Anybody else watch this and think they’d happily ride a road bike up that road? It does seem to be something they think is strange, but I’m not so sure.

…deliberating over putting this in the bike forum, as it is about cycling

Not to mention the ‘witness’ who uses a Turner Five Spot to ride up a gravel road……

Something “odd” about the brother? or just me thinking that??

The brother seemed to deny problems despite there being clear issues about inheritance. The gun seemed like something easy to get hold of and easy enough to dispose of, so it seems a bit more professional. I’m still very confused about it all, I’d love to know the truth.

Anyone else notice that the friend needed to finish painting the fence?

Not to mention the ‘witness’ who uses a Turner Five Spot to ride up a gravel road……

I assumed he was somebody off here. I missed them showing his car – was it an Audi?

Witness was on a Giant.
Brother did it, £2000000 is why.

Sad story really especially for the children.

Definitely something odd about the brother. Playing the race card screams desperation to me.

I trusted the brother at first because he seemed straight and calm, but then she questioned him about his relationship with his brother and he became evasive, he stammered and kept swallowing and my trust evaporated. We have no idea of the depth of the rivalry between the two brothers over their father’s estate and we don’t know what they did in their former lives in Iraq where life is cheap.

The British-registered X5 ought to be easy to trace, I can’t understand why they haven’t cracked that.

The witness started off on a carrera, and was later on a giant and a turner. Could Hora be involved? that’s a pretty fast turnover of bikes!.

The British-registered X5 ought to be easy to trace, I can’t understand why they haven’t cracked that

If it was british registered, could have been false plates, plenty of imported right hand drive cars on the continent. And I agree on the road surface, might not have been the best, but looked more than feasible and a nice climb.

The road was crap by French standards but not much worse than Col de la Forclaz on the east side of the lake and that’s a cycling hotspot. Did they say what bike he was on?

Re the French victim: he lived 10 miles away and the police dismissed any link but surely he’d have known it was a dead end road up a long hill. Their theory that he simply took a wrong turn doesn’t make any sense for a local

Why did the UK police allegedly delay the investigation?

The nervously smiling French prosecutor didn’t come across very well at all. The Swiss one seemed more clued up. Worryingly there are no leads and no ideas that they have publicised.
The only person to come out of this awful tragedy well is the reporter who got to visit some nice places

You’re right, the whole case stinks of a cover-up either on the French or the British side. The French cyclist worked at a firm in Ugine who make nuclear equipment and the victim designed complex electronic equipment so how do we know they weren’t meeting to exchange industrial secrets? It was said that his car was full of laptops and drawings – not the kind of thing you’d take on holiday. Bizarre altogether.

what channel was this on?

Panorama, Beeb1 last night.

[conspiracy] Mebbe the Diana hit squad did it? [/conspiracy]

The French cyclist worked at a firm in Ugine who make nuclear equipment and the victim designed complex electronic equipment so how do we know they weren’t meeting to exchange industrial secrets

didnt see this one (for Iplayer later) but watched a similar previous doc (Ch.4)? They explored the espionage angle but explained that what the victim worked on was far removed from the sexy front line (ultimately in satellites IIRC).

The “other” doc spent a lot of time on the theory the frenchman was the target and the British family collateral damage, I thought the french prosecutor was far too dismissive in his attitude to it (accepting editing and line-of-questioning influences).

Just had this on in the background while I fettled so may have missed some stuff but armchair/workshop stool verdict:

brother did it

If you want to bump off a cyclist you can just run him over and maybe reverse over him a couple times not shoot him a car full of people aswell.

Re the French victim: he lived 10 miles away and the police dismissed any link but surely he’d have known it was a dead end road up a long hill. Their theory that he simply took a wrong turn doesn’t make any sense for a local

I ride up all my local dead end roads. Once you’ve done all the obvious circles on the map its interesting to go up all the dead ends just to see whats there. In fact some of the nicest local rides take in dead ends here, they tend to climb into the hills, have a view at the top and because they don’t go anywhere theres no traffic.

Re the French victim: he lived 10 miles away and the police dismissed any link but surely he’d have known it was a dead end road up a long hill. Their theory that he simply took a wrong turn doesn’t make any sense for a local

The Planche des Belles Filles in the Vosges is one way and it’s pretty popular with riders (if such a steep road can ever really be popular)

Re the brother, he’s was acting a bit weird but I know if I was the only suspect in a murder case I’d be trying to prove I didn’t do it, and sometimes I might panic?

