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8,072 thoughts on “Not Forgetting the al-Hillis continued

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  • Peter

    @ Q, 13 Jan, 2016 – 12:54 am
    As to errant hikers, one of them must have been important for the UK ambassador to hotfoot it to the scene.

    The murders were initially assumed to be a terrorist attack. If a terrorist attack in which UK citizens were targeted is not sufficient to warrant the personal attention of the UK ambassador, what is?

    Incidentally, in my opinion, one cannot entirely rule out a terrorist angle, perhaps an attack driven by xenophobic, Islamophobic sentiment and perpetrated by someone to whom that old “Nazi” pistol held a special symbolic significance. Admittedly, this is not a very likely scenario, but it still remains a possibility. If it was a terrorist attack, the perpetrator(s) may have decided afterwards that claiming responsibility for this incident would amount to an own goal in PR terms, or they may never have intended to claim responsibility in the first place. (The German neo-Nazi terrorist cell NSU killed nine foreigners over a number of years, but – strangely – never claimed responsibility for any of those murders. Rather, they quietly gloated about their deeds by producing a professional-quality cartoon video in which the Pink Panther played the leading role. The video was only released after their own deaths.)

  • Good In Parts

    M.

    Exhibition Road ? That sounds slightly vulgar, Queens Gate if you please !

    Was it you who suggested that there could be turf war type rivalry between mountain guides ? Scree wars perhaps ?

    A piste based on Bossi & compagnions as the intended targets also has the advantage that the BMW break parked tight in the corner with two female passengers could, at a stretch, be mistaken for Bossi & co.

    From Le Parisien

    “Autre certitude, le tireur se tenait dans le fond du parking, là même où Saad Al-Hilli avait garé son break BMW, au pied du panneau indiquant les chemins de randonnée.”

    Presumably SM attacked the killer with his bike pump which was found in approx that area. Or maybe he threw the pump.

    I wonder what role, if any, the culvert played in hiding the killer.

  • Good In Parts

    Michael Norton

    I was just trawling through old posts looking for one I made a while ago when I came across this post of yours:-

    https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2012/09/not-forgetting-the-al-hillis-continued/comment-page-5/#comment-502609

    Christian Marshal was the victim, Christian Marshal
    who was sheriff at the time.

    At the time the islamist connection was considered bogus. If the same thing happened today would the response be the same?

    Maybe they should be looking for a radicalised local who was a disturbed teen at the time?

  • Good In Parts

    Q

    “Why three strange white blood of varying shapes, with irregular borders at “the house” on the road to the murders?”

    When I first read your post my brain went into sensemaking mode and came up with this:-

    http://www.unlockedmind.com/body_outline.jpg

    Please, please, keep using your spellchecker, it’s trying to tell us something.

  • Good In Parts

    I am going to re-issue my appeal of a couple of days ago:-

    Now here’s the thing, everything checks out. Can anyone think of a witness who has been caught out in an obvious lie?

    The closest I can get is ONF1 and I am pretty sure that he was boxed in by ONF2 calling dibs on the 15:25-30 ‘sighting slot’. Thus his initial statement was probably the most accurate, then things went downhill as les gendarmes wrestled the witness statements into mutual consistency.

  • Pink

    @ M My point was to GIP on other addresses the reason there was a caravan kerfuffle was because the accountant and SAH have caravans and IAH was showing up at the accountant address as company secretary and as a personal address she was not registered at Claygate so if she was receiving any mail on the side it could be there remember what the postmen said .

    from the link
    http://www.demotix.com/news/1437669/claygate-address-murdered-saad-al-hilli-company-shtech-ltd#media-1437643
    “Public data lists 33 Foley Road as the registered address for Al-Hilli’s firm, SHTech Ltd. SHTech’s Company Secretary is listed as Ikbal Al-Saffar whose personal address is also 33 Foley Road,”

    M.
    13 Jan, 2016 – 9:11 am

    Pink, that address is of the accountant, Julian Stedman, just the registered address of the Company which had previously been at number 26.

  • M.

