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CRIME

Ex-judge in unsolved 1984 French toddler murder case found dead

The French magistrate who first investigated the still unsolved 1984 murder of a four-year old-boy has been found dead just weeks after a dramatic development in the case.

Published: 12 July 2017 15:24 CEST
Ex-judge in unsolved 1984 French toddler murder case found dead
Photo: AFP
Jean-Michel Lambert was found dead late Tuesday in his apartment in Le Mans with a plastic bag over his head, according to a source close to the case. He was 65.
   
Lambert was 32 years old and the only investigating magistrate in the district when he took up — and many say bungled — the investigation of the murder of Gregory Villemin.
 
“Little Gregory”, as he became known, was found drowned in the cold waters of the Vologne river in eastern France in October 1984, his hands and feet bound.
 
His murder led to one of France's most notorious post-war murder mysteries, as police sought to untangle a web of family hatred and local jealousies.
 
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But last month, nearly 33 years after the murder, police arrested Marcel Jacob, an uncle of Gregory's father, and Jacob's wife in the Vosges mountains of eastern France.
 
A neighbour alerted police after discovering Lambert's body Tuesday, media reports said. There were no signs of a break-in.
 
'Infinitely sad'
 
Reacting to news of Lambert's death, Thierry Moser, the lawyer acting for the dead boy's parents, told AFP: “I'm devastated. It's infinitely sad … I have no animosity towards him.
   
“I criticise the conclusions he drew from his investigation but I won't ever criticise the man,” he added.
 
Lambert is remembered for his willingness to speak to the press during his investigation.
   
In particular, he revealed the accusations of Murielle Bolle, a 15-year-old girl, against her brother-in-law, Bernard Laroche.
 
Laroche, a cousin of the child's father, was charged with the murder a month after the boy's death, based on her evidence.
 
 
He was released after she withdrew her claims, only to be shot dead in March 1985 by Gregory's father Jean-Marie Villemin, who spent two and a half years in prison for the crime.
   
Investigators involved in the case today want in particular to find out why Bolle went back on her original accusations, and last month she herself was placed under investigation in the case.
   
Bolle's lawyer, Jean-Paul Teissonniere, told AFP he was concerned by Lambert's death. He had intended to call him as a witness.
   
At one point Lambert even charged Gregory's mother with his murder, but the country's supreme court finally dismissed the charges.
   
The case was eventually put in the hands of another investigating judge, Maurice Simon.
 
His work contradicted Lambert's early theories, and the latest investigation is based on Simon's conclusions.

CRIME

Two girls wounded in knife attack outside French school

An assailant on Thursday wounded two girls aged 6 and 11 in a knife attack close to their school in the east of France and was later arrested, officials said.

Published: 18 April 2024 16:33 CEST
Two girls wounded in knife attack outside French school

The 11-year-old was stabbed outside the school in the town of Souffelweyersheim, on the outskirts of Strasbourg, while the six-year-old was attacked by the same man nearby.

Both received superficial wounds, police said, adding the attacker did not appear to have any known links to radicals and was not previously known to the security services.

Both received superficial wounds, police said, adding the attacker did not appear to have any known links to radicals and was not previously known to the security services.

Both girls are being treated in a paediatric hospital. Parents were later in the afternoon allowed to pick up their children, who had been confined to the school in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

The attacker, born in 1995, was arrested in the area where he attacked the second girl, the police said. He no longer had the knife in his hand and did not resist arrest, it added.

The attack came as Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced a series of measures aimed at cracking down on violence committed by schoolchildren against their peers. There was no indication so far that the attacker had a link with the school.

“I’m really scared. We’ve been reassured that the children are safe inside, but we don’t know when we’ll be able to get them back,” Sarah, a mother of an eight-year-old pupil, told AFP before the green light was given to collect the children.

“A friend called me. She saw the commotion in front of the school as she passed by. Her reflex was to call me so that I could pick up my son.”

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