The husband of Magali Blandin, who had admitted the murder of his wife near Rennes last February, committed suicide in prison, we learned on Monday from a source close to the case. The suspect killed himself by hanging on the night from Sunday to Monday at Vézin-le-Coquet prison near Rennes, according to this source. He had left a letter warning of his intention and had been placed in a ward for vulnerable detainees.
Indicted on March 21, Jérôme Gaillard was accused of having killed his wife, a 42-year-old specialist educator, on February 11. During his police custody, he confessed to having hit Magali Blandin, from whom he was separated, with a baseball bat in Montfort-sur-Meu (Ille-et-Vilaine) before getting rid of the body. The body was found forty days after the murder in a wooded area of Boisgervilly, not far from the home of the main suspect.
Parents indicted
The investigation also revealed that the husband had previously tried to commission Georgian contract killers to execute his wife for a sum of 20,000 euros. His parents, Jean and Monique Gaillard, were indicted for attempted aiding and abetting murder by spouse. They admitted to having been informed of the criminal project.
The couple’s four children had been placed earlier. “He couldn’t stand her leaving him,” his lawyer had said at the time of his imprisonment. The victim had filed a complaint for domestic violence a few months before being killed.