    Pink, GIP, I doubt she would have received personal mail via Steadman, he was friendly with SAH. Nevertheless, it is true that the postman said he hadn’t delivered any post there for her, presumably all the bills were in the name of SAH, maybe everything else was as well. She doesn’t appear to have been very gregarious during her life with SAH, quite a different character to the one we see with JT, in so many ways !

    GIP, as the sighting of the 4X4 and MC had a starting point of 15:15 (Gendarmerie appeal), I always assumed this was the approx timing given by ONF1, that puts ONF2 sighting around 15:25, 8 minutes to get downhill, LMC isn’t WBM’s MC. I like your idea it was a ‘kid’ on a 125cc or scooter.

    LMC apparently says he was on the Combe around 15:00, maybe that was near the time he headed that way, not when he was turned back above Le Martinet. Will try to follow up your idea of a liar.

    GIP, I think it was 55, Princes Gate, Exhibition Road …….

    Peter, it was only the Press who thought it could be terror related, the DGSE didn’t, stupid place for an attack, maybe the dodgy Turks in Faverges did it. Big drug bust there in the weeks after Chevaline (C. Antoine).

  • Pink

    M You might doubt it it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen the post man didn’t know if there was a wife and they didn’t get much mail only the odd parcel and jumk mail he clearly had seen SAH he sured that up with car chat .
    Perhaps the mail was redirected somewhere .

  • Q

    @GIP: I can’t shut spell check off on this device. It has a mind of its own, often changing things as I hit send. Let’s see what it does.

    As for the white blips, a thought did occur to me. Sometimes contractors stay on site in their personal holiday trailer, particularly if they are working g in a rural location. This is to save on accommodation and travel time, to use the space as an office for the project, to be on site when deliveries are made, and to safeguard those deliveries from thieves and vandals. New construction is very tempting, right through to the final stages of construction. High-end appliances and furniture arrive at the end, and alarm systems may not function yet. In the early days, lumber and drywall can be hauled away and sold or used by shady project managers: how to increase profit margins without anything on the books.

    Maybe the blips are caravans, or supply trailers (which look very similar to horse trailers from the outside.

    If Chevaline has rules against workers staying temporarily at construction sites, perhaps the non-locals stay at campgrounds (also common where I am, during the summer months).

    Not forgetting that a fully-equipped fifth-wheel or holiday trailer has a convenient toilet and shower.

  • Q

    I have learned from others that Google has a process to have your property blocked from view. This wasn’t always an option. Perhaps the people of Chevaline don’t appreciate all the attention they’ve received since 2012, and are taking advantage of this. I think it just causes more questions and prying eyes, as it’s a hobby to find oddities on Google now. I’ve seen things like half a street in winter, the other in Summer, but whitblips with irregular black outlines are something new.

    As to the overnight hikers, weren’t the royals hanging out topless in French
    chateaux around the time of the Chevaline affair?

    They do like a bit of rustic from time to time, as long as the pritine wilderness is buffed, polished and brought up to snuff.

    http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/calgary/william-and-kate-hide-away-at-rustic-mountain-lodge-1.989888

  • Q

    Six workers were seen at this site in 2011, and supplies were brought in by helicopter. Not a normal day of hiking. The article doesn’t mention that this facility is booked years in advance, and other guests were asked to forfeit their reservations (considerably more humble) to make it possible.but

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2012644/Kate-Middleton-Prince-William-bathroom-fake-bronze-claw-feet.html

    Who else was up the mountain at Chevaline, anyways?

  • M.

    Pink, the postman says ‘they’, he hadn’t seen a wife but presumes there was one, that doesn’t mean there was no post for her, does it ? I think people make assumptions and then the rest follow, and repeat possibly adding or deducting an idea.

    Q, I really don’t know how to have you look elsewhere in the area, apart from you taking a virtual Google Earth flight, there are other white blobs with odd shapes surrounded by black lines. They purchase the images, security sensitive sites are blurred. If this property was anything to do with the murders, why hasn’t it been blurred or whited out completely ?

