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DNA tests show man in Scottish custody is not the Frenchman wanted for murder in 2011

A French man arrested at Glasgow airport is not suspected murderer Xavier Dupont de Ligonnes according to the results of DNA tests, a source close to the investigation said Saturday.The confusion was reportedly blamed on different testing standards. 

French policemen in Roquebrune-sur-Argens, southeastern France, June 2011, searching for Xavier Dupont de Ligonnes / File Photo
French policemen in Roquebrune-sur-Argens, southeastern France, June 2011, searching for Xavier Dupont de Ligonnes / File Photo REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier
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French judicial sources had said Friday that police at Glasgow airport had arrested Xavier Dupont de Ligonnes, who was subject to an international arrest warrant for the 2011 murder of his wife and four children.

But on Saturday, sources close to the probe said a DNA test on the man being held in Scotland was "negative".

The detained man, travelling by the name Guy Joao, was stopped in Glasgow after arriving on a flight from Paris after an anonymous tip-off, according to French sources.

Sources had said earlier that a fingerprint match had been made.

A police search was carried out on Friday at the arrested man's house in Limay in the western suburbs of Paris.

Neighbours told AFP the house belonged to Guy Joao, a man of Portuguese origin who is married to a Scottish woman.

Police said that fingerprints found at the house did not match those of Xavier Dupont de Ligonnes.

Different DNA testing methods at heart of confusion

According to public news channel, France Info, part of the confusion stems from the fact that in Scotland, criteria for a DNA match is less strict than in France.

In Scotland, five comparison points must be made to confirm an identity, while, in France twelve points are needed.

Dupont de Ligonnes, 58, is suspected of shooting his family dead and burying them under the terrace of their townhouse in Nantes, western France.

Their bodies were found three weeks after the killings during which time Dupont de Ligonnes reportedly told his teenage children's school he had been transferred to a job in Australia.

He disappeared and has been on the run since, with hundreds of reported sightings only adding to the mystery.
 

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