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8,055 thoughts on “Not Forgetting the al-Hillis continued

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  • michael norton

    Marie Simone LOMBARD born BRUN
    of Marthod died last year at age 96 with a huge number of relatives in attendance,
    so maybe Marthod is the village of
    Brun?

  • Good In Parts

    Check out ledauphine.com link given above by michael norton.

    Wonder if three years paternity leave meant three years without having to pay child support?

    If so, maybe someone ranted about it to the local meathead.

  • NotForgettingFrenchBashing

    Hey GIP, don’t you forget the line
    ” I hate people when they’re not polite ”
    That’s what happened at Chevaline.

  • Good In Parts

    NFFB

    “fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better
    Run run run run run run run away”

    Thats what almost happened at Chevaline.

  • James

    @Peter

    It appeared there was a “private party” going on (numbering three I believe, although possibly more. I haven’t a clue).

    In that three, the conversation turned to comments made by FB (and I’m not sure if he, himself was in this private party…or it was his previous postings on MZT that there was reference to).

    It then appears there was a division. And the most northern element departed !
    What was said, I have no idea.

    This “news” then came out “publicly”…..and I was “shocked” that such an operation was being “undertaken”. I voice my “dismay” in the strongest most (uncensored) terms.

    The “party” (publicly at least) then closed !
    It probably continues in private. I don’t know.

    Re MZT. I believe there was some “French issue” which (in part) caused the closure.
    An “all French” tag team did appear. They voiced an opinion that the forum was “held” in France….and therefore should not be so “critical” of the investigation.
    It then was “closed”.

    Personally, I haven’t a clue what is going on AND prefer to keep an “open mind” as to “who the target(s) were/was (and thus the motivation).

    Form an onlookers point of view, I find the conduct of the French investigation “most bizarre”. Key to this is, they (the investigators) were forced to “release” the information (that being the photo-fit) of the motorcycle rider AFTER they knew details of the conversation he had with ONF2 was to be aired by the BBC Panorama team.

    From that, one could conclude many things !
    One of which maybe, the French investigators “had a fair idea” that the motorcyclist was not involved….although they did not know who he was.

    Did the motorcyclist and ONF unit “drive through” the car park AFTER the shootings ?
    Is there another unknown reason why the French team “conclude” their non involvement ?

    The mind boggles.
    But there is certainly not enough information to go on, to suggest either SAH or SM or both were the target(s).

    The French (I believe) hold the view the target was SAH. This, they concluded at 8.30am on the 6th of September 2012. And they haven’t shifted from it.

  • Peter

    @ James

    That “private party” has been going on for years; only in the days of MZT, it was conducted via e-mail. Never mind, I regret that Max closed down his blog, or at least the public part of it, because I visited it frequently (although I refrained from commenting, for the reasons given). I, too, prefer to approach the case with an open mind, and that includes considering the possibility that the AH family were the primary targets of the attack, which I believe is a reasonable hypothesis, albeit only one of many.

    I concur that the conduct of the investigation seems bizarre, but then we outsiders don’t get to see the whole picture of what they are doing and why they are doing it. They may have rock-solid evidence proving that SAH was the target, legitimising the scant attention apparently paid to the SM “piste”. Then again, perhaps they don’t believe that at all, and only act as if they do because they are tapping and bugging the heck out of some locals whom they suspect of having conspired to kill SM.

    My own current best guess focuses upon the Suitman as the culprit and the entire AH family as his targets, the entire family, because he was personally known to them and any surviving family members could have revealed his identity. I would even go so far as to speculate that he did not actually run out of ammunition: He might have deliberately spared little Zeena because she was too young to know his name, and he might have clubbed Zainab over the head in order to induce memory loss rather than in order to kill her. But all that is mere speculation, of course.

  • michael norton

    FRENCH President Francois Hollande said
    “I expressed my emotion earlier today to the British people in relation to the terrible deaths. Both the French and the British family have been impacted by this terrible event and we will do our utmost to find the perpetrators, to find the reasons behind that event.
    Our police are co-operating and everything that is found will be shared.”
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annecy_shootings

    I see Wiki are writing that Sylvain Mollier was a METALLURGIST

  • michael norton

    Maybe the FRENCH METALLURGIST Sylvain Mollier was bumped off
    because the FRENCH thought he was going to tell W.B.M./S.A.H. all about
    the metallurgical problems
    of the Reactor Pressure vessels of the E.P.R.
    that have already been made and are stored in FRANCE awaiting installation in ENGLAND.
    He had to die because he knew of the potentially catastophic flaws,
    thus if he passed this knowledge to the British he would be scuppering the FRENCH NUCLEAR INDUSTRY and thus the FRENCH ECONOMY would collapse and also the FRENCH GOVERNMENT.

  • michael norton

    The future of the world’s biggest nuclear reactor, under construction at Flamanville in northern FRANCE, is now in doubt after a serious flaw was found in its steel pressure vessel.

    http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/2829257/nuclear_reactor_flaws_raise_hinkley_c_safety_fears.html

    A serious flaw in the steel reactor vessel of a nuclear plant under construction in France raises safety fears for the EPR design, write Paul Brown & Oliver Tickell – and casts a dark shadow over the UK’s troubled Hinkley C nuclear project.

