Alps murder suspect to face no charges

All charges have been dropped against the brother of a British-Iraqi businessman found dead with his family in the French Alps in 2012.

On Wednesday Surrey police released a statement outlining that they have insufficient evidence to charge him with conspiracy to commit murder.

Victim Saad al-Hilli was mysteriously gunned-down with his wife and mother-in-law in the French Alps. His 54-year old brother Zaid al-Hilli was arrested in June last year for the crime.

The family were killed in their car on a remote country road close to the picturesque Lake Annecy in September 2012.

British police claim they do not have enough evidence to charge the man who has been their main suspect, and cancelled Zaid al-Hilli’s bail.

He was considered the prime focus of investigations, as he admitted that he and his brother had been engaged in a bitter feud over inheritance. However he maintained he was not involved in the murders in any way.

He even told the Sunday Times that the last time he had spoken to Saad, his brother physically attacked him as they brawled over their mother’s house in Claygate.

French cyclist Sylvain Mollier was also found shot dead at the scene. However, The al-Hilli’s two daughters, Zeena and Zainab, survived the violent attack.

Zaid accused French police of failing to thoroughly investigate the possibility that the real target of the attack was Mollier:

“They are covering up for someone in France in that region and they know it,” he commented to the BBC.

“Mollier was involved in family disputes and was an outsider to (his) rich family. There is something more to it locally…. most crime has local roots,” added Zaid.

However French investigators consider Mollier to be an innocent bystander, killed because he came across the murder scene.

“This remains a French-led investigation and officers from the Surrey and Sussex major crime team continue to work closely with the French authorities,” an officer read to media outside a police station in Guildford, Surrey.

Zaid looked on as the officer continued: “We have carried out exhaustive enquiries in the UK on a number of active lines of enquiry.”

He himself did not comment after the police press briefing. He has given 25 hours worth of interviews to British police, but refuses to go to France for further questioning due to a strong distrust for the nation following all that has occurred.

Bethany Bishop