Who was Saad al-Hilli and what happened to him and his family?

THE al-Hilli family from Surrey were killed in the Alps by an unknown assailant in .

Channel 4 documentary Murder In The Alps, takes a look at the complex and mysterious case.

Who was Saad al-Hilli?

Victim Saad al-Hilli was 50 years old when he took his family on a trip to the French Alps.

This holiday ended in tragedy when businessman Saad, his wife Iqbal, 47, and mother-in-law Suhaila al-Allaf, 74, were executed in their car.

The British-Iraqi tourist had pulled over into a lay-by near Lake Annecy when he was killed.

At the time of the killings it was thought that Saad could have been the primary target due to his work in aerospace engineering and science and technology.

Suggestions of a family financial feud which could have been the motive for a professional hit have also been explored.

Initial investigations put Saad as the primary target of the expert killer but other lines of enquiry have posited that the family were merely tragic witnesses to another killing.

Saad’s brother Zaid was arrested in 2013 on ex-DCI Mark Preston's orders, though the former Surrey Police detective has since said this was done mainly so the Iraqi-born accountant could be formally eliminated from inquiries - which he was. 

Detectives focused on Saad and Zaid having an alleged physical confrontation, and the fact Saad kept a Taser at the Claygate house.

What happened to them?

The truth about the deaths on September 5, 2012, is unknown, although there are many theories.

Each adult member of the al-Hilli family was shot twice in the head in their BMW car by what proscutors called a "mystery motorcyclist".

French cyclist Sylvain Mollier, 45, was shot seven times at point blank range just a short walk away.

British cyclist Brett Martin arrived on the scene and discovered the bloodbath, rushing back home to alert the police.

The murder weapon, a vintage Swiss Army 7.65mm P06 Luger, was identified through fragments of the gun found at the scene but the owner has never been traced.

At the time of his death, divorced welder Sylvain had just had a child with wealthy Annecy heiress Claire Schutz, whose family owns a chain of pharmacies worth millions.

Nearly a year before the shootings, Ms Schutz reportedly inherited the ownership of the Schutz Morange Pharmacy in Grignon, from her parents, valued at £1.1m.

DIFFERENT ROUTE

Claire, 16 years Sylvain’s junior, had just bought him the £4,000 mountain bike he was riding when he was killed alongside the al-Hillis.

An Annecy source told The Sun: “There has been talk about Sylvain and Claire being a bit of an odd couple, but they had just had a baby and were still together when he was killed.

"Claire had bought him a very costly new bike, and a member of the family suggested he should ride the trail up through Chevaline.

“It’s been confirmed that this route was not known to him — and it is strange that he should be on a road he had never been on before when he met his killer.”

French prosecutors said in 2017 that they had no working theory and the family may have been randomly targeted but the case is still open.

Possibilities of gang connections have been explored as well as a serial killer but with a lack of evidence at the scene the police has been unable to pin down a prevailing theory.

DAUGHTER BEATEN & SHOT

A suspect was arrested in January 2022, around 10 years after the murders, but was released without charge and ruled out as the killer by authorities.

A former detective on the case believes the cyclist was the intended target of the mystery gunman – with the British-Iraqi family killed as witnesses to his assassination. 

Ex-DCI Preston said that according to ballistics evidence, the cyclist had been shot first and last, with more bullets than were used for any of the family.

What happened to daughters Zeena and Zainab?

Saad's two daughters Zeena and Zainab survived the attack, with Zeena suffering a shot to the shoulder.

Zeena, who was four at the time of the attack, hid in the footwell of the car, under her mother's skirt where she stayed for eight hours.

Her sister Zainab was seven and not so lucky - the killer shot her, beat her, and left her for dead.

When Brett arrived on the scene he saw Zainab stumbling into the road, before she collapsed.

Zainab survived the attack but both sisters were too traumatised to clearly remember the event.

They have been interviewed by French authorities to try and gain new evidence.

In 2017, with the help of the relatives who adopted them, the daughters requested a payout from the French criminal injuries ­compensation authority, but the payout was denied.

Officials blocked the payout insisting “a crime could not be established” because no killer had been traced.

In 2022, Annecy prosecutor Veronique Denizot said: "The British judicial authorities have given permission for the girls, the two Al-Hilli daughters, to be heard again.

"The older daughter was originally heard when she came out of hospital in Grenoble after the events, and she offered certain details, to the investigators, to the magistrates involved in this dossier."