Convicted killer seeks revenge on those who testified against him

An insurance agent and convicted killer remained at large in the region of Narbonne, south-western France, yesterday after brutally killing two policemen and two former colleagues who had testified against him.

Albert Foulcher (50) managed to evade 500 policemen and gendarmes whose manhunt spanned the departments of Aude, Le Gard, Herault and Bouches-du-Rhone.

Security forces set up roadblocks and deployed helicopters in their failed search for him.

The Mercedes which Foulcher stole from his last victim was found abandoned yesterday at Serignan, near Beziers.

But police did not know whether the killer was on foot, in a car, or indeed whether he was still in the region.

Foulcher was arrested in 1993 on suspicion of murdering Mr Andre Meffray (64), an insurance agent whose business he had purchased. But Foulcher was freed in 1996 because his pre-trial detention was deemed excessive. He did not report for trial in April 2000. When he was convicted of killing Mr Meffray, under French law he therefore received the maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

All five of Foulcher's victims were shot at close range. In 1993 he was angry with Mr Meffray for opening a new office near the insurance agency he had sold. He accused Mr Meffray of destroying his business through unfair competition. On April 20th, 2000, Foulcher was convicted in absentia of having shot Mr Meffray dead with a Magnum .357 revolver. He has been the subject of an international arrest warrant ever since.

For the past nine months on the run, Foulcher nurtured his desire for vengeance against former colleagues who testified at his trial. Armed with an automatic pistol, he went to the small farm of Mr Pascal Herrero, who called the police on Monday.

When Mr Herve Prior and Mr Patrick Rigaud arrived at the scene, Foulcher sprayed their squad car with 20 bullets before they had a chance to get out. The policeman in the driver's seat died instantly, with four bullets in his brain. The other survived only a few minutes.

Foulcher then shot Mr Herrero dead before driving a stolen Volkswagen 10 km to the home of Mr Maurice Michaud, another insurance agent who had given evidence. After killing Mr Michaud, Foulcher stole his Mercedes, which he used to force his way through a gendarmerie roadblock.

Police are now protecting everyone connected with Foulcher's trial, including his lawyer, Mr Jacques Martin, and Ms Beatrice Seita-Redon, the former wife of the judge who convicted him.

The French Interior Minister, Mr Daniel Vaillant, expressed his "fright and horror" at the death of the two policemen and promised that "everything will be done to arrest the killer and bring him to justice". But police unions blamed the Interior and Justice Ministries for freeing Mr Foulcher in 1996, when psychologists warned that he was dangerous.

Foulcher's killing spree and escape occurred shortly after the murder of a security guard transporting cash. That led to a strike by security guards and the abandonment of several thousand cash machines by the Brinks company. Violence and insecurity are fast becoming issues in upcoming elections.