French police accused of covering-up murder of British family shot in the Alps
The brother of a British tourist who was shot dead in the Alps with his wife and mother-in-law has accused French Police of a cover up after they investigated him for the murders.
Saad al-Hilli, 50, was shot dead alongside his wife Iqbal Al-Hilli, 47, and her mother, Suhaila al-Allaf, 74, close to Lake Annecy in eastern France in September 2012.
They were each shot three times with at least one shot to head.
A passing cyclist Sylvain Mollier, 45, was also killed in the isolated layby where the family had parked their car.
The couple’s two daughters, survived, with seven-year-old Zainab being left for dead after being shot in the shoulder and beaten round the head.
Zeena, four, hid beneath her mother’s legs and remained motionless for eight hours in the back of the family’s BMW.
Mr al-Hilli’s brother Zaid al-Hilli said French investigators should never have pointed the fingers at him, and should have looked at local suspects.
He told The Times the original investigation was a ‘deception – an attempt to deceive us’.
Zaid al-Hilli, the brother of Saad al-Hilli, was wrongly arrested for the murders in 2013 (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)
Saad and Ikbal al-Hilli with their daughter Zainab when she was three
Saad Al-Hilli with one of their daughters
He added: ‘It was a local crime and has been covered up.
‘They made allegations against me without any evidence. There was no attempt to look at a local motive right from the start.’
French police revealed earlier this week DNA testing might be able to solve the now cold case.
They have ordered the he ‘unsealing of the fragments’ so they can be re-tested with state-of-the-art DNA technology.
The clothes Sylvian Mollier and Zainab Al-Hilli were wearing on the fateful day are also going to be reexamined, along with some 10 cigarette butts found around the area.
‘It is hoped that new examinations will uncover DNA traces,’ said an investigating source.
‘If yes, then they will be sent for comparison with a national genetic fingerprint file which lists more than four million fingerprints, to see if there is a match.’
Mr Mollier, a father of three, was wearing a helmet, cycling shoes, and sports clothing when he was killed, and all of it will be analysed by a specialist laboratory in the Paris area, along with Zainab’s clothes and shoes.
But it is the gun which holds the most hope of a breakthrough, as it is guaranteed to have been in direct contact with the killer.
Most of the Luger was removed from the scene, but small pieces of the grip plates were found near the BMW.
Mr al-Hilli was arrested after the state prosecutor theorised the family were the target of a shoot-to-kill murder.
There was also a feud between the brothers over the inheritance of a £1 million family home from their parents.
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Police were even called after a fight broke out between the pair, with Zaid saying he was pinned down by Saad.
They never spoke after the fight in 2011.
Mr al-Hilli suggested Mr Mollier, the cyclist gunned down, was the intended target as he had been involved in a dispute over a pharmacy business being transferred to his girlfriend by her parents.
He shared a son with the 30-year-old heiress and had given up his job as a factory metalworker.
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