A man who inadvertently triggered Hong Kong’s huge protests after he murdered his girlfriend in Taiwan has agreed to return to the island to face justice, a clergyman who has visited him in prison said on Friday.

Chan Tong-kai, 20, is wanted in Taiwan for the murder of his pregnant girlfriend during a holiday the two Hong Kongers took there in February last year.

He fled back to the southern Chinese city where Taiwanese police were unable to apprehend him because there is no extradition agreement between the two territories.

The case sparked an ill-fated proposal by Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing government to ram through a sweeping extradition bill which would have allowed the city to extradite suspects to any territory, including the authoritarian mainland.

The proposal sparked a massive public backlash with record-breaking crowds hitting the streets.

The protests have since snow-balled as the movement seeks greater democracy and police accountability after Beijing and local leaders took a hard line and violence escalated.

Now the man who set off this tumultuous chain of events has indicated he is willing to go to Taiwan for prosecution.