Cyclist tells of carnage in French gun horror

Brett Martin likened the carnage in the secluded car park to a set from TV crime series CSI Miami as the man leading the investigation said the clue to the four murders lay in Britain.

Mr Martin was the first witness to arrive at the spot where engineer Saad al-Hilli, 50, his dentist wife Iqbal, 47, and her elderly mother were shot dead.

Yesterday he told how he found the al-Hillis’ daughter Zainab, seven, “stumbling” around, bleeding and “moaning”, close to the family car.

Next to the BMW lay the body of Sylvain Mollier, 45, a French cyclist who apparently stumbled across the attack.

The wheels of the vehicle itself were still spinning and its engine was revving. Inside, Mr Martin made out three bodies.

“It was pretty much what you would imagine a set from (TV crime series) CSI Miami would be like,” he said.

“There was a lot of blood and heads with bullet holes in them.”

He added: “I’ve never seen people who have been shot before... it seemed to me just like a Hollywood scene and if someone had said ‘cut’ and everyone had walked away, that would have been it. But unfortunately it was real life. It became quite obvious, now, taking stock, that it was a gun crime.”

His recollection of events emerged as Annecy’s chief prosecutor Eric Maillaud met his British counterparts working on the case at the al-Hilli family home in Claygate, Surrey.

Mr Maillaud – who was accompanied by examining magistrate Michel Mollin, another senior member of the inquiry team – said it was “without any doubt that the reasons and causes (for the killings) have their origins in this country”.

Police are investigating three lines of inquiry, focusing on Mr al-Hilli’s work, his family and links to his native Iraq.

The aerospace engineer had been holidaying with his relatives at a campsite near Lake Annecy when they were attacked at 4pm last Wednesday.

Mr Martin, a former RAF pilot, set out that afternoon for a bike ride at about 2.30pm but as he climbed to the top of a hill in the Combe d’Ire forest, near Chevaline, he was faced with a bloodbath.

“As I approached the scene, the first thing I saw was a bike on its side. I had seen the cyclist ahead of me much earlier so I thought he was just having a rest.

“As I got a little bit closer, a very young child stumbled out onto the road and at first I thought she was actually just playing with her sibling because she sort of looked, from a distance, as if she was falling over, larking about like a child would.

“However, as I approached her it was obvious that she was quite badly injured and there was a lot of blood on her.”

There was no sign of the al-Hillis’ younger daughter Zeena, four, who had been cowering underneath her mother’s body.

Mr Martin moved Zainab, fearing the car would crush her. She became unconscious a few minutes later. He went to help the others but realised they were inanimate. Mr Martin was unable to get reception on his mobile phone so set out to get help.

Zainab, who was shot in the shoulder and badly beaten around the head, is now recovering in hospital.