A Worcester university student has been extradited from the US and arrested at Heathrow airport for suspected firearms offences.

Stephen Jackley, 22, was arrested by West Mercia Police officers at Heathrow yesterday morning in connection with 21 offences and taken to Castle Street Police Station, Worcester.

The offences include nine armed robberies or attempted armed robberies and other firearms offences which took place in Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Devon.

Jackley, who lived on campus at Henwick Road, Worcester, is suspected of five offences in the Worcester area, including robbery and burglary.

His arrest in the US last May led to a bomb scare at the St John’s campus of the University of Worcester.

The 22-year-old was held in the state of Vermont after trying to buy a gun using a fake ID. Detectives, who found a University of Worcester identity card on him, called West Mercia Police and asked them to search his room at the St John’s campus.

While they were there they found a suspicious package on the campus.

They evacuated an area of the university and called in army bomb disposal experts but it was quickly established that the device was harmless.

Other police forces in Devon and the Netherlands are also investigating Jackley.