The French cyclist angle is a strange one that does seem to have avoided by the French police.

I’ve always wondered about the RAF guy that found the bodies, he’d certainly know how to use a gun. But as he’s a MTB’er I’ll assume he’s a good guy.

And yeah, I’d definitely have finished painting my fence if a film crew was coming round!!

But as he’s a MTB’er I’ll assume he’s a good guy.

But as well as the french cyclist the shot brother was also a roadie, so it could be some bizarre mtb / roadie takedown!!!

the brother had a tic in his left eye on the difficult questions, seemed completely devoid of any emotion and I thought said some strange things when told about the other bmw.

I ride up all my local dead end roads.

If you fit knobbly tyres, you’ll suddenly find there’s no such thing 😀

The road looked battered to me, i wouldn’t want to ride a £4k carbon wonder-machine down it, that’s certain.

Good programme though and I doubt they will achieve a conviction based on that programme.

I thought it was quite strange that the family were shot twice each, double-tap, all professional like, were as the cyclist was shot 5 times.

Also I couldn’t quite work out the chain of (shooting events). Father and daughter shot outside the car. Then the cyclist (who presumably rode into the melee) shot, then father finished off and then family.

Very interesting case/turn of events but no one seems any closer to solving the murders. The brother seemed very suspect to me, especially as he has been trying to claim the entire family estate for himself from what I heard last night.

Feel sorry for the daughters really…

Feel sorry for the daughters really…

esp the girl left in the car underneath her dead family that f—wit police didnt find, defended by the prosecutor as “because they didnt want to disturb the crime scene”. I’m not a parent but as a human being (and a copper) that made my blood boil.

I really don’t buy the “Mollier as the target” theory. Killing a car-load of people because they were parked in a lay-by when the person you wanted to kill bicycled past by himself would seem to be pretty odd.

Unless you had absolutely no moral compass at all and wanted to divert police attention away from the real motive.

But as the assassin appears to have escaped the scene without the police getting any handle on who he might have been and used an apparently untraceable weapon it seems unlikely he’d really bother.

Unless in fact Maillaud knows far more than he is letting on, and is hoping that when the assassin sees Panorama he will laugh in a sinister European manner and post a Facebook status along the lines of “Police thought Sylvain Mollier was “collateral damage”. Eediotes.” At which point he will be arrested.

But yes, I would happily ride a road bike up and down (what I saw of) that road.

But I would want disc brakes on it. 😉

I don’t think we’ll ever know what really happened here. The brother was definitely being very evasive at times. It looked to me that on the evidence presented in last nights programme he is probably guilty of attempting to defraud his own family. If you are up to that sort of thing and then the victims of the fraud are coincidentally murdered in mysterious circumstances then you are bound to be a bit nervous. Who’s ever going to believe “Yes, I was defrauding my own brother out of his inheritance but I didn’t arrange his murder”

Did he arrange the murder? I’m not convinced. If he had arranged a “hit” on his brother surely having it done in France while the family are on holiday would be a logistical nightmare. I thought the French prosecutor’s comment that if the brother were tried for the murders “in Britain or in France, he would be acquitted” was interesting. Maybe it was just a turn of phrase or in the translation but acquitted rather than not guilty? There are too many things that don’t add up. It my opinion there is a lot more to the involvement of the French cyclist and it does seem odd the gendarmerie have so easily discounted him. Last nights programme was the first time I had heard anything about him being in dispute with what was described as a powerful and influential local family (future father in law?) It seemed strange the report mentioned this but didn’t really explain the nature of the “power and influence” Business, politics, police? It’s always seemed very convenient to me that the guy who was first on the scene is British ex forces too. What is the nature of the “information that went way beyond the capacity of his work” mentioned found on Saad Al Hilli’s computers? Why did he take the “sensitive documents and computers” found in the caravan on a family holiday?
I didn’t see the documentary you refer to crashtestmonkey. Are you saying that their findings where that the French cyclist’s work was “ultimately in satellites?” Wasn’t Saad Al Hilli also involved in satellite design in some way?

So many coincidences and questions. As the two poor girls who survived grow up they at least deserve to know what really happened.

I do find it odd the brother kept saying “no comment” (more or less) when they kept asking questions that are quite material to a motive. Surely it’d be better to not do the doco. To then pretend that it was to do with some sort of French coverup is even more odd.