A man who jumped bail three years ago after being extradited from the UK last week, claimed that the British diplomatic mission in Malta indicated to him how he could go home.

A spokesman for the British High Commission would not discuss the claim.

But Tristan Haynes, who was extradited to Malta on Good Friday following a lengthy legal battle, told a UK regional newspaper that "he contacted the British Embassy where staff told him they couldn't help directly but if he made it to a different country then an emergency passport would be arranged. Mr Haynes left the island aboard a yacht to Sicily and then made his way to Paris by train."

There, according to the Bedfordshire on Sunday, an evening newspaper published on Saturdays, he was given a passport and was able to return to the UK.

When contacted about the claim that the High Commission in Malta had advised him on how to leave the island, a spokesman said "consular matters are not discussed with third parties".

Mr Haynes was first arraigned in May 2003 after he allegedly seriously injured a man and slightly injured a couple in an argument following a car accident. He was granted bail but then fled the island.

Mr Haynes told the newspaper he had left the island because he received death threats.