The killer of an Anglo-Iraqi businessman and his wife and mother-in-law in the French Alps last year probably escaped by motorcycle and had an accomplice, the BBC has reported.

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The killer of a British-Iraqi businessman in the French Alps last year probably had an accomplice, according to the BBC’s Panorama programme aired on Monday night.

The investigative news programme also featured the first full media interview with the killed man’s brother, who protested his innocence while admitting that he had fallen out with him over an inheritance.

Saad al-Hili was gunned down along with his wife and her mother on a mountain road near the Swiss border. His two daughters survived the attack.

A cyclist, Sylvain Mollier, was shot near the car. French Police believe he was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time.

While the French murder investigation has made little ground, the BBC programme spoke to two key witnesses who both said they saw a motorbike and a BMW 4x4 near the scene.

British holidaymaker Brett Martin, a former RAF pilot, discovered the gruesome murders while on a bike ride, and described how he had seen a motorcyclist riding away from the scene shortly beforehand.

Meanwhile, in his first media interview, a French forestry worker said he saw the motorcyclist pull into the parking spot where the Hilli family were murdered.

He described the motorcycle as white and black with panniers and said it was ridden by a man dressed in black.

He explained that his colleagues later talked to the man over a minor traffic violation, and described him as having "a bit of a beard".

The BBC investigation said this man is the likely killer.

Cover-up?

Both witnesses also described seeing a grey British-licensed BMW X5 4x4 heading towards the scene, driven by a man described as "slightly bald" with "dark skin, no glasses".

Panorama said this man was probably an accomplice, and suggested he may have fled to Italy immediately after the killing.

Zaid al-Hilli, the dead man's 54-year-old brother, was arrested by British police in June on suspicion of being behind the killings.

But he insists that French police have failed to investigate the possibility that the real target was French cyclist Sylvain Mollier.

"They are covering up for someone in France," Hilli, who is due to answer police bail on Wednesday, told Panorama.

"Mollier was involved in family disputes and was an outsider to (his) rich family. We are dealing with very powerful local people, they know each other and are in each other's pockets. They focused attention on us, it has a racist background."

Claims 'held no water'

French prosecutor Eric Maillaud earlier dismissed al-Hili’s claims, telling AFP they "held no water", while stating to the BBC that Mollier was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Their lead theory is that a family inheritance dispute was the motive for the killings.

Zaid was unable to comment on the row as he is under investigation for fraud after it was alleged he got his father, Kadhim, to draw up a will excluding Saad, and also that he tried to obtain a credit card for his father's Swiss bank account.

Zaid admitted that police were called to an argument between the two at Saad's house, which they had both inherited from their mother, in the leafy London suburb of Claygate.

"Every family has disagreements, we mustn't exaggerate them," he explained. "Saad had issues, I didn't really have issues."

He said he had offered to take a lie detector test, but that he would not go to France for questioning because "I don't trust the French".

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