AN ITALIAN citizen, Aldo Staiani (27), was arrested on Friday for the murder last July of Silvana Abate (72) in the little Tuscan village of Arcidosso, close to Grosseto.
In the days immediately after the murder of Ms Abate, who was found knifed to death in her isolated country home, police had mistakenly arrested Irish actor Paudge Behan.
Mr Behan (43), the son of former IRA man Cathal Goulding and of Beatrice Behan, widow of playwright Brendan Behan, lives for part of the year near Acridosso.
He had the misfortune to go to a local hospital for a tetanus injection on the day Ms Abate was murdered. Even though he had cut himself in the thigh while he was unpacking a consignment of furniture and other objects that had arrived from the US, an overzealous hospital official informed police of a foreigner with a knife wound who was behaving "suspiciously".
When Mr Behan returned to the hospital three days later, he was met by five policemen who took him into custody for questioning.
Linguistic problems exacerbated the situation and it was only after he had been held for 15 hours that he was released.
In the meantime, however, both his house and car had been sequestered for forensic examination and it was only recently that he was allowed full use again of his own home.
Ms Abate was knifed 10 times, with the fatal blow administered to her throat. Police believe her attacker intended to rob her.
They believe he expected to find an empty house but was instead confronted by Ms Abate, who attempted to call the police, prompting her killer to react with extreme violence.
Police originally investigated Mr Staiani last August after his home number had come up in the telephone records of the Abate household.
He is expected to be charged with first-degree murder.
Speaking on Saturday, investigating magistrate Alessandro Leopizzi described the murder as a "tragedy born out of the new poverty", pointing out that Mr Staiani, his wife and child had had difficulty managing on a salary of just over €1,000 per month.