Half Remembered Case, Unsolved Murder In France

[The Bounder]

I wonder if anyone out there can help me, years ago as a boy I read about a case which absolutely facinated me, but now most of the facts and names are long forgotten and I can't seemed to get any internet hits with the facts I (think) do remember...as far as I can recall the facts were these, in the early 80's (possibly late 70's) a father and son from England went camping or caravaning in France, one night as they slept their tent or caravan was broken into and the father was brutally murdered. The French authorities seemed to suspect the son, I think he was in for a big inheritance, however there were suggestions that the victim may actually have been killed in reprisal for certain activities he'd got up to in France during World War 2. I think the name of someone involved might have been Bernard, but this again could be a complete red herring and I could be totally misremembering.

I know thats quite a vague synopsis, but if anyone out there can put names to the victim or family involved or more details to the case that can help me research it a bit further I would be very greatful.

[sdreid]

Hi Bounder:

Sorry I can't think of anything right now. The first two cases that came to mind were Gregory Villemin and Sir Jack Drummond but neither are very good matches.

[ChrisGeorge]

Hi Bounder

It sounds like you are talking about the murder of Sir Jack Drummond who was murdered, together with his wife and 10-year old daughter, on the night of August 4-5, 1952 near Lurs, a village or commune in the Basses-Alpes region (now Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) of Southern France. Gaston Dominici was convicted of the murders in November 1954, and sentenced to be executed by guillotine but his sentence later commuted to life in jail. The case remains a controversial one. Dominici's son Alain has long campaigned to have his father pardoned.

Chris

[Graham]

Guys,

it wasn't the Drummond Case that Bounder's thinking of - the father and son were John and Jeremy Cartland. They were on a caravn holiday in France and near Salon-en-Provence on the night of 18 March 1973 John was murdered and Jeremy was severely injured. The French police suspected Jeremy from the start, although there was no real evidence, and I believe that to this day the case is filed as 'unsolved but with a named suspect'. There is no way that Jeremy killed his father, in the opinion of everyone who's studied this case. It was said that John Cartland worked for the SOE during WW2, and the suggestion was made that he was murdered in some kind of revenge operation.

Sir Jack Drummond also worked for the SOE during the war. His secretary June Marshall was murdered in Dieppe in 1956. There are other cases of former members of wartime British intelligence being killed in Europe in the post-war years.

The above was extracted from "The Ordeal Of Jeremy Cartland" by Brian Mariner, included in John Canning's book "Murders And Mysteries".

Hope this helps,

Graham

[ChrisGeorge]

Thanks for that information, Graham.

Chris

[sdreid]

Thanks Graham, I don't remember hearing about the Cartland case before.

[Graham]

Jeremy Cartland spent a fortune trying to prove his innocence. He wrote a book called The Cartland File, still available although I've not read it. There was also a BBC drama based on the case.

Graham

[The Bounder]

Guys,

it wasn't the Drummond Case that Bounder's thinking of - the father and son were John and Jeremy Cartland. They were on a caravn holiday in France and near Salon-en-Provence on the night of 18 March 1973 John was murdered and Jeremy was severely injured. The French police suspected Jeremy from the start, although there was no real evidence, and I believe that to this day the case is filed as 'unsolved but with a named suspect'. There is no way that Jeremy killed his father, in the opinion of everyone who's studied this case. It was said that John Cartland worked for the SOE during WW2, and the suggestion was made that he was murdered in some kind of revenge operation.

Sir Jack Drummond also worked for the SOE during the war. His secretary June Marshall was murdered in Dieppe in 1956. There are other cases of former members of wartime British intelligence being killed in Europe in the post-war years.

The above was extracted from "The Ordeal Of Jeremy Cartland" by Brian Mariner, included in John Canning's book "Murders And Mysteries".

Hope this helps,

Graham

That is exactly the case I was thinking of! Thank you so much it has been bugging me for years! I look forward to tracking it down and researching it more completely now.

Cheers for the help chaps!

[louisa]

There is a fascinating murder case that happened in France in 1952.

A British family - husband, wife and 10 year old little girl (Jack Drummond and family) were on holiday. They had stopped for the night in a field in rural Provence. The next morning they were found murdered - the parents shot and the child clubbed to death by the butt of the rifle.

But who did it? The book about the murders 'The Dominici Affair' will have you gripped from start to finish. The detective soon has two suspects in mind - a peasant farmer and his son who live at the top of the field.

However....the case becomes complicated when the large extended family of the suspects, close ranks.

There are many intricacies in this case and I would love to discuss it with anyone else who may be interested.