Jamie Acourt has been charged with conspiracy to supply cannabis, having been extradited to the UK from Spain where he was arrested last month.

The Metropolitan police said the 42-year-old landed in the UK from Barcelona on Wednesday and was taken into custody at a west London police station.

Detectives from the Met charged him with conspiracy to supply cannabis, a class B drug, shortly after his arrival in the UK. Acourt will appear before Westminster magistrates court on Thursday 7 June.

A Met spokesman said: “[Acourt] was arrested in Spain after a joint operation between the Met, the National Crime Agency and Spanish police.”

The accused was arrested by armed officers as he left the Metropolitan Sagrada Familia hotel gym in Barcelona on Friday 4 May.

A former suspect in Stephen Lawrence’s murder in 1993, Acourt has always denied any involvement in the killing.