Alps murders breakthrough as rare pistol identical to one used to kill Brit family in bloodbath found nearby

Alps murders breakthrough as rare pistol identical to one used to kill Brit family in bloodbath found nearby The rare Lugar-type pistol believed to have been used in the killing of numerous members of a British family dates back to 1935 and was found at the bottom of a lake There has been a major breakthrough in the so-far unsolved murder of a British family in the French Alps 14 years after the bloodbath which claimed four lives. A rare pistol of exactly the same firearm used to kill three members of a British family and a cyclist near Lake Annecy in eastern France has been found at the bottom of a lake close to the crime scene. The major breakthrough comes as the baffling 14-year-old case, dubbed the "Alps Murders" remains unsolved. It was in September 2012 that 50-year-old Surrey engineer Saad al-Hilli, 50, was gunned down alongside his wife, Iqbal Al-Hilli, 47, and her mother, Suhaila al-Allaf, 74. The killings also claimed the life of cyclist Sylvain Mollier, 45. Detectives discovered handgrip fragments of a rare Luger PO6/29, Parabellum 7.65 at the scene and forensic experts concluded that is was the weapon used. They also found that the weapon was the sort of Luger issued to Swiss soldiers between 1909 and 1947, having been made in either Switzerland or Germany. Police have now found exactly the same kind of Swiss Army sidearm believed to have been used in the murders at the bottom of the 269ft-deep lake. An investigating source said: "It was found in the water last week. The gun was immediately salvaged, and rushed away for forensic analysis. The time it has spent in the water will clearly make analysis extremely complex, but the priority is to work out if it was the one used in the quadruple murder." The killer fired off 21 bullets in under two minutes, hitting his victims with 17 of them. Seven-year-old Zainab Al-Hilli was shot in the shoulder, before she was beaten around the head with the gun - she later made a full recovery and returned to the UK, where she now lives. Her sister, Zeena Al-Halli, 4, escaped by hiding in the back of the family's BMW car. Sabine Khéris, a magistrate who specialises in cold cases, later narrowed the scope of the inquiry by determining that the gun was built in 1935, when only 940 such Lugers were manufactured. Ms Khéris said the killer was likely to have been "methodical and calm", and had undoubtedly received ‘shoot to kill’ training, after performing "double taps" on his victims. A "double tap" involves a shooter hitting a victim with a bullet, and then using another to confirm a kill. While DNA was thought to be completely washed away in deep water, advancements in forensics technology mean DNA profiles can sometimes be recovered. Beyond this, the gun will have a serial number, and this may help investigators track down its precise history, potentially right up until it came into the hands of the murderer. Experts working for France’s elite cold case unit in the Paris suburb of Nanterre will now re-test the original gun fragments from the scene of the crime, and compare them with the newly discovered pistol. The Al-Hillis, of Claygate, Surrey, originally came from Iraq, and one theory was that their links to the regime of former dictator Saddam Hussein may have been a reason for their murders. There were also claims that Mr Al-Hilli was involved in a dispute over a family inheritance, but this has been discounted because of a complete lack of evidence. Other theories include the main target having been Mr Mollier, the French cyclist, meaning that the Al-Hillis ended up as collateral damage.