The wrong man: Pensioner mistaken for French murder suspect is released
An innocent pensioner flying into Glasgow Airport was arrested and held overnight because police wrongly suspected he was a French aristocrat suspected of murdering his wife and four children.
It is understood the 69- year- old man spent the night at Helen St police station after being detained on Friday.
He was said to be “hugely upset” following the ordeal which began when he arrived on a flight from Paris.
Sources claimed a partial fingerprint sample wrongly encouraged police to believe he was Xavier Dupont de Ligonnes who has been wanted for eight years.
It was revealed yesterday that DNA tests had confirmed the arrest had been a case of mistaken identity.
A French police source said: “DNA tests have now proved that the man is not the murder suspect. There has been a mistake and the arrested man has now been released and is back with his wife. He is hugely upset by what has happened.”
Scottish police at first believed the fingerprints of a man who landed in Glasgow on easyjet flight U26884 on Friday matched that of De Ligonnes.
The man arrested had lived in Limay, around 40 miles from Paris, and married a Scottish woman from Dunoon around three years ago.
De Ligonnes went on the run in 2011 after the bodies of his wife Agnes, 49, and children Tomas, 21, Arthur, 18, Anne, 16, and Benoit, 13, were found buried in the garden of the family house in Nantes along with their two pet Labradors.
Police Scotland said yesterday: “A man was arrested on Friday at Glasgow Airpor t following information provided to police.
“Inquiries were undertaken to confirm the man’s identity and following the results of tests it was confirmed the man arrested is not the man suspected of crimes in France.”