Murder mystery returns to French riviera in trial

NICE, France, Nov 24 (Reuters) A murder mystery involving money, sex and gambling returned to the French Riviera, as a court tried the lover of a casino heiress who disappeared some 30 years ago.

Jean-Maurice Agnelet is accused of killing his former lover Agnes Le Roux in 1977 after he persuaded her to sell shares in her mother's chic Palais de la Mediterranee casino to a rival casino mogul.

Agnelet has denied involvement in Le Roux's mysterious disappearance, which has fascinated the glitzy southern city of Nice for decades. Her body was never found.

''I have nothing to do with Agnes' disappearance, which remains a mystery to me,'' Agnelet said before the start of his trial yesterday.

The victim's mother Renee Le Roux said at the start of the trial she was convinced Agnelet, now 68, was guilty.

''To me, he's the murderer of my daughter. He has killed her for her money. The only things he ever loved were power and money. The man's a monster,'' the 85-year-old said.

Agnelet was briefly arrested in 1983 but charges were dropped two years later.

The case was reopened 14 years later when Agnelet's ex-wife retracted an alibi she had given him for the day Le Roux disappeared. She said in 1999 she had lied at Agnelet's request.

At the time of Le Roux's disappearance in 1977, her mother was managing the Palais de la Mediterranee, a plush casino by the waterfront which Jean-Dominique Fratoni, owner of the rival Le Ruhl casino, had his eyes on.

The prosecution alleges Agnelet turned Le Roux against her mother and persuaded her to sell her shares in the Palais de la Mediterranee to his friend Fratoni, who was suspected of links to the criminal underworld. Fratoni died in 1994.

Reuters SBA VP0448