Sniper shoots dead 'supergrass' INSIDE French jail



A 'supergrass' witness has been shot dead by a sniper perched on a hill overlooking the exercise yard of his jail.

Convicted gangster Sghair Larimi - a key police witness in an ongoing murder investigation - died from a bullet to the chest at Varces-Grenoble prison.



A second man in the exercise yard was hit in the hand by a second bullet in the shooting on Sunday evening, officials said.

The suspected sniper was arrested shortly afterwards as he tried to make off on a motorbike. His rifle was still warm from the shooting.

Assassination: French police leave Varces-Grenoble jail after inmate Sghair Lamiri was gunned down inside the exercise yard

Varces-Grenoble Prison, in south-east France: The inmate was shot dead by a sniper on a hill whose rifle was found still warm a short while later

The gunman was arrested within minutes of pulling the trigger, with his telescopic rifle 'still hot', French justice minister Rachida Dati told the French media.

Investigators believe Larimi, 29, was being 'silenced' by gangland rivals.



He was jailed for eight years earlier this year for robberies committed in 2001, and had been due to give evidence in an investigation into a mafia-style massacre of nine men in Grenoble in 2007.



Those killings were said to have been in revenge for the murder of Lassad Lamiri, the victim's brother, several months earlier.



Scores of police were sent to the prison after the shooting and the exercise yard was cleared on convicts.



Prison security official Martin Parkouda said trouble flared when several prisoners refused to return to their cells after the shooting.



Others obeyed orders to return inside, then some threw flaming sheets and pillow cases onto a workshop causing a fire which was later put out.



Convicts were today not being allowed into the exercise yard of the prison, which is surrounded by mountains in the Alpine city in south east France.

Miss Dati did not name the suspected gunman, but said he was aged 58 and had been remanded in custody.

She added: 'He denies the facts, but he was arrested when he was getting to his motorbike which had a false licence plate and his rifle with telescopic sight was still warm.'

Miss Dati said it was the first time in France that a serving prisoner had been killed from outside the prison walls.



She said: 'It is an extremely rare incident, but also a very serious breach of security and a full investigation has been launched into how this came to happen.'

The Force Ouvriere prisons union spokesman Jean-Pierre Schiefer said the union had highlighted the potential dangers of the hill overlooking the exercise yard on several occasions.



He said: 'We had pointed out several times to prison officers there that prisoners could be targeted from the hill, from where there is clear view of the yard.



'They did nothing because this kind of crime had never occured before. Steps must now be taken at all prisons in France to make sure this can never happen again.'





