Authorities believe Sylvain Mollier, the French cyclist, was the target of the Alps shooting
Now police have suggested that slain French cyclist Sylvain Mollier could have been the target of the French Alps shootings, which claimed the lives of the British al-Hilli family.
Mollier was initially said to be father in the “wrong place at the wrong time” and the attack was targeted at British engineer Saad al-Hilli, his wife and mother-in-law were brutally murdered in a remote spot.
But now the 45-year-old cyclist is the center of discussion after a small funeral at an odd time kept free from the media.
Daily Mail details:
Just 30 people attended the funeral, which took place at 6.30pm last night – a day when the burial site is normally closed.
It was deliberately kept hidden from the media, employees told French broadcaster RTL.
French investigators are examining the theory that he may have led a ‘double life’ and been the intended target of the shooting.
“Was the al-Hilli family the main target? Was it not the cyclist? Only ongoing work on the scene can answer this question clearly,” the Daily Telegraph quoted Lt Colonel Benedict Vinnemann, who is leading the Gendarme police investigation, as saying.
“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.
[…] At one point, the cyclist (Sylvain Mollier) was considered the primary target. (more here) […]
[…] The mystery in the Alps Shooting has taken a new turn with a claim that the passing French cyclist, Sylvain Mollier, who was shot dead at the same time, had been involved in an unpleasant family row over an inheritance, may have been the target. […]
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