‘Mass killer’ held off French f light is an innocent tourist
a FrencHMan was wrongly arrested after a tip-off that he was an aristocrat suspected of murdering his whole family.
Guy Joao, 69, was detained by Police Scotland at Glasgow airport.
He was mistaken for Xavier dupont de Ligonnes, a suspected murderer who vanished after the bodies of his wife and four children were found in 2011.
de Ligonnes has spent years on the most wanted list and on Friday, Police Scotland were told he was due to fly to Glasgow airport from Paris.
Fingerprint scans performed after Mr Joao’s arrest revealed a ‘partial match’ to de Ligonnes. Yet police were surprised to find the man they had in custody had only nine fingers unlike de Ligonnes.
The arrest sparked rumours de Ligonnes had begun a new life in Scotland and had married a Scot.
However, it was later announced that Police Scotland had arrested an innocent pensioner on the way to his holiday home in dunoon, argyll. Mr Joao is believed to regularly fly between Paris and the home of his Scots wife.
Mr Joao was said to be ‘hugely upset’ by the incident. The couple’s home in Limay, 40 miles from Paris, was also raided.
after a night in custody, dna tests proved there was no match between Mr Joao and de Ligonnes.
at the time of the arrest, a Police Scotland source said: ‘Facial recognition on his fraudulently obtained passport could only say he was the same man as the one on the photograph, but his fingerprint told a different story.
‘The fingerprint evidence was sufficiently clear to allow us to arrest him for murder rather than detaining him under suspicion.’
But a Police Scotland spokesman said later: ‘He was held in custody in connection with a european arrest Warrant issued by the French authorities. Following the results of inquiries, it was confirmed the man arrested is not the man suspected of crimes in France. He has been released.’
de Ligonnes went on the run 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.
detectives found a severed leg under the garden terrace after neighbours reported they had not seen the family for more than three weeks. The rest of the bodies were then found.
a young man at the house where Mr Joao’s wife, Mhari, lives, yesterday declined to comment.
Portuguese-born Mr Joao bears very little resemblance to 58-yearold de Ligonnes.
Since the discovery of the bodies, French detectives have been trying to find de Ligonnes or to find if he is still alive.
a French public prosecutor, Pierre Sennès, had warned the Press to ‘exercise caution’ when the arrest was first made as identity verifications were under way.
Police Scotland declined to comment further yesterday.
‘Fingerprint told a different story’