Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has attacked the University of the Cambridge over an “inexplicable” lack of cooperation with the investigation into the murder of Cambridge PhD student, Giulio Regeni in Egypt earlier this year.

Following talks with Theresa May in Rome last week, Renzi said that he has asked the British Prime Minister “to use her authority to ask the faculty at Cambridge to assist Italian authorities.”

He went on to say: “I don't understand the reason professors at such a prestigious global university would think that Italy would accept their silence,” he went on. “To me, it seems inexplicable.”

The British government have not commented on whether May will act on Renzi's request.

It is not the first time the university has drawn the ire of an Italian politician. In June, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mario Giro voiced his frustration at Cambridge over Twitter, saying: “Shame on you ... you value more your ‘secret researches’ than a human life. What are you hiding?”

However, Giro's claims that cooperation had not been forthcoming were described as “false and distressing”" by the University, who said they were “fully committed” to assisting the Italian authorities.

Despite their claim to a resolute commitment to help the investigators, accusations have continued to fly in the University's direction. The dispute is thought to hinge on prosecutors seeking to find out more about the nature of Regeni’s research.

Speaking to the Italian newspaper, La Repubblica, the University said: “To be clear the central authorities of the University have not received any request for assistance from the Italian PM and remain available to respond quickly to any request for cooperation.

“Only one Cambridge academic has received a request for information and has already answered all the questions.”

The latter part of the comment likely refers to the Department of Politics and International Studies's Dr Maha Abdelrahman. According to La Repubblica, Abdelrahman had allegedly not cooperated with the prosecutor leading the investigation, Sergio Colaiocco, later providing answers via email that were described as “absolutely unsatisfactory”.

The latest accusations from the Italian Prime Minister follow claims made last Wednesday by the Rome-based La7 channel that telephone recordings show that Regeni was followed into a Cairo Metro station by police officers on the day he disappeared in January. Italian prosecutors have, however, refused to confirm the claims.