    Your idea is good, someone staying onsite, problem is LFR only lives a few miles away, it’s most likely a tarpaulin, covering or as GIP says, insulation. It was a huge extension, almost doubling the property in size.

  • Good In Parts

    M.

    LFR is a prime example of testimony that sounded iffy but later turned out to be (probably) OK.

    Remember all the double-visit or double-back theories? I feel (mildly) guilty that my prejudice against dodgy builders led me to doubt what he said.

  • M.

    GIP, I still think his ‘good half an hour’ after starting work is unlikely to be 14:40 !

    Unsupervised, a lovely early September afternoon, already behind with the works (at his own admission) start at 14:30ish then add on the good half an hour and you get much nearer the truth.

    Paul Ducher saying he thinks he may have seen the Red BMW pass whilst he was mucking out, I live amongst the French farmers, 14:30 is about the norm to rev up the tractor, they don’t stop at 12:00, normally 12:30 because by then the food has been prepared by the wife and is ready to be put on the table.

    As for ‘dodgy’, Mr & Mrs Bewick probably had a good deal with LFR, some on the books some off, normal practice…… that is most likely why they hotfooted it away when they heard of murders, not because of the murders, but because it meant ‘Les Flics’ would be arriving or already were there, speaking to Paul Ducher.

    The fast Peugeot seen by Sylvie most likely the unemployed (legally) builders mate, I know France, I also know the practice is rife in the UK ! Not enough work to warrant a full contract, so a bit of ‘off the books’ work.

    I bet you’ve all done it at some point, the if you pay me cash, I’ll knock off the VAT, maybe the Bewicks didn’t know he used off the books worker/s …. they chose LFR for a reason, he’s now stopped his building business.

  • Pink

    @M IMO he only says they after prompting from the press he knew it was supposed to be a family he had not seen them only SAH and yes she may have got the odd parcel and junk mail or not as the case may be ,you can assume she did I will assume she didn’t we have it all covered then .

  • M.

    So, follow that through, why would the Bewicks engage in such underhand building work and then have part of the house obliterated by a white blip surrounded by black edging ?

    Hey unless the extension hasn’t been approved by the local council !

    Around here, they often do a sweep by light aircraft to check if swimming pools have been installed without permission.

    We were on holiday, the builders were in, my neighbours gave access to the local council because they wanted to check our WOODSHED ! Turned out a neighbour thought we were illegally building an extension, the builders were taking up and replacing slippery internal tiles on the terrace with suitable exterior non-slip.

    Q, is correct on streetview you can object to the camera vision being accessible, it results in flying past when looking at properties, I can no longer look into my Dads front window ! Because his neighbour and the bloke opposite objected.

  • M.

    Pink, he doesn’t say she received no mail.

    Why do you think he thought in his seven years of covering the patch they’d only been there three or four years ?

    The man was put on the spot, he admits he’d only just learned of the deaths through his wife and even then only as he’d arrived to deliver post did someone say it could be the people who lived in this house.

    That is the problem with ‘early’ comments, his is just a brief, stunned personal comment, he had only seen SAH.

  • M.

    Dear Pink,

    I too went along with the ‘no mail’ situation, which is why I was looking for a logical reason, I didn’t check, now I have, if someone has a link that says specifically she received no mail, please post it.

    Regards

    M

  • Pink

    He knew which house because he knew about SAH and the car, he knew about the caravan he didn’t know about IAH ,I do agree that the poor chap was put on the spot and as to why he thought three or four years who knows, if I was asked to say how long a time had elapsed I would struggle as I don’t tend to track time so one year or three doesn’t mean much to me .
    Why do you care anyway your happy with what you think I am wondering who else might have been in a loop if there was any other arrangement or if there was something to hide.
    One report said IAH had been at Reading so mail could have been going there not saying it was just another thought.

  • michael norton

    AMERICA helps to tip the FRENCH Economy into the SHIT

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35301561

    “U.S.A. manufacturing giant General Electric plans to cut up to 6,500 jobs in energy units it bought from FRENCH engineering giant Alstom over the next two years.

    The figure includes 765 jobs to go in FRANCE.

