 1500 BST and began her walk home, which would have taken her down a footpath, which cuts through a wooded area, toward the Wood End estate.

Police think she was grabbed by a stranger, taken to a secluded wooded "den", raped and stabbed three times through the heart.