Nantes prosecutor’s office requests referral to trial of serial killer Martin Ney

After twenty years of fruitless research, will there finally be a trial? The Nantes public prosecutor’s office has requested that the German serial killer Martin Ney, accused of the mysterious murder of little Jonathan twenty years ago, be referred to the assizes.

The Nantes prosecutor’s office considered on June 28 that there were “sufficient charges justifying the referral of Martin Ney to the Loire-Atlantique Assize Court,” explained Renaud Gaudeul, the Nantes prosecutor, in a press release. The latter is accused of kidnapping, sequestration and detention of a minor under the age of 15 and murder committed on a minor under the age of 15.

A confession to a fellow prisoner

As a reminder, on the night of April 6 to 7, 2004, Jonathan Coulom, 11 years old, was abducted from a holiday center in Saint-Brevin-les-Pins where he was with his class. The body of the little boy was found a month and a half later, on May 19. Tied up and weighted down with a concrete block in a pond, the body was found near Guérande, 25 km from the place of the abduction.

For several years, the investigation stalled despite the work of around fifteen agents from the Rennes research section, working full-time on the case. In 2018, everything accelerated: Martin Ney, a German serial killer in prison after being sentenced to life for murder and sexual assault on three young boys, allegedly confessed to a fellow inmate that he had kidnapped little Jonathan.

Extradition necessary in case of trial

Extradited and indicted for the murder in 2021, the man, now 53, has always denied his involvement. However, since then, the investigation has progressed. In December 2023, the investigating magistrate in charge of this case completed his investigations. In total: 160 volumes of procedure. And on June 28, the Nantes prosecutor’s office therefore proceeded with this requisition.

The investigating magistrate will have to confirm the prosecution’s analysis for there to be a trial in France. Since Martin Ney is still being held in Germany, the German authorities will have to accept an extradition agreement so that he can be tried in France.

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