The man accused of stabbing two Melbourne women to death nearly 50 years ago has faced court for the first time, sitting calmly in the court dock.Perry Kouroumblis, 65, is accused of murdering Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett in their Collingwood share house on Easey Street in January 1977.

Charges have been laid over one of Australia's most high-profile cold case murders, with a man extradited from Italy charged with rape and two counts of murder.

Under police guard, the man at the centre of a 47-year-old double-murder investigation arrives in Melbourne after his extradition from Europe was completed.

An accused double murderer has faced a Melbourne court, close to five decades after he allegedly stabbed two women to death.

Perry Kouroumblis, 65, was arrested earlier this year in Rome for his alleged involvement in the 1977 “Easey Street murders” after DNA advancements reignited police investigations into the killing of two young women in Melbourne.

Dressed in a black jumper and sporting a beard, Kouroumblis sat quietly in economy class seat 35E without handcuffs, eating a meal and drinking water.

Kouroumblis was arrested at Rome’s Leonardo Da Vinci Airport in September over the alleged slaying of Suzanne Armstrong, 28, and Susan Bartlett, 27, in January 1977. Dubbed the “Easey Street murders”, the friends were found dead with more than two dozen stab wounds in their home on Easey Street in Collingwood in Melbourne’s inner north.

A man wanted over one of Australia's most infamous cold cases, dubbed the Easey Street murders, is on his way back to the country after being extradited from Italy. Suzanne Armstrong, 27, and Susan Bartlett,

Easey Street murder suspect Easey Street Perry Kouroumblis on his way back to Australia. Laws have passed federal parliament, that will ban some social media platforms for people aged under 16. The move has attracted attention across the world.