Scot is held over wife’s murder in France after lockdown reunion
A SCOTTISH engineer faces up to 30 years in a French jail after being charged with murdering his wife during a post-Covid-19 lockdown reunion.
Craig Sneddon, who is in his 40s and from Kirkcaldy, Fife, was arrested in the early hours of June 13 outside their holiday rental in the southern city of Aix-en-Provence.
The body of his wife Madalina Sneddon, who was also in her 40s and originally from Romania, was lying at the bottom of a stairwell of the upmarket building on Boulevard François and Emile Zola.
The Sneddons had rented the top-floor apartment of the fourstorey property, which is in the historic centre of Aix, close to the city’s cathedral and law courts.
An investigating source said Sneddon had made an emergency call saying his wife had been involved in an accident. The source said: ‘The couple had not seen each other for weeks because of travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
‘Their reunion was just before the weekend, after the wife was finally able to travel from Britain to France. They had spent Friday night in their rented flat on the top floor of the building, apparently drinking heavily.
‘Neighbours heard a lot of commotion. The emergency services got a call using broken French to say his wife had hurt herself, and when they arrived at the scene they found her dead.
‘Detectives set up a crime scene, cordoning off the area.’
A police spokesman told The Courier: ‘The call was made in French, with a distinct English accent, that he had discovered the lifeless body of his companion on the stairs of their building.
‘Forensic experts examined the body and concluded the woman had been killed.
‘The autopsy [which was] carried out revealed injuries which were incompatible with a simple fall down the stairs.’
The couple are said to have been married for several years and were reportedly travelling the world, although it’s thought they were looking at staying in the south of France on a more permanent basis.
The university city of Aix-enProvence, which is 19 miles north of Marseille, is a popular tourism destination and the birthplace of the famous post-Impressionist painter Paul Cezanne.
He is buried in the Saint-Pierre cemetery and fans of his work often make the pilgrimage to the city to visit his art studio and former home.
Mr Sneddon was interviewed through an interpreter and denied having anything to do with his wife’s death.
An autopsy was performed on Mrs Sneddon’s body on Monday, June 15, and the investigating source said the result was that her ‘injuries were found to be inconsistent with a fall’.
Mr Sneddon was held at the nearby Luynes remand centre after being placed ‘mis en examen’ – literally ‘placed under investigation’, and the French equivalent of being charged.
It means that an instructing judge, supported by judicial police, will gather evidence prior to Sneddon’s trial at a date yet to be fixed.
If he is found guilty of murder he faces up to 30 years in prison in France. Aix prosecutors confirmed that bail had been refused, and that Sneddon remained in custody.
The UK Foreign Office is believed to be assisting other members of the Sneddon family in connection with the incident.
‘Heard a lot of commotion’
‘Inconsistent with a fall’