A French playboy lawyer has been convicted of the murder of his girlfriend, bringing to conclusion a 37-year mystery infamous in France as the La Roux Affair.
Maurice Agnelet, 76, has been convicted of the murder of Agnes Le Roux, a 27-year-old casino heiress who mysteriously disappeared on 26 October 1977. Her body has never been found, but Italian police have said that they would begin a search for her remains after one of Agnelet’s sons claimed earlier this week that his father had disposed of her body in Italy.
During the trial Guillaume Agnelet told the court that both of his parents had separately told him that his father was guilty of La Roux’s murder when he was a teenager, with his mother, Annie Litas, telling him that Agnelet had shot and killed La Roux and disposed of her body during a camping trip in Italy. However, Litas denied the story and testified that her son had mental issues, according to the Telegraph.
Agnelet was the prime suspect for La Roux’s murder at the time of her disappearance, but he was acquitted after a girlfriend of his, Francoise Lasseure, testified that she was with him in Switzerland when the murder was believed to have taken place.
The case was reopened after Lasseure admitted that she had lied, and Agnelet was convicted in 2007, but the verdict was quashed by the European Court of Human Rights.
Agnelet has now been found guilty for the second time and faces 20 years in prison, but says he will appeal the verdict.