  • michael norton

    Hinkley C – same reactor design, same dangers

    Four more EPRs are planned for Britain, where they form a cornerstone of the UK government’s policy to fight climate change.

    A decision on whether to go ahead with the first two in the UK, at Hinkley Point C in Somerset, has already been postponed twice amid threats of legal action from Austria and Greenpeace Energy, and fears that the design is “unconstructable”. This revelation will cause further delays.

    The French nuclear engineering firm Areva, involved in the EPR’s design and development, found the flawed steel and reported the problem to the country’s nuclear regulator, ASN, which has ordered an investigation.

    According to ASN, “The nuclear pressure equipment regulation requires that the manufacturer limits the risks of heterogeneity in the materials used for manufacturing the components most important for safety. In order to address this technical requirement, AREVA carried out chemical and mechanical tests on a vessel head similar to that of the Flamanville EPR.

    “The results of these tests, in late 2014, revealed the presence of a zone in which there was a high carbon concentration, leading to lower than expected mechanical toughness values. Initial measurements confirmed the presence of this anomaly in the reactor vessel head and reactor vessel bottom head of the Flamanville EPR.”

    The French energy minister, Ségolène Royal, says the results of tests to check the extent of the problem will be released in October.

    Danger of early cracking in steel

    It is understood that the maximum allowable carbon content of steel in the pressure vessel is 0.22%, but tests have shown 0.30% in parts of the Flamanville vessel. This could render it subject to cracking in operation and shorten its intended lifespan.

    The discovery is another serious blow to the French nuclear industry, which already faces severe financial problems, partly because of lengthy delays and massive cost over-runs to the reactors at Flamanville and at Finland’s Olkiluoto site.

  • NotForgettingFrenchBashing

    It surely is. Another question is how much did Slyvain Mollier know about this? After all he was only a welder, and working on titanium/zirconium alloys with probably little knowledge of the master designs involved in a nuclear plant.
    Was it FRANCE vs the FRENCH, with the al’Hillis as unlucky decoys? If so, the morale of it all is don’t spend your holidays in FRANCE, there are so many wonderful resorts in the UK.

  • michael norton

    Don’t upset the FRENCH by gloating about WATERLOO,
    guests told before bicentennial event
    GUESTS attending an event to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo have been told to tone down their celebrations so as not to “be seen as triumphalist” – and to avoid annoying the FRENCH.
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/573113/Battle-Waterloo-guests-told-not-gloat-victory-bicentenary-commemorations

    Wot Tommy Rot,
    why not annoy them?

  • michael norton

    Economy still on the slide in FRANCE

    The number of unemployed in France hit a new record in March at 3.51 million people, up 0.4 percent from February, with young people especially hard hit, the labour ministry said Monday.

    The news comes as the third anniversary of President Francois Hollande’s election approaches. He has pledged not to seek re-election in 2017 if he does not succeed in reversing the trend of ever-increasing unemployment.
    http://www.france24.com/en/20150427-french-unemployment-hits-new-record-march/

  • James

    @Peter

    In terms of “open mindedness”, I still haven’t figured out….

    How the killer arrived at the Martinet unseen.
    Conducted the killings (in a 4/5 minute window).
    And escaped from the Martinet unseen.

    The killer must have arrived and departed by some means (by foot or by motor). The only outstanding/untraced vehicle is the BMW X5. But this was, as far as we know, only seen by one of the witnesses.

    At the time it was sighted, one witness would have been behind it (just entering the Combe D’Ire route) and two ahead of it (at the car park / hairpins).

    At the time of the shootings (given WBM’s claim he didn’t see it), two witness parties would have had to have passed it….as now they are heading towards WBM’s position.

    If the suggestion made by ONF1 is that “it escaped over the hills and far away”, then there are only THREE possible scenarios.

    1. The BMW X5 arrived at the car park as the motorcyclist was being stopped by the ONF2 unit at the hairpins. It the “hid” allowing the MC and ONF2 unit to pass through the empty car park.
    After the shootings, the BMW X5 made its way across the mountains.

    2. The BMW X5 arrived at the car park as the motorcyclist was being stopped by the ONF2 unit at the hairpins. It “dropped off” the shooter. Then BMW X5 made its way across the mountains thus allowing the MC and ONF2 unit to pass through the empty car park.
    After the shootings the killer departed on foot

    3. The BMW X5 arrived at the car park as the motorcyclist was being stopped by the ONF2 unit at the hairpins. It “dropped off” the shooter. Then BMW X5 made its way back down the Combe D’Ire, thus allowing the MC and ONF2 unit to pass through the empty car park, where upon the X5 exited the route before WBM entered it.
    After the shootings the killer departed on foot.

    All very bizarre.

    You could “wildly speculate” that….

    There was no BMW X5, it was SAH.
    BUT the ONF1 unit gave a “beautiful” description of the lone driver.

