How French intelligence tried to cover up failings over Catholic priest's murder
Local police intelligence officers became aware of the growing threatening online messages of one of the two jihadists who killed Catholic priest Father Jacques Hamel in Normandy in July 2016 five days before the attack, but the information was not passed on to the national French intelligence agency, Mediapart can reveal. When the police intelligence unit later discovered this delay they doctored the files in a bid to make it look as if their original discovery was only made on the day of the attack itself. The French prosecution services have now opened an investigation into the affair. As Matthieu Suc reports, this claim of a blunder and attempted cover-up will raise fresh questions over the effectiveness of France's counter-terrorism operations.
FiveFive days before the brutal murder of Father Jacques Hamel at a church in Normandy in 2016, regional police intelligence officers were aware of messages written by one of the two men who carried out the attack, Mediapart can reveal.
