A man who was gunned down in his car alongside his dentist wife and her mother in the French Alps owned an illegal Taser stun gun, it has been revealed.
The murders of Iraqi-born Saad al-Hilli, 50, wife Iqbal, her mother Suhaila al-Allaf and cyclist Sylvain Mollier at a remote spot close to Lake Annecy in September remain a mystery.
Al-Hilli’s children Zainab, seven and Zeena, four, survived the attack, with Zeena hiding under the skirts of her dead mother in the car for eight hours.
Saad al-Hilli, whose was murdered in the attack alongside his wife and mother-in-law
On Monday The Mirror reported detectives were anxious to find out if al-Hilli kept the weapon because he feared for his life.
Annecy prosecutor Eric Maillaud, said: “It could be like a woman who has tear gas in her bag, more as a precaution than because of a specific concern.”
Al-Hilli, who is thought to have properties in Spain, France and Iraq too, had changed the locks of his £1m home in Surrey shortly before his death.
Maillaud had earlier spoken of his conviction the reasons for the massacre lay in the UK.
Maillaud and examining magistrate Michel Mollin, another senior member of the inquiry team, met officers from Surrey Police at Woking police station to discuss the case.
Police searching the al-Hilli family's house in Surrey
Maillaud told reporters outside Woking police station it was "without any doubt that the reasons and causes have their origins in this country".
British cyclist Brett Martin, who was first on the scene, likened it to a Hollywood film set.
He told the BBC: "If you've seen CSI Miami it was pretty much what you would imagine the set from CSI Miami woud be like.
"There was a lot of blood and heads with bullet holes in them."
He said when he first arrived at the scene "at first I just thought they'd been a terrible accident between a cyclist and a car."
He said BMW's engine was still revving and its wheels were spinning when he got to the scene.