A ruthless South American guerilla leader compared to General Pinochet was funded by British taxpayers to study at Oxford University.

Joaquin Villalobos, 47, is accused of murdering innocent civilians, but his right to study at Oxford has been backed by Sir Marrack Goulding, warden of St Antony's College, where the "baby-faced killer" completed his degree.

Like the 83-year-old former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet, Villalobos has been accused of serious abuses of human rights.

Yet, while Pinochet is facing charges of torture and genocide, Villalobos, who led left-wing guerillas in El Salvador in the 1970s, is enjoying cream teas at his Cotswolds cottage. In 1995, he arrived in Oxford with his wife Roxana, after being invited to Britain as a prestigious Chevening scholar with a Foreign Office grant.

He has defended his past and added: "I feel proud of my past, with all that implies - the errors, the responsibilities. I belonged to a generation that didn't have an option. We made war well and we made peace well." Last year, according to the Mail on Sunday, Villalobos completed a one-year Master of Science degree in public policies in Latin America.

Sir Marrack Goulding, warden of St Antony's College, where Villalobos completed his studies, said: "It was a horrible war and atrocities were committed by both sides but during the peace process it was decided there would be a general amnesty. "I do not see any grounds why he should not be studying here. There were killings, but it was a war and people do get killed."

He added that Villalobos had "contributed a great deal", and was someone who "thinks very deeply about the civil war and how to bring about reconciliation."

However, Dr Larry Birns, director of the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs, accused Villalobos of being "totally ruthless" as a guerilla leader.

He said: "The men under his command were ordered to stop buses at random and take several passengers off and just shoot them." After peace was established in El Salvador, the UN Truth Commission found in 1993 that Villalobos was responsible for "serious abuses of human rights", and that he should not have access to public office or a public role for at least ten years.

Mr Birns added: "I find it extremely curious that he should have been welcomed to live in England ... Joaphin Villalobos, killer and turncoat. Not quite your average Oxford lad."

The Foreign Office confirmed that Villalobos was given a scholarship to study at Oxford.

He said: "The scholarship scheme's objective is to identify potential future leaders, because we are looking to increase British influence and by imbuing into these potential leaders the British way of doing things we hope to propagate our values.

"That doesn't mean we throw our morals out the window. We wouldn't put our money behind some outrageous tyrant."

Villalobos, from San Salvador, graduated with honours last year and is now being funded by the Swedish Government to research the establishment of peace after civil war.

Father-of-three Villalobos was one of 2,000 overseas students to share £26m in government grants. His toughest challenge since arriving in Britain is mastering the English language.

He said: "What I like most is that here I am an average person. I can go to the supermarket and nobody knows me. I love the privacy and the anonymity."

Sir Marrack, a former mediator with the United Nations in El Salvador, insisted that Villalobos's case was not comparable with General Pinochet's.

He said: "The difference between Villalobos and General Pinochet is that there was a warrant issued for Pinochet's arrest issued in the Spanish courts. There is no warrant for Villalobos's arrest. verything was extinguished when the peace settlement was agreed. A line was drawn under everything."

The war in El Salvador began in 1971 and in the 1980s 75,000 people were killed. Villalobos was a long-standing guerilla leader and his group was considered to be among the violent.

Story date: Monday 15 March

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