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CRIME

British ‘sex-monster’ on trial for Riviera murder

A retired British widower, who allegedly used his loneliness to lure unsuspecting women to his home on the French Riviera before turning into a sex-crazed “monster”, went on trial this week for murder, attempted murder and rape.

British 'sex-monster' on trial for Riviera murder
The retired British widow moved to Côte d'Azur in 2005 where he is now on trial for rape and murder. Photo: Jean Christophe Magnenet/AFP

Described as a “lonely British pensioner”, 74-year-old Robert Dolby is accused of having murdered a woman after inviting her for dinner in his home in 2010 as well as raping and attempting to murder another woman in 2012 whom he had invited to move-in to his flat.

The latter allegedly survived an attempt to take her life after a British neighbour heard her panicked screams and came to her rescue.

Dolby, a convicted sex convict who moved to southeastern France a decade ago, attended the first day of his trial in Nice on Tuesday.

Cindy, a 31-year-old French woman, told the court how she had fallen for Dolby after meeting him in the bar of an upscale Monaco hotel.

“When he complained about being lonely, I felt sorry for him,” she told the court, adding he had acted like a father figure, describing him as “reassuring, protective, thoughtful”.

The two quickly became friends, she said, which prompted her to accept Dolby’s offer of temporarily moving into his flat in Beausoleil, a French town just outside of Monaco.

But soon after moving in, Dolby declared he was in love with her. When she didn’t respond to his advances, the woman said he transformed into another person with a “weird grin and the voice of a monster”.

One night, she said Dolby had entered her bedroom naked and “raped me and tried to strangle me”.

The woman described how she had managed to break free, but that Dolby had caught up with her in front of the lift and “tried to drag me back to the flat."

“I fought with all my might. He beat me all over. He tried to break my neck,” she said, adding that “without the help of a neighbour, I would be dead.”

The neighbour confirmed the account, saying he had “heard a primal scream, like an animal being killed.”

When the neighbour arrived at the scene, Cindy was allegedly covered in blood – suffering a broken nose, multiple bruises and strangle-marks – while Dolby was trying to drag her back into his apartment.

The neighbour said Dolby was a “strange man” who liked to boast about his female conquests. The court also heard how he had told a psychologist about his multiple sexual encounters, mainly with Russian women, after his wife died of cancer in 2009.

Dolby has pleaded not guilty to the charges, saying his sexual relations with Cindy were consensual and that he had only attempted to calm her after she became hysterical.

When police began to investigate the incident, however, they found some troubling evidence against the pensioner in another case.

In 2010, a 60-year-old woman named Annie-Claude died in his former home in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, also on the Côte d’Azur.

The woman, whose death was initially blamed on a cardiac arrest after a boozy dinner, was found half-naked on Dolby’s couch, next to a cushion covered in lipstick.

But when her body was exhumed for further investigation, toxicology tests found traces of Zolpidem – an extremely powerful sleeping pill often prescribed to people suffering from insomnia – casting suspicion on Dolby.

The Briton already had a long record of previous convictions.

In 1991, Dolby was found guilty for sexually assaulting a work colleague and sentenced to four years in prison .

He also has more than a dozen previous convictions, mostly for theft and burglary.

If convicted in the current case, he could face life imprisonment for murder. 

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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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