Professional hit in the Alps - why?

[Jan Klimkowski]

Ah - looks like a spooky blind alley to me.

The fix is in.

French police: cyclist may have been target of Annecy slaughter

A French cyclist who was shot dead alongside a British family in a massacre in the Alps may have been the "main
target" of the massacre, police have suggested.

By Victoria Ward Daily Telegraph
9:44AM BST 17 Sep 2012

Lt Colonel Benedict Vinnemann, who is leading the police inquiry, revealed he was considering the possibility Sylvain Mollier, the cyclist, was the real target. He was buried yesterday.

It had previously been suggested that Mr Mollier was killed because he had interrupted the killing of Saad al-Hilli, his wife and mother-in-law by a hitman.

But Lt Col Vinneman said: "Was the al-Hilli family the main target? Was it not the cyclist? Only ongoing work on the scene can answer this question clearly.

"We're talking about someone whom everybody says was a gentleman, but who's to say he did not lead a double life?"

French police were yesterday accused of "playing politics" over the Alps massacre by asserting that the origins of the case lie in the UK.


Brian Paddick, the former Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner, said that unless there was clear evidence that ruled out the other theories, it was "dangerous" to switch the focus of the investigation to this country.

"It smacked to me of more of a political decision than a professional police one," he said.

"It was as if they did not want the reputation of France, and particularly this picturesque tourist spot, damaged by the suggestion that this could be anything to do with the French police or people in that area."

French police investigating the deaths of Saad al-Hilli, 50, his wife Iqbal, 47, her mother Suhaila al-Allaf, 74, and a passing French cyclist in Annecy, south-eastern France, have stated that they are working on three lines of inquiry; a bitter family feud over inheritance, Mr-al-Hilli's work as an aeronautic engineer and his Iraqi origins.

It emerged yesterday that the French investigation is being scaled back, with many of the original 120 gendarmes working on the case returning to normal duties after Eric Maillard, the chief prosecutor in Annecy, said that he was convinced the answer to the mystery lay in the UK.

Mr Paddick added: "When you do not have any clear front runner in terms of theories, you need to pursue each of the potential explanations relentlessly."

DCI Colin Sutton, a retired detective who investigated the Levi Bellfield murders, suggested that such an approach could be short-sighted unless there was specific evidence to back it up, although he noted that the French police were unlikely to divulge too much detail about their progress.

"It seems (Mr Maillard) may have closed his mind completely to the case having its roots in France," he said. "Unless they have any evidence to base that on, it seems a little dangerous to me."

Mr Mollier worked for Cezus, a subsidiary of the Areva Group, specialising in zirconium metalworking for nuclear fuel containers.

However, the ballistics evidence is intriguing.

25 rounds for four murders, leaving two witnesses - children - alive?

Perhaps the assassin was not quite so coldly professional after all.

The victims are believed to have been shot with a Luger P08, a distinctive weapon which was standard issue to the Swiss army and which fires distinctive 7.65mm calibre bullets.

The weapon has a capacity of eight rounds meaning that a lone gunman, who fired around 25 bullets during the massacre, would have used more than three magazines.

Also, there are separate newspaper reports that up to fifteen shell casings were left at the scene, and their location at the crime scene potentially reveals a chronological sequence.