Armed police raided a southern French monastery on Tuesday after reports that an elusive Catholic aristocrat suspected of murdering his entire family was hiding there.

Worshippers had sighted a man resembling Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès during masses at the monastery. The descendant of a French count, Dupont de Ligonnès is one of France’s most wanted fugitives. He has been on the run for nearly seven years following the massacre of his wife and four children, along with their two labradors - leading to comparisons with Lord Lucan in the UK

Twenty officers surrounded the monastery in Roquebrune-sur-Argens, a mediaeval village near Cannes where Duipont de Ligonnès was last seen leaving a budget hotel in 2011.

Initially police struggled to communicate with monks who have taken a vow of silence.

After painstaking inquiries and a two-hour search, however, they concluded that it was a case of mistaken identity. “We believe worshippers in fact saw a monk resembling Dupont de Ligonnès,” a police source said.