Suspect in Alps killings released

A MAN re-arrested over the murders of a British family and a French cyclist in the Alps has been released without charge.

The suspect had ‘been ruled out’ of the inquiry, prosecutors in Annecy, eastern France, confirmed yesterday.

‘The explanations given and the verifications carried out made it possible to rule out their potential participation in the events,’ the prosecutor said.

No one has been charged with murdering businessman Saad al-Hilli, 50, his wife Iqbal, 47, and mother-in-law Suhaila al-Allaf, 74, on September 5, 2012. The holidaying family, who lived in Claygate, Surrey, were gunned down in their BMW. Their two daughters survived, but cyclist Sylvain Mollier, 45, was also killed.

The 57-year-old businessman from Lyon, who was arrested on Wednesday, was the same motorcyclist interrogated in 2015, French media reported.

His lawyer was quoted by broadcaster BFMTV as saying the renewed questioning was due to a ‘judicial error’.