A British murder suspect, who initially fled Paris after his girlfriend was found murdered in their hotel room, has been freed on bail by the French authorities amid controversy that he has no electronic tag and has been given back his passport, reports Sky News.
Ian Griffin is suspected of murdering his millionairess girlfriend Kinga Legg in a Paris hotel room. But the former businessman has been released with his passport and without yet having his electronic tag fitted.
In May 2009 his girlfriend was found dead in their £1,000-a-night room in luxury Bristol Hotel in the French capital. The "do not disturb" sign had been left on the door.
Griffin found himself at the centre of an international manhunt. The playboy tycoon's Porsche was found abandoned in Cheshire and then a week after the murder he was found hiding in woods in Chelford, near Alderley Edge.
For years Griffin fought extradition from the UK and was treated at a psychiatric hospital but was eventually transferred to France to await trial later this year.
Ms Legg's family are furious about the decision to allow Griffin his freedom ahead of a trial later this year. He was released under bail conditions that stated he had to surrender his passport, have an electronic tag and stay at a specified address in Paris.
A spokesman for the family of Kinga Legg told Sky News: "The prison released Griffin with his passport on Friday last week."
He added: "The Wolf family in Poland are horrified at this turn of events ... he is a man accused of murder and with a history of violence over the years." Their French lawyer Guillaume Traynard accused the Fresnes prison in Paris of making "a big mistake".
He hoped Griffin would turn up for his appointment next week to have a tag fitted.
Griffin's Paris based advocate Francis Triboulet insisted his release was carried out correctly. He said it was "standard procedure" in France for bail conditions to be implemented some time after the prisoner's release.
Read more of this report from Sky News.