    To secure the deal last year, GE had soothed FRENCH government concerns by pledging to create 1,000 jobs in the country.”

    You just can not trust the AMERICANS!

  • M.

    Pink, of course her sister and brother were living in Reading, which means they, the guardians of the girls could have known about their sisters undissolved marriage, were they at the wedding ?

    I don’t recall.

    The ‘divorce’ and subsequent ‘marriage’ took place in 2003.

    Were her siblings in the UK in 2003 ?

    SAH wrote he drove Fadwa to the airport in…. I will have to check the year, December 2010/11 ?

  • Peter

    @ Q, 13 Jan, 2016 – 4:03 pm

    As a long-time wearer of tin-foil hats, I have had my house blocked from Google StreetView and Bing. As a result, the entire place is pixellated from top to bottom and StreetView “flies” past the property. By contrast, one cannot have cars or trailers blocked, as their number plates are automatically recognised and pixellated anyway (it is unclear what Google et al. do with those number-plate data, just as it is unclear what they do with all the WLAN data that they grab during those drive-bys with their camera cars).

  • Q

    Another thought occurred to me. Maybe Saad’s aerial survey company was in the business of doing flyovers for illicit swimming pools for municipalities. Maybe this had consequences for someone. It’s usually heat-seeking cameras carried by helicopter at night in the winter, but aerial survey by plane can be done in the day to spot the house roof without snow in winter. Grow ops are much more predominant here, but I remember reading about the illegal pools in France.

    I think I’m repeating myself.

  • Q

    If it is a glitch, why are the Google satellite images of Chevaline so glitchy? Interference? Other mountain towns in the world do not have this going on.

  • Pink

    M The only wedding I have seen mentioned had 6 people I have no idea who that was ,I thought maybe it was one of those register office do’s to make it legal and they had a different wedding to celebrate I don’t know that though just what I thought might have happened or perhaps they were not into big weddings ,I don’t recall seeing much mentioned .

  • michael norton

    ALSTROM renages on promise to the FRENCH
    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7bcfec42-b9e4-11e5-bf7e-8a339b6f2164.html#axzz3xDInYkgz

    General Electric has announced plans to shed 6,500 jobs in Europe as it integrates the energy units of Alstom that it bought last year — potentially setting itself up for clashes with several governments and unions.

    On Wednesday, the US group said it proposed to cut 1,700 posts in Germany, 570 in the UK and 1,200 in Switzerland. But it is the 765 positions in France that may prove the most delicate given the controversy around GE’s acquisition of Alstom’s energy assets last year.

    At the time, GE’s plans prompted a spat with the French government, which was uneasy about a symbol of its national engineering prowess being taken over by a foreign company.

    The €9.7bn GE-Alstom deal was closed last year, but only after the government demanded and won a range of concessions — including the setting up of a number of joint ventures and a promise to create 1,000 jobs in France over three years. The combined energy business currently employs 50,000 people in Europe.

    French unions reacted bitterly to the news, with the Force Ouvrière criticising the “naivety” of those who let the deal go ahead in the first place and calling on politicians to stop the “dismantling” of Alstom in France “before there is nothing left”.

  • michael norton

    Should have said GENERAL ELECTRIC / ALSTROM

    Alstom: world leader for
    turbine island solutions
    A global leader in power generation, Alstom’s product portfolio covers all fuel types. From
    fossil and biomass to nuclear and renewables, close to 25% of the world’s power production
    capacity utilises Alstom technology or services.
    Supporting nuclear power plant operators for more than 55 years, Alstom has worked to
    continually improve its turbine island design and component integration. Advanced designs
    with fewer parts have helped Alstom speed delivery of new products and technologies to
    market. Alstom’s evolutionary, incremental improvements to its proven products ensure
    that customers’ plants remain easier to operate and less expensive to maintain. A single
    goal drives Alstom: to help its customers gain the maximum return on investment from their
    power plant operations.

    http://alstomenergy.gepower.com/Global/Power/Resources/Documents/Brochures/nuclear-power-solutions.pdf

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