The brother of a British tourist gunned down in the Alps has accused the French authorities of a cover-up.
Saad al-Hilli was shot dead along with his wife, Iqbal Al-Hilli, 47, and his mother-in-law, Suhaila al-Allaf, 74 in September 2012.
The al-Hilli’s seven and four-year-old daughters thankfully survived the horrific ordeal.
Sylvain Mollier, a 45-year-old cyclist, was also killed in the violent episode, which took place in an isolated layby close to Lake Annecy, in eastern France.
Saad’s brother Zaid al-Hilli has heavily criticised the French investigation, claiming cops went “the wrong way” as they searched for the gunman, suspecting him of the crime instead of someone local.
He branded the investigation a “deception – an attempt to deceive us”.
Those that were killed were shot three times each, with at least one shot to the head. Saad’s daughter, 7, was also shot in the shoulder and beaten round the head.
Her younger sister, 4, hid between her deceased mum’s legs and was found by police unharmed eight hours later.
After discovering the massacred family in their BMW, police opened an investigation however the case remains a mystery.
Zaid was wrongly arrested in 2013 and is now demanding that police scour France for a local suspect, claiming authorities have covered up the crime.
According to The Times, he said: “The original investigation was a deception, to attempt to deceive us. It was a local crime and has been covered up.
“They made allegations against me without any evidence. There was no attempt to look at a local motive right from the start.”
There could finally be some movement on the cold case, with investigators from an elite unit conducting DNA testing of clothes from the scene and 10 cigarette butts found there.
According to an investigating source: “It is hoped that new examinations will uncover DNA traces. If yes, then they will be sent for comparison with a national genetic fingerprint file which lists more than four million fingerprints, to see if there is a match.”