Police arrest brother over French Alps shootings

Saad al-Hilli, his wife Ikbal and her mother Suhaila al-Allaf were found shot dead on a remote forest road in Chevaline on 5 September 2012. French cyclist Sylvain Mollier was also found dead near the scene.

Surrey police said on Monday that a 54-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of “conspiracy to commit murder” in relation to the four deaths. He was detained at an address in Chessington at around 7.30am and is currently in police custody.

Mr al-Hilli’s brother, who is in his 50s and lives in Surrey, is understood to be the man police have arrested. He has previously denied reports of a feud between him and his brother.

A statement from Surrey police said: “As part of the joint investigation team (JIT), which was established on 21 September last year, officers from the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team have been working closely with the French authorities to progress a number of lines of enquiry.

“This pre-planned arrest is a result of these on-going enquiries and any updates will be issued in due course.”

Alive under dead bodies

French investigators came to the UK and searched the al-Hilli family home in Claygate, Surrey, in the wake of the deaths.

The al-Hillis’ four-year-old daughter Zeena lay undiscovered under her mother’s corpse in their BMW for eight hours after the shooting, while her seven-year-old sister Zainab was found with serious injures after being shot and beaten.

Zainab, who was shot in the shoulder and badly beaten in the massacre, was placed in a medically induced coma following the attack. She left hospital in France and was able to return to the UK.

Brett Martin, a cyclist, was the first witness to arrive at the scene where Mr al-Hilli, 50, his 47-year-old dentist wife and her elderly mother had been blasted to death.

Six members of a police search team left the property in Chessington at about 2.25pm.

They carried items including a plastic box, a ladder and two bags of evidence to a police van.

Neighbours said they had not heard or seen any sign of this morning’s arrest.