Iraqi 'hitman' held over Al-Hilli murders in French Alps

 
Killed: British engineer Saad Al-Hilli
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

A suspected Iraqi contract killer was arrested by police in connection with the murder of the British family in the French Alps, it emerged today.

The 35-year-old convicted criminal was questioned for three days about the shootings of Saad Al-Hilli, 50, his wife, Iqbal, 47, her mother Suhaila al-Allaf, 74, and French cyclist Sylvain Mollier, 45.

In another extraordinary twist investigators revealed that Mrs Al-Hilli had a “secret ex-husband” in America who died of a suspected heart attack on the same day as the murders in France.

The Al-Hilli family were on a camping holiday when they were attacked by a gunman in their BMW at a remote forest lay-by near the French village of Chevaline in September 2012.

The couple’s two young daughters Zainab, seven at the time, and Zeena, four, survived the attack and are currently in the care of surviving family in England. The Al-Hillis, of Claygate, Surrey, originally came from Iraq, and one theory is that their alleged links to the regime of former dictator Saddam Hussein may be a motive for their murders.

Eric Maillaud, the Annecy prosecutor, said the unnamed Iraqi was investigated in connection with the crime following a tip-off.

He said the ex-convict was wire-tapped “following a specific claim from another prisoner that he could have been involved in a contract to kill Iraqis”.

They looked into his background for more than 18 months while he was living in Belgium and arrested him in June when he visited northern France.

He was held in custody in Lille for three days before providing an alibi which cleared him of being directly involved in the shootings.

Mr Maillaud said: “He denied any involvement in a contract whatsoever, and we could not establish a link with the Al-Hilli family.” He said the man was now in jail for unrelated offences.

Benoit Vinnemann, one of the most senior police commanders working on the case, revealed that the possibility that a “family secret” may have provided a motive for the murder.

Lt Col Vinnemann said Iqbal Al-Hilli was “secretly married” to an American dentist 13 years her senior, identified only as James T, between February 1999 and December 2000.

The relationship was “never spoken about” and James T. died in Natchez, Mississippi, on the same day as the Alps killings. The official cause of death was a heart attack, but Lt Col Vinnemann said “we still haven’t had a response to certain questions” and added “we have discovered some astonishing things”.

The Iraqi man was the third person to be arrested in connection with the murder case which continues to baffle detectives.

Twenty police officers are still working on the case.

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