Patrice Alègre

Background

Patrice Alègre was 32 years old when he was arrested on September 5, 1997, in Paris. He was from Toulouse, in southern France.

Patrice Alègre had a daughter born in 1989. He separated from the mother of the daughter in 1995 because she was fed up with him being drunk all day long and beating her.

He had been an ex-bouncer of a discotheque and had a passion for culturism. He was described as a “Don Juan”.

He had been in many prisons and detention centers. He was described as a “teenager with problems”. He had been said to have a history involving burglaries as a teenager, beginning to smoke joint and drink.

Timeline

• September 5, 1997 — Patrice Alègre was arrested in Paris.
• February 21, 2002 — He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
• Monday, 2 June, 2003 — BBCNews reported that Dominique Baudis challenged judges to investigate allegations related to sado-masochistic orgies alleged by Patrice Alègre.
• Wednesday, 9 July, 2003 — BBCNews reported ongoing investigations and courtroom confrontation involving Dominique Baudis.

The offence

Patrice Alègre was charged for the rape and murder of 6 young women between 1989 and 1997, plus one rape and one attempted killing. He was also said he could have killed 15 more people, men and women. He was charged with the murder of his neighbour in 1989 in Toulouse, his neighbour in 1990 in Saint Géniès-Bellevue, a prostitute in 1992, and 3 women in 1997. He travelled in Belgium, Germany and Spain, where he met his last victim, whom he killed in Paris.

He was accused of raping and killing 5 women and raping 6 more. He was suspected of killing 7 other women. He was said to have killed in Toulouse (southern France) and in Paris, with possible killings elsewhere in France, as well as in Spain, Germany and Belgium. The material also indicated he may have killed men too.

His victims were listed as:

• Valérie Tarriote, 22, February 1989, in Toulouse.
• Laure Martinet, 19, his neighbour in Toulouse, January 1990.
• Martine Matias, 29, in Toulouse, February 1997.
• Mireille Normand, 36, in Verdun.
• Isabelle Chicherie, 31, in Paris, September 1997.

Patrice Alègre was arrested the day after the murder of Isabelle Chicherie.

All victims were described as brunette and as people he knew, including neighbours, women he met in the club where he was working, and “friend of a friend”.

The material described his pattern as killing when he was drunk. It said he wanted to have sex with the women; when they refused, he beat them, tied their hands, raped them and strangled them.

The police said that two women committed suicide and were not killed.

Valérie Tarriote

Valérie Tarriote was found almost nude on her bed, with her wrists tied upon her head. Two pieces of underwear were in her throat and mouth. Her underwear were torn apart. There were two glasses in the living-room.

Martine Matias

Martine Matias was found burned in her house. There was blood in the bathroom, and on her bra. She was in a strange position, bent, described as “something sexual”. The coroner said there was chloroforme in her muscles. The fire began in two separated places. There was a piece of an automatic pistol in the living-room. Twice, the police concluded it was suicide.

The investigator on the Matias case had a hard time trying to explain his mistake during the trial.

Investigation and arrest

On September 5, 1997, Patrice Alègre was arrested in Paris. He was said to have been arrested the day after the murder of Isabelle Chicherie.

The material described an investigation into unexplained disappearance of 115 women and girls in the Toulouse region dating back to 1992, involving a special homicide squad.

Trial and sentencing

The material said his trial was fixed in November. It also said Patrice Alègre, 33, was on trial until the end of that month, accused of raping and killing 5 women and raping 6 more, and suspected of killing 7 other women.

He could receive life in prison.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment on February 21, 2002, for six rapes and five murders.

Appeals

No appeal information was included in the provided material.

Outcome

He received a life sentence in 2002.

He was also under investigation in connection with a criminal network in Toulouse said to have involved minors and cocaine.

Aftermath

Patrice Alègre appeared before magistrates and was reported to have accused Dominique Baudis of involvement in sado-masochistic orgies organised by a convicted serial killer. Dominique Baudis headed France’s media watchdog the CSA and strongly denied the accusations, saying he was facing a political vendetta.

Two prostitutes were said to have made the same allegation.

One city official, chief prosecutor Jean Volff, resigned over the scandal. Mr Volff said he had been named in the prostitutes’ testimony to police but described their story as “totally implausible”.

Dominique Baudis challenge and quoted statements

BBCNews reported that Mr Baudis demanded to be put under investigation so that his lawyer could gain access to the evidence against him.

Mr Baudis’ lawyer, Francis Szpiner, told Liberation newspaper:

“It is unacceptable that a man's honour can be tainted by the words of a murderer serving a life sentence and of two prostitutes”

Mr Szpiner said it was:

“the only way to fight on equal terms against the purveyors of slander”

The material reported that being placed under formal investigation was a step that fell short of criminal charges but implied a prima facie case.