    The BMW X5 did pass WBM, he’s in on it, he’s just not saying.
    BUT that would put instant suspicion on WBM (easier to say he saw it and give a hazy profile of the vehicle. He’d then merely say “two vehicles passed me, I haven’t a clue what they were”).

    A “slow moving” BMW X5 escaping across a mountain pass, I just don’t buy into.

    A “slow moving” BMW X5 escaping across a mountain pass….and a murderer “running for it on foot” I really, really don’t buy into.

  • Good In Parts

    James

    What about the null hypothesis, lets call it scenario zero:-

    0. The RHD BMW X? arrived at the car park as the motorcyclist was stooging about at the upper hairpin. By his own account ‘preparing to ride over the Col’ (If this occured, it was probably before he
    was stopped by the second forestry vehicle).

    Maybe the BMW driver was just lost, overshot the carpark, finally realised it was not a main road even by french standards, looked at his map for a bit and simply turned around.

    Then BMW made its way back down the Combe, thus allowing the MC to pass through the empty car park. The X5 exited the route before WBM entered it.

    Anyway What’s with the whole “slow moving” BMW thing eh? I was under the impression that the forestry worker that was interviewed on the Panorama program (presumably your ‘one witness’) stated that the RHD BMW X? was speeding up the combe.

  • Q

    Sometimes a relatively small piece of a big picture is an important one.

    Sylvain Mollier did not go for a midnight stroll without his ID. He went for a bike ride in daylight. However, he was in a relatively remote place where presumably, under normal circumstances,there was a good chance he would be alone.

    He was also in an area which sees a lot of mysterious deaths on a regular basis: the Bermuda Triangle of France. Odd for such a sparsely populated part of the country.

  • James

    GIP

    Slow moving….as in, it would need to be IF it crossed the mountains to escape.
    I am refering to “the escape” not “the arrival”.

    And therein lies the problem.
    There are only a couple of exit routes from the Martinet going away from the Combe D’Ire.

    1. There is the ONF2 and the MC (the “hairpin route”).
    2. Is pretty damn unusable as an escape route !

  • James

    Q

    I am opened mined (as there in, just isn’t enough info to go on to say anything) but as you put it…it is a pretty strange place to live….or rather “stay alive” in !
    Twin bloody Peaks or what !

    But the questions still is…did the killer “simply” walk away after the event ???

  • Good In Parts

    Walk or drive?

    It’s a false choice. It could so easily be both.

    Not quite ‘park n ride’ more like ‘park and walk’ or ‘drop-off and walk out’.

    I too am still open minded however some scenarios are more probable than others (or seem so to me anyway).

    The odds have recently changed if we take at face value the 95% probability of non-involvement by the motorcyclist who had been on the hang gliding course.

    Most still dropping in here will have followed this long time and know most options, so gedankenexperiment, pick a target and ask yourself how would you (prefer to) do it given the known constraints.

  • Good In Parts

    I shall kick off with the target as SM, with the assumption that the killer was effectively a local.

    So putting myself in his shoes, what would be my prefered route and mode of transportation into and out of the combe?

    Starting with the escape from the point of ambush – walking or running away through the woods seems good – particularly for a local who knows the trails.

    With even minimal effort at disguise there is little for any witness to report. No number plate (even false ones may give a lead) no vehicle make, model, colour or description, nothing.

    The getaway cannot be blocked with a vehicle coming up the combe and no one in their right mind is going to chase a killer with a gun into the woods on foot. Remember the fear that Brett Martin described? Not to mention Bossy who became unhinged and actually attacked Brett Martin!

    Which route? La Combette looks nice to me. Bits look crap – that should deter anyone emboldened by sitting in their tank like 4×4 from following. Other bits look OK for a specialist vehicle, which might be left parked up lower down.

  • michael norton

    Good In Parts,
    I like it.

    I still go with the theory that “all needed to die”
    but definitely S.M.
    calmly walking through the woods, away from all vehicles and depositing the gun/guns/ammunition, changing appearance and away.
    If two or more hit persons, then different walk out routes.

  • michael norton

    Some questions for the “new” unnamed motorcyclist, entrepreneur, from nearby Lyon,
    “who has been ruled out 95%”
    How many times did he ride up to Le Martinet,
    it has been suggested half a dozen times?
    Was he at any time accompanied by another motorcyclist?
    Did he at any time have a pillion rider?
    Did he or his acomplaces carry shooters?
    Why did he not come forward a year ago?
    Was he known to Sylvain Mollier?

  • James

    @GIP

    I’m open to any ideas, as you are.

    The logic of the one you posted above is plain to see. A person escaping the crime scene would be “virtually” undetected or easily followed across such ground.

    I’ll also add….

    Annecy Airport is only a cocks stride away across the lake…and depending on what kit the police have there…IF they have anything there (And on the ground ! And available !) the scene “could” be covered quite quickly….BUT this is a “yocal” area. I can’t imagine a police helicopter “on patrol” around those parts. Grenoble maybe….

    By the time anything that can conduct a search arrives, anyone on foot could be well out of the area. Or rather “at home” and untraceable.

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