A MAN facing extradition in connection with the murder of glamorous millionairess Cheshire socialite Kinga Legg was well-known on the Alderley Edge and Wilmslow social scene.

Ian Griffin, 40, had established himself as a successful businessman in the town and was a familiar face on the moneyed Wilmslow and Alderley party circuit.

A male model-turned-tycoon, who grew up in Warrington, he is said to have mixed with stars of soaps and pop music before making millions from a string of businesses including tanning salons and the novelty goods stores GadgetMasters.

He even boasted he owned a Lamborghini supercar which he claimed was once owned by rock legend Eric Clapton.

But long-time friend and business associate Jonathan McFarland said he was always down to earth and "one of the lads".

Jonathan, owner of The Royal Oak, in Alderley Edge, said: "I knew Ian quite well. We had known each other for about ten years and we often used to drink together before he moved away. We were friends but we were also both businessmen so our paths crossed a lot because of that. I never met Kinga but I knew he was with her and he seemed very happy, but he was always one of the boys; a real down to earth lad who always enjoyed going out for a drink with his mates."

In 1999 Griffin bought a £1million estate near Knutsford. The following year he was arrested in Malaga and locked in a cell after the French authorities sought his extradition on fraud charges.

He resurfaced back in Cheshire and launched his chain of novelty goods stores called GadgetMasters, stocking products including Osama bin Laden voodoo dolls. Since meeting Ms Legg three years ago he had apparently resumed his high living.

The couple had recently been renting a £3million mansion near the headquarters of her firm, Vegex, in Oxshott, Surrey.

The 36 year old business women managed a hugely successful Polish firm exporting more than 300m tomatoes each season to restaurant chains and major supermarkets, including Tesco.

Prior to meeting Griffin Ms Legg had also entered enthusiastically into Wilmslow and Alderley social scene in 2002, attending the Alderley Edge Tennis Club summer ball on the arm of a local multimillionaire who made his fortune running hair salons.

It was during this time that she met her second husband Eric Kilby and moved into a bijou apartment in a converted Victorian mansion in Wilmslow.

Then in 2006 Griffin met Ms Legg. The couple lived for a while in Knutsford, Cheshire, before moving to Oxshott last September. It is believed that they had become engaged.

But it was a stormy relationship. Surrey police have confirmed that both Legg and Griffin were briefly arrested last October after an incident in which she apparently tried to stab him with a knife.

Friends of the couple have told of a fight last April in which Griffin supposedly ended up with a cut and bleeding face after Legg caught him with a ring.

Griffin was due in court for an extradiction hearing on Wednesday, June 10, as the Express went to press.