A 48-year-old man has been arrested over the murder of three members of a British family and a French cyclist in the French Alps in 2012.

Iraqi-born Saad al Hilli, his wife Iqbal and her mother Suhaila al Allaf were found dead in their BMW on a remote mountain road near Lake Annecy in southern France.

His daughter Zainab, seven at the time, recovered after being shot and pistol-whipped, while her sister Zeena, four, was found unhurt hiding beneath her mother’s body inside the bullet-riddled car.

The body of French cyclist Sylvain Mollier was found nearby.

Annecy prosecutor Eric Maillaud said a man from the Haute-Savoie region had been arrested and was being held in custody.

He was reportedly arrested in Chevaline.

The arrest is being linked to the release in November of an artist’s impression of a motorcyclist seen near the scene of the massacre.

Mr Maillaud said: “This arrest, which may not be the only one, was the result of witness statements.”

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