They had been in pre-trial detention since the end of March. The parents of Jérôme Gaillard, who confessed to the murder of his wife Magali Blandin last February near Rennes and committed suicide three weeks ago, have been released, we learned from the prosecution. Indicted for alleged complicity with their son, Monique and Jean Gaillard “were placed under judicial control,” said Rennes public prosecutor Philippe Astruc, without giving details of the content of this control. This couple aged 72 and 75 came out “Wednesday”, said another judicial source.
Jérôme Gaillard hanged himself during the night of October 31 to November 1 in Vézin-le-Coquet prison near Rennes. He admitted to having killed his wife, a 42-year-old special education teacher, with a baseball bat, who had left him a few months earlier.
Money paid to the son
The spouse had been in pre-trial detention since March 21. Magali Blandin’s body was found in March in Montauban-de-Bretagne, in a wood a few kilometers from the husband’s home, more than a month after his disappearance on February 11. The body had been located on the indication of her husband, who had confessed to having killed her against the backdrop of an incredible “criminal conspiracy” involving Georgian killers. The couple, who were in the process of divorce, had four children aged 4, 7, 12 and 14 at the time of the incident. Magali Blandin had left her husband in September 2020.
The parents of Jérôme Gaillard, retired farmers with no criminal record, admitted having helped their last son in his criminal project. They said they were devastated by the suicide ten years ago of their other son, also in the process of divorce. The mother, Monique Gaillard declared having paid money to her son to help him financially, knowing that this sum could be used to carry out this criminal project. In particular, the father had provided his son with an alibi.
Three Georgians including a woman, alleged perpetrators of an attempted extortion of funds from Jérôme Gaillard, were also indicted for attempted extortion by an organized gang. They had a recording in which the husband declared his intention to kill his wife. Jérôme Gaillard had given 20,000 euros to the Georgians, who “swindled” him, before “acting alone”, the Rennes prosecutor had indicated.