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A top police officer involved in the Charlie Hebdo investigation killed himself within hours of the massacre.

Helric Fredou, 45, shot himself with his police-issued gun after meeting relatives of one of the 12 victims of the terror attack at the magazine's Paris office, according to reports.

Mr Fredou was Deputy Director of the Regional Service Judicial Police in Limoges, south of the French capital, and is believed to have been one of the leading figures in the investigation into the attack.

French media reported that the single police officer, who had no children, had complained of being "depressed” and overworked before the massacre.

His body is thought to have been discovered in his office at Limoges by a colleague at around 1am on Thursday morning.

The Commissioners' Union of the National Police confirmed Mr Fredou's death.

It said in a statement: "It is with great sadness that we were informed this morning of the death of our colleague Helric Fredou , assigned as Deputy Director of the Regional Service Judicial Police in Limoges.

"On this particular day of national mourning , police commissioners are hit hard by the tragic death of one of their own .

"The Union of Commissioners of the National Police would like to present its most sincere condolences to the relatives of Helric."

Mr Fredou had been a police officer since 1997 and was appointed Deputy Director in 2012.

His death came within hours of brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi shooting 12 people dead in Paris.

The pair then went on the run for three days as their accomplice Amedy Coulibaly, 32, shot a woman police officer dead and killed four hostages during a siege at a Jewish supermarket.

The Kouachi brothers and Coulibaly were all shot dead by police on Friday during a bloody denouement to the violence.