Scotland releases man mistaken for French murder suspect

Scotland’s police on Saturday released a man after he was mistaken for a French fugitive wanted for killing his wife and four children eight years ago.

French judicial sources had initially believed that they had finally caught up with Xavier Dupont de Ligonnes, who was subject to an international arrest warrant for the 2011 killings which transfixed France.

But Scotland’s police said they had informed their French counterparts that forensic tests proved the man detained at Glasgow airport on Friday was not Dupont de Ligonnes.

“Inquiries were undertaken to confirm the man’s identity. Following the results of these tests it has been confirmed that the man arrested is not the man suspected of crimes in France,” the police,” said in a statement.

“The man has since been released. The man and his family have no wish to speak to the media at this time and ask that their privacy be respected on this matter.”

Sources close to the probe said the conclusion was reached after DNA tests.

The detained man was stopped in Glasgow after arriving on a flight from Paris following an anonymous tip-off, according to French sources close to the investigation.

Sources had said earlier that a fingerprint match had been made.

A police search was carried out on Friday at the arrested man’s house in Limay in the western suburbs of Paris.

Neighbours told AFP the house belonged to Guy Joao, a man of Portuguese origin with French and British nationality and who is married to a Scottish woman.