French fugitive Xavier de Ligonnès, suspected of killing wife and children, arrested in Glasgow

One of the most wanted men in France, Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès, who is suspected of killing his wife and their four children in Nantes in 2011, has been arrested in Glasgow.

By Ross McCafferty Friday, 11th October 2019, 10:06 pm

Xavier Dupont de Ligonns. Picture: AFP/Getty

Dupont de Ligonnès, 58, has been wanted since 2011 when in one of the country's most infamous case, five members of his family were found buried in their garden and was arrested earlier today at Glasgow Airport.

Business manager Dupont wrote in a bizarre letter to family members at the time that he was a secret agent and he was moving with his family to America as part of a witness protection programme with the Secret Service.

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The family went missing on April 3 2011, and bodies of Dupont's wife Agnesa and their children Tomas, 21, Arthur, 18, Anne, 16, and 13-year-old Benoit were found later that month.

A manhunt was quickly launched for Dupont, who remains the main suspect, but despite numerous alleged sightings in the intervening period, including when 50 police and firefighters searched caves in the South of France, he has not been seen since.

AFP reported that Dupont was arrested at Glasgow Airport this afternoon after disembarking an easyJet flight from Paris Charles de-Gaulle.

Le Parisien newspaper reported that he was travelling under a false name but was captured after a positive fingerprint identification was made.

He is believed to have offered no resistance to his arrest.

It is understood Dupont, who had a red flag from Interpol, was noticed by staff at the French airport, but didn't have time to prevent him boarding.