Alps murders: 'no link' between killings and death of mother's ex-husband, police say

 
Killed: British engineer Saad Al-Hilli
Lucy Christie8 July 2014

Prosecutors in the case of a British engineer who was shot dead with his family in the Alps have said they do not think the death of his wife's ex-husband is linked to the killings.

Saad al-Hilli, 50, his wife, Ikbal, 47, and her mother were gunned down along with a French cyclist on a forest road near Annecy in eastern France almost two years ago.

The Surrey couple's two young daughters survived the attack on September 5, 2012, which has so far gone unsolved.

As police continue to search for a motive, it emerged that Ikbal al-Hilli's former husband died on the same day as the killings.

She was briefly married to the man, identified only as an American dentist called James T, in 1999 without the knowledge of her family, according to police.

Prosecutors confirmed reports that James died of a heart attack in Natchez, Mississippi on the same day his ex-wife was killed but said they are not connecting the deaths.

Annecy prosecutor Eric Maillaud said: "He died from a heart attack on September 5 2012. This was confirmed by an American doctor. No link is being made with the Chevaline killings."

It also emerged that police questioned a 35-year-old Iraqi man last month following a tip-off from a former jail mate.

The man, Mr S, was traced following claims he once told a fellow prisoner he had been offered "a large sum of money" to kill Iraqis living in the UK.

Read More

He was released without charge after it was established he was not in France on the day of the killings and there was no evidence linking him to the al-Hilli family.

Mr Maillaud said: "Investigators were not able to establish that the offer was made and there was nothing to confirm that the Iraqis living in the UK were the al-Hillis. Furthermore, he was not in France on September 5 2012."

The bodies of Iraqi-born Mr al-Hilli and dentist wife, who lived in Claygate, were discovered along with that of Mrs al-Hilli's mother in their BMW on a remote forest route by cyclist Brett Martin.

Cyclist Sylvain Mollier, 45, was also found shot dead.

Mr al-Hilli's brother, Zaid, was arrested on suspicion of murder in June last year but was told in January that he would face no further action after police found there was insufficient evidence to charge him with a crime.

A 48-year-old man was arrested in February but was released from custody after investigators found no direct link between him and the killings.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in