Christopher Guest More Jr: One of UK's most wanted held in Malta after 16 years on run

One of the UK's most wanted men has been arrested in Malta after 16 years on the run.

Christopher Guest More Jr, 41, was pursued in connection with the murder of Brian Waters at a remote Cheshire farmhouse in June 2003.

Mr Waters, 44, was tortured and beaten to death in front of his two adult children at Burnt House Farm in Tabley, near Knutsford.

He was tied to a chair and whipped, burned, attacked with a staple gun, hung upside down, beaten and sexually assaulted with an iron bar, a trial at Chester Crown Court heard in 2004.

During a three-hour ordeal, Mr Waters sustained 123 injuries.

His son Gavin was also attacked and his daughter Natalie, who had just turned 21, was held at gunpoint and forced to watch.

More left the UK shortly afterwards, and was added to Europe's most wanted list in April. Maltese police said he had been "making use of a false identity".

Former undercover BBC researcher James Raven, 60, Otis Matthews, 41, and John Wilson, 69, are serving life sentences after being convicted of Mr Waters' murder.

More, who described himself as an undercover journalist, is alleged to have been with the men when they stormed the derelict property, where Mr Waters was running a cannabis farm, in a row over a drugs debt.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said it had waited a "long, long time for this moment" and was "utterly delighted" that More had been detained.

He was held in northern Malta on Thursday evening in a joint operation with the Maltese authorities after a European arrest warrant had been issued.

Extradition proceedings have already begun after More appeared in court in the Maltese capital, Valetta, on Saturday.

He has been remanded in custody until his next hearing on Monday.

NCA regional manager Graham Roberts said: "We are utterly delighted that after almost 16 years on the run, hiding from law enforcement, Christopher Guest More Jr has been arrested and will now have to return to the UK.

"We have waited a long, long time for this moment. We were never going to give up in the hunt. Other fugitives should really look at this and remember how tenacious UK law enforcement is."

Assistant Chief Constable Matt Burton, from Cheshire Constabulary, said the force's determination to find More had "not faltered and, over the years, we have remained committed to locating him".