French Alps shooting: Neighbours react to horror shooting

STUNNED neighbours have paid tribute to the “extraordinarily nice” Saad al-Hilli and his “delightful” and “beautiful” children.

Mr al-Hilli and his wife were successful and well-liked; he had his own business designing aircraft mechanics, while she was a trainee dentist. Their younger daughter was about to start school.

However, Jack Saltman, whose house backs on to the al-Hillis’ large family home in Claygate, Surrey, said Mr al-Hilli had told him something before he went on holiday, which he planned to pass on to police.

“I know one little thing which I am not prepared to speak [about] at the moment. I will tell the police about it,” he said.

“It was something Saad said to me before he went, but at this stage I do not feel I can disclose that, but I will tell the police exactly what he told me before he left.”

He described his neighbour as “a massively helpful man, a wonderful engineer” who helped him repair household machinery when it broke down.

He said Mr al-Hilli had told him they were going to France for about a week and a half to try to “get a bit of extra holiday in before the kids went back to school”.

Mrs al-Hilli, he said, was a trainee dentist working at a practice locally.

“His two daughters were absolutely gorgeous, they were beautiful little girls,” he said. “Zainab, the elder girl, highly articulate, highly intelligent girl. The little girl was vivacious, full of life, a really bubbly little girl.

“They used to play together in the back garden and when I was working in the garden, they would always come over and have a chat.

“They are quite beautiful kids and so well behaved.

“He was an extraordinarily nice man and helpful.

“His wife was a delightful person and I can’t think why anybody would want to harm them.

“My wife is in floods of tears; she’s heartbroken.

“When I stop to think about it, I’ll cry for those little kiddies. What sort of life are they going to have now?”

Another neighbour, Lorna Davey, said her daughter attended Claygate Primary School with Zainab, while Zeena was due to start there.

She said: “They were very pretty, smiley little girls and a very nice, happy family. I’m shocked.”

Julian Stedman, who had been Mr al-Hilli’s personal accountant for eight years, said he had spoken to him the day he left for France.

“He was rushing down to collect his mother-in-law from Reading. I think she was the person who was with them.”

TIMELINE

3:48PM WEDNESDAY A British cyclist calls French police after finding three people shot dead in a car and the body of a French cyclist, also shot, nearby.

7:30PM Foreign Office says it is looking into the killings urgently. A local newspaper reports that 66 police officers are at the scene, near Lake Annecy, which was strewn with a large number of bullet cartridges.

9:25PM Police say no weapon was found near the scene. Forensic experts begin travelling from Paris to investigate the killings.

5AM THURSDAY French officials confirm the victims were British and part of the same family. They also reveal a four-year-old girl was discovered alive and uninjured inside the BMW people carrier.

6AM Authorities say the girl was discovered “frozen stiff” under dead bodies during a forensic examination of the car.

12:30PM It emerges that the seven-year-old girl found near the vehicle had been violently beaten about the head and had brain injuries.

1:50PM The dead man in the car is named by French media as Saad al-Hilli.