Eric Maillaud prosecutor investigating the murder committed in the French Alps came to England, but I wonder why this is not looking for the murderer in his own country ?

Prosecutor Eric Maillaud is travelling with examining magistrate Michel Mollin, another senior member of the inquiry team.

They will join a number of French investigators already in Britain to help unravel the mystery surrounding the deaths of engineer Saad al Hilli, his wife Iqbal, and mother-in-law – named in reports as Suhaila al Allaf – who were shot dead in a remote beauty spot close to Lake Annecy a week ago.

Mr Maillaud said a large part of the investigation was taking place in the UK and that French authorities believe there could be a “great number of clues” in Britain, although he refused to be drawn on the main area of the inquiry’s focus.

Investigators are focusing on three specific areas – Mr al Hilli’s work, his family and his native Iraq.

The latter has been at the centre of considerable attention and Mr Maillaud said a “specialised” team was tasked with examining Mr al Hilli’s links to the country.

He said: “The fact that he was born in Iraq, that he had family in Iraq, of course that’s something that is of interest and we are asking ourselves if there is a link between that and his death.

He added: “There are specialised people as far as Iraq is concerned who are looking at it … people who know who to contact in order to be able to work with that country so, for example, we have a security attache we are working with.”

Mr Maillaud will visit the al Hilli family home in Claygate, Surrey, in the afternoon as part of his 24-hour trip.

Officers have been examining a safe at the mock-Tudor house which has been the subject of intense police searches for five days.

Mr Maillaud said the victims’ bodies have now been returned to their families and that he will meet police officers and Crown Prosecution Service officials in the UK.

The al Hillis’ daughters survived the shootings – though seven-year-old Zainab was shot and so brutally beaten that doctors placed her in a medically-induced coma.

French cyclist Sylvain Mollier, 45, who apparently stumbled across the attack, was also shot dead.

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