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CRIME

Jail for spurned man, 93, who killed love interest

Judges sentenced a 93-year-old Frenchman to a decade behind bars on Friday for brutally slaying a female friend who rejected his romantic advances. He later told police he wanted to teach her a lesson.

Jail for spurned man, 93, who killed love interest
A spurned Frenchman, 93, was sentenced to prison for killing his love interest. Photo: AFP

France's eldest detainee was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday for having killed an 82-year-old woman who he had a crush on, but rejected his advances.

A court in the northeastern city of Reims found Marcel Guillot, a 93-year-old man nicknamed "Grandfather Marcel", guilty of "death blows on a vulnerable person with premeditation."

The body of Nicole El Dib was found in December 2011 in a stream that crossed her property near the village of Saint-Gilles in a pool of blood. She had been beaten, strangled and stabbed to death, but the killer would escape police for another five months.

A DNA analysis of blood found on a watch left on the crime scene eventually pointed the finger at Guillot, who was arrested as he began his annual vacation on an island on the French Atlantic Coast. 

He reportedly told detective she'd humiliated whom he had a crush on, and had gone to her home to punish her. 

During the trial, Guillot, who has problems hearing, repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying he never hit the victim who he said killed herself by slipping on a carpet and hitting a wardrobe.

"I wanted to know why she refused to see me… I don't understand, we were always good together. I did not hit her, she was my girlfriend," he told the court. But the prosecutor said the defendant had "let rip his fury."

"There is no doubt about criminal intent," the prosecutor said, blasting Guillot for expressing "no regret nor any compassion towards the person he called his friend."

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CRIME

France launches major anti-drug raids

French authorities launched Monday several new anti-drug raids across the country dubbed "XXL cleanup operations", Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said.

France launches major anti-drug raids

President Emmanuel Macron last Tuesday launched a major operation against the narcotics trade in Marseille and other French cities, saying that gangland battles that last year left dozens dead had made life a misery for residents.

“In Marseille and other cities in France, we have launched an unprecedented operation to put a stop to drug trafficking and ensure republican order,” Macron had written on X, formerly Twitter.

He said that operations would be launched in about 10 French cities, adding that it would be an “XXL” cleanup.

According to local authorities, 900 police and custom officers were deployed in Marseille and the Bouches-du-Rhone region on the first day the operation.

In the first three days, 22 kilogrammes of drugs, over €385,000 and four weapons were seized and 71 people placed in custody.

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