FORMER sandwich shop worker Jenny Stickley has pledged to stand by her Polish boyfriend who was arrested in Subway, Devizes, accused of being one of the world's most wanted criminals.

It emerged this week that Piotr Kupiec, 28, was using the name Lukasz Gluch when he worked in Devizes and became friends with many locals. He met Miss Stickley, 20, when they worked together in the take-away in London Road.

He was arrested after Wiltshire police swooped on Subway and has now appeared in court in London for extradition back to Poland. He was remanded in custody when he appeared before Westminster magistrates in London on Friday. He will appeal in court again on Friday (29).

He gave his name as Lucasz Gluch but the court was told he had been recognised as Piotr Kupiec.

He was wanted by Interpol for alleged murder and other serious offences after a fight at a football match.

Reports in Poland in 2007 said that after a game between Korona Kielce FC and Legia Warsaw FC in Kielce, Poland, fights broke out between hooligans in the crowd.

He was wanted by prosecutors on suspicion of murdering a 17-year-old youth and attempted murder but disappeared shortly afterwards.

It has also emerged that Wiltshire police arrested him under the name Gluch in March last year and he was charged with a burglary at two farms near Calne in April and May 2014.

He and another man were accused of stealing tools and were found guilty. Gluch was ordered to do 150 hours’ community service.

It is believed Kupiec came to Britain eight years ago and originally lived in Southampton. He met Miss Stickley three years ago and she told a national newspaper this week that the two planned to marry.

She said: " just can’t believe he did any of these things because he was always so kind and generous. He is the love of my life.

“Everybody got on with him. Everywhere we went in Devizes somebody would always say, ‘Hey it’s Subway Man Lucasz’.

“Every time I tried to talk to him about his background he looked frustrated as if he didn’t want to go there.

“Lucasz told me his parents were dead and he had one brother in Poland but I didn’t want to pry too much in case something bad had happened as a child.

“I just thought he would tell me in his own time.

“Lukasz proposed to me when we went for a walk in the country on our second anniversary on June 26 last year. I agreed to marry him and we got engaged.

"We were saving for a place of our own – and we were trying for a baby.

“I don’t have a passport but he has an EU identity document in his name – Lukasz Gluch – and we were planning to go to Italy on holiday this summer.

“The first I knew something was wrong was when my mum called to say the police had been round looking for Lucasz. I phoned to tell him and he rang the police to ask what it was all about.

“Lucasz told me they asked where he was calling from and when he said Subway, the officer said, ‘Stay there, we will be round in five minutes’.

“It was a huge shock when a girlfriend rang me later and said Lukasz had been arrested – at first I thought it was a prank.

“Then I phoned the police custody suite and Lucasz said, ‘They are trying to do me for a murder in Poland under the name Piotr Kupiec.’ He said, ‘I love you – everything is going to be OK’. Then an officer said it was time for him to go.

“I was in floods of tears and couldn’t believe he was potentially a murderer.

“Then I read on Polish websites that he was the most wanted criminal on Interpol and I felt sick. But I still don’t believe it’s him because I’ve known him as this kind, gentle person for so long.

“He has a lot of explaining to do. But I also want to tell him, ‘I love you and miss you’. I would wait for him even if he got a 25-year jail sentence. But in my heart I still think he is innocent.”