Jeshma was stabbed as she walked home from school

Viktors Dembovskis, 42, who had lived near Jeshma in west London, appeared at a court in Latvia on Sunday after being arrested on Thursday by Latvian police.

The court appearance is the first stage in extraditing him to the UK.

Jeshma was stabbed to death on 16 May, by a footpath near her home in Sudbury Hill, west London, on her way home after shopping at Wembley High Road.

Mr Dembovskis appeared at Preile District Court in south-east Latvia on Sunday morning.

Extradition order

He was held under a European Arrest Warrant after he was discovered in his home town of Livani, 150 miles east of the Latvian capital Riga.

British police officers were joined by Interpol and the Latvian authorities in the hunt for Mr Dembovskis, and two members of Scotland Yard's murder investigation team flew out to oversee the operation.

A judge is considering whether there are any bars to his extradition.

If not, and Mr Dembovskis consents to be extradited to the UK to face questioning, arrangements will be made for his return.

If he fails to consent, the judge can order his extradition but the defendant has the right to appeal.

The process could take up to two months.

Jeshma was reported missing by her parents on 16 May after she failed to return home from school, but her body was not found for another eight days.

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