The material included that Patrice Alègre wrote a letter sent secretly from prison and published in Monday’s French press. It quoted:

“I cannot accept that the truth will be suppressed because the people involved are people in power,”

and:

“[The two prostitutes] are telling the truth when they say they went with me to sado-masochistic parties... and that certain members of the Toulouse bourgeoisie were there, and everyone was going for the cocaine,”

Orgy scandal developments and quoted statements

BBCNews reported that from his prison cell Patrice Alègre began to respond to new allegations made by two former Toulouse prostitutes, known as Fanny and Patricia, in ongoing investigations into other unsolved murders.

Patricia’s voice and appearance were heavily disguised as she repeated her testimony to police on French TV. She claimed that magistrates and senior politicians in Toulouse had attended sado-masochistic orgies partly organised by Alegre in a council-owned chateau. She also alleged that she and Fanny had witnessed Patrice Alegre kill another two prostitutes. Patrice Alègre, in turn, in a letter to a French TV programme, confessed to the killings but claimed they were ordered by town officials to cover up their attendance at the orgies.

Even more bizarrely, Patricia and Alegre implied that Dominique Baudis was involved in their sex ring while mayor of Toulouse. The material said that Mr Baudis had vigorously denied all along and said that the pornography industry was trying to take its revenge by blackening his name.

The material described a court confrontation:

• The material said Patricia could not repeat the allegations while looking Mr Baudis in the eye.
• After the court, Mr Baudis told the media:

“The accusations made against me are nothing but lies,” and: “I looked my accuser in the face and she couldn't return my gaze. My accuser came escorted by two gendarmes, and she is leaving with two gendarmes. I came here as a free man, and I am leaving as a free man.”

It also said Patricia may now go on trial for perjury for the allegations against Mr Baudis, who swore to continue the fight against those who had wrongly accused him. It said he blamed the local Toulouse newspaper, La Depeche du Midi, for stirring up trouble.

La Depeche du Midi’s editor Jean-Christof Giesbert was quoted saying:

“We want to know why it seems that the investigation has stopped or got no further. There are still many people to be questioned by the judges, but that isn't happening - why not? We get the impression the authorities are keen to let it drop.”

The material described Toulouse police being accused of a cover-up and classifying some of the serial killer’s murders of local prostitutes as suicide despite compelling evidence to the contrary.

Other details

The material included statements attributed to Patrice Alègre:

“He's lying, as usual ! I just have one regret : I didn't kill him although I promised my mother I would. I wouldn't have done all the evil I did. And I don't love him”

It also included another quoted statement attributed to Patrice Alègre:

“ I love my mother, I hate my father. My father did not raise me, it drew up me "

The material included a quote attributed to Cécile C during the lawsuit:

“it did not work, drank, smoked. After it broke all in the house and struck me. It was excused, while crying. It apitoyait me with its unhappy childhood. I included/understood later than it handled me. From time to time, it disappeared for one night, two or three days, and returned without anything to say where it went "

The material described Patrice Alègre’s family background as follows:

• He was born in June 1968.
• His father was a CRS father and was a policman, described as strict and violent, and wanted Patrice “to live straight”.
• His mother was a hairdresser and was alcoholic.
• It said his parents divorced in 1988.
• It said his father married his mother because she felt pregnant.
• It said his mother bought the silence of his son to hide his extra-marital frolicking.
• It said only his paternal grandmother occupied herself well of him, and that she died in April 2001.

The material also described child and teenage conduct:

• As a teenager, he was involved in burglaries.
• He began to smoke joint and drink.
• At 17, he tried to strangle his girlfriend.
• He began to miss his CAPE after being described as bad pupil with a preparatory course and 6éme and 5éme.
• His father protected him from the lightnings of justice.

The material included details about youth placements and juvenile judgments:

• He was placed in reformatory from which he fled to go to take refuge in his grandmother.
• In 1984, at age 16, he knew his first judgments.
• It said he tried to strangle his girlfriend at a ball.

The material said he obtained young employment as a barman with the police station of Toulouse through his father, then was condemned to 2 recoveries for violence with weapons and rebellion.

It described later living arrangements:

• From 1988 to 1995 Patrice Alègre lived with Cécile C, with whom he had a small Anaïs girl.
• In 1994, Cécile C alerted several times the police force for aggravated assault.
• It said he remained for the first time in prison for violence with weapon.

The material described that during the trial his father said he was not violent but just “austere”, and that he’s never beaten anyone.

The material also described that Patrice Alègre was described as handsome, nice and clever, but also cynical, selfish, pervert and without any remorse.

The material stated that Alegre knew all his victims and that he travelled to Belgium, Germany and Spain where he met his last victim in Paris.

The material also described allegations that he confessed to the murder of two more people—a female prostitute and a transvestite—in addition to the five he was known to have killed. It said he carried out the murders under instructions from public figures who feared the transvestite would release pictures taken with a hidden camera and that the prostitute “would not keep her mouth shut”.