It is rumored that the examining magistrate leading the investigation into the death of Magali Blandin was in a cold anger. Monday morning, the magistrate learned of the death of Jérôme Gaillard, found hanging from the window of his cell in Rennes-Vezin prison after a hunger strike lasting nearly three weeks. Incarcerated since March when he confessed to killing his wife Magali Blandin with a baseball bat, the main suspect took his secrets with him.
In his cell, staff discovered a letter and a will. If the content of the writings has not leaked, we can think that Jérôme Gaillard is asking for the release of his parents, indicted and imprisoned for complicity in murder. “It had become his reason for living,” assures his lawyer Me Jean-Guillaume Le Mintier. The death of the father of four does not mean the end of the investigation. In this case, his parents and a neighbor, a 31-year-old Georgian, are still being prosecuted. 20 minutes make the point.
Who are the people being prosecuted?
They are three. Monique and Jean Gaillard are the parents of Jérôme Gaillard. On Monday, the retired couple lost their last son. About ten years ago, their other boy took his own life. In this case, they are indicted for “complicity in murder by spouse” and “attempted death by spouse”. Investigators suspect them of having paid 50,000 euros to their son to help him kill his wife, with whom he was in the process of divorce. In a confrontation on October 12, the role of parents was clarified. According to investigators, Monique and Jean Gaillard would have provided an alibi to their son on the day of the murder. The father would have gone to the home of Jérôme Gaillard in Montauban-de-Bretagne, using the Internet and the telephone to “simulate” the presence of his son at his home. The couple also reportedly bought lime to make their stepdaughter’s body disappear.
The other accused is a 31-year-old Georgian. Neighbor of Jérôme Gaillard, he would have offered his help and his contacts in order to assassinate Magali Blandin. His phone was also limited to the home of Magali Blandin in Montfort-sur-Meu shortly before the murder, which occurred on February 11. On his phone, investigators discovered an extortion letter written by a Georgian friend to blackmail Jérôme Gaillard. He is also accused of having boned the car used to transport the lifeless body of the mother of four children.
Can the trial be “correctionalized”?
This practice is common when the principal perpetrator of a crime is no longer present for the hearing. Instead of being held before the Assize Court, the hearing can sometimes be referred to the Criminal Court, where crimes are tried. The opinions of lawyers differ on this point. If he does not wish to speak on the case, the lawyer for the family of Magali Blandin believes that there is “no risk” that the trial will be corrected, according to Me William Pineau. “It’s not impossible. It is even a probability because the absence of Jérôme Gaillard will create an abysmal void in this case, ”said Me Le Mintier, who defended the main defendant.
The disturbing similarities with the Anne Caudal affair
In 2011, a young woman named Anne Caudal was killed by her lover in Bruz, near Rennes. Like Jérôme Gaillard, Christophe Piedoux had admitted to being the author of the crime, after having participated in the research. Incarcerated after his custody, he had committed suicide in his cell in Rennes-Vezin prison. Faced with the absence of the main suspect, justice had decided to refer the case to the Rennes criminal court. Sophie Piedoux, the wife of the main suspect, had been tried there alone but only for “destruction of evidence”. If she had helped her ex-husband to get rid of Anne Caudal’s body, justice had not accepted her guilt of complicity in murder. A major difference compared to the case of the death of Magali Blandin. It appears from the hearings that the parents of Jérôme Gaillard, like his Georgian neighbor, were aware of the deceased’s will to murder. The investigation is still not closed.