Lawyer Accused Of 1977 Killing Of Casino Heiress

In 2007, playboy lawyer Maurice Agnelet was accused of killing wealthy casino heiress and his former lover Agnes Le Roux back in 1977. The then 69 year-old subsequently was sentenced to 20 years behind bars, but the verdict was eventually overturned by the European Court of Human Rights, and so Agnelet walked free.
The mystery took another unusual twist, however, after Maurice Agnelet’s own son Guillaume accused his father of killing Agnes Le Roux during a camping trip to Monte Cassino, although the then 29 year-old’s body was never found. According to Guillaume, both his mother and father told him separately Maurice Agnelet had murdered Le Roux, with his mother confiding in him that her husband had shot her in her head while she was sleep.
According to Guillaume Agnelet he was 14 year’s old when his father told him: “I have nothing to worry about unless they find the body, and I know where the body is.” Responding to subsequent denials by his parents, Guillaume, replied: “For almost 30 years I have woken up with the same thought every day. What kills more than the truth is secrecy. I have spent more than half my life in secrecy.”
Back in 1977, casino heiress Agnes Le Roux was involved in a hostile takeover bid of her mother’s casino, the Palais de la Méditerranée in Nice, after her lover Maurice Agnelet persuaded her to vote against her mother at a board meeting thus allowing rival casino owner Dominique Fratoni to buy the business. Three million francs (today: €1.7m) subsequently went into the couple’s joint account before being transferred solely into Mr Agnelet’s name. After Agnes Le Roux’s disappearance, Mr Agnelet became the prime suspect before the alibi of another one of his mistresses, Francoise Lausseure, came to his rescue.
Miss Lausseure, now residing in Mexico, has since admitted to lying leading to the case being re-opened. Mr Agnelet, 76, however, has always maintained his innocence but after three weeks in court, a verdict on the murder is due on Friday.