Michel Sydor

Michel Sydor (8 September 1929 – 1 November 2014) was a French serial killer and multi-recidivist killer.^[1]

Around 1950, Sydor killed a prostitute following a dispute. Sentenced to 5 years' hard labour, he was released after serving his sentence. In December 1961, he shot his wife dead and tried to kill his father-in-law when she wanted to leave him. Remanded in custody, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 1964. Following a presidential pardon in 1972, his sentence was reduced to 20 years' imprisonment.

Released in 1978, he raped and killed Jessica Blanc, aged 7, on 25 July 1993 in Vacheresse (Haute-Savoie). Sydor was arrested the next day and remanded in custody. During this last case, he was nicknamed ‘the Legionnaire’ and ‘the Monster’. Sentenced in June 1995 to life imprisonment with a 30-year security period, Sydor died at the Ensisheim prison on 1 November 2014.

Blanc's murder outraged public opinion and led - along with the case of Patrick Tissier - to the creation of a incompressible life sentence in France.

Sydor's childhood was marked by abuse and the Second World War. During his youth, he took pleasure in torturing and killing animals. Growing up in an unhealthy and unstable environment, he fell into marginality and wandered the streets. He invented the persona of a legionnaire and adopted it as his nickname (he was never a legionnaire, but he identified himself as one).^[2][3]

Sydor committed his first murder around 1950, killing a prostitute during a dispute with her. He was arrested and remanded in custody for murder. The Assize Court sentenced him to 5 years' hard labour, as the victim's status was illegal at the time.^[2][3][4]

After his release, Sydor settled in Pas-de-Calais, where he worked in farming and forestry. He met Gilberte Boudry, whom he married in January 1958. The couple settled in the village of Troisvaux, where they had two children. None of his in-laws or friends knew of his criminal record. Sydor worked as a miner's helper. In 1961, Sydor was dismissed after sending love letters to two young girls. Giberte decided to leave him and move in with her parents, along with their two children. Unemployed, he decided to take revenge on his wife.^[4]

On the night of 22 December 1961, Sydor went to visit Gilberte's parents in Lens. Armed with a 9mm pistol, he shot his wife in the head and her father-in-law, Henri Boudry, in the chest. Wounded in the shoulder, he returned fire with his shotgun and shot Sydor, who was seriously injured. The young man fled, while Henri called the emergency services. When they arrived on the scene, they found Gilberte dead, but managed to treat Henri, who recovered from his injuries. Henri's daughter's killer was none other than his 32-year-old Sydor, who had already been convicted of murder a few years earlier.^[4][5]

The day after the crime, Sydor was arrested and taken into custody. He denied the crime, before admitting that he had killed his wife because she was about to leave him. Once in custody, Sydor was charged with murder and attempted murder and remanded in custody. The press dubbed him the ‘Farmer of the Red Valley’, referring to a valley of blood.^[4][5][6]

From 25 to 26 June 1964, Sydor appeared before the Pas-de-Calais Assize Court for the murder of his wife and the attempted murder of his father-in-law, where he faced the death penalty. Although he pleaded a crime of passion, the court refused him the 20-year prison sentence - which he could have received on the basis of the mitigating circumstances of a crime of passion - and sentenced him to life imprisonment. In 1972, Sydor was granted a presidential pardon reducing his sentence to 20 years' imprisonment.^{[3][4][5][7][8]}

Sydor was released in 1978, after 17 years in prison, and moved to Haute-Savoie.^{[2][9][10][11]}

In 1981, his neighbours caught him torturing animals and denounced him. Sydor was charged with cruelty to animals, but was allowed to go free. In 1982, he was banned from living in Haute-Savoie. Sydor moved into a barracks in Neuvecelle, despite being banned from the department. His neighbours identified him as a former legionnaire, although they had no idea that this was a pure fabrication.^[2][12][13]

On several occasions, Sydor tried to shoot his neighbours with a hunting rifle. The neighbours lodged two complaints against him, in 1988 and 1989, but the investigations were dropped. In addition to the shootings, Sydor wrote indecent letters to young girls. Several complaints were also lodged against him in this regard, but nothing came of them. Because of his behaviour, Sydor was perceived by his neighbours as a ‘strange’ and ‘disturbed’ person, close to marginalism. It is suspected that he may have committed other crimes between 1978 and 1993, but no evidence has been found to prove his guilt.^[2]

On the night of 25 July 1993, Sydor abducted Jessica Blanc, aged 7, from a fair in the village of Vacheresse, between Evian and Morzine. He accosted her in the street and got her into his car. He drove to her home in Neuvecelle, raped and killed her. He dumped her body a few yards from her garden. Jessica's parents, worried about her absence, reported her disappearance to the police station. Two young men also went to the station and claimed to have seen Blanc with a man before she disappeared. They also said that they had a bad feeling because they had never seen the man before in Vacheresse. Their description of the man and the model of his car identified the kidnapper, 64-year-old Sydor.^[14]

The police went to Sydor's house at around 1am. When questioned about the traces of blood on his hands, he said he had tripped. Convinced that Jessica might still be alive, the police searched Sydor's home and found the girl's body in his garden. Sydor was taken into custody and claimed to have met Jessica at the fair. According to his statement, the little girl told him that she was tired, but that her parents couldn't take him home. Sydor asked her if she had ever had sex with boys. According to Sydor, Blanc replied that she had done so twice with her cousin. Sydor then said that he had taken the girl to his house, but that he had killed her by accident.^[14]

On 27 July, Sydor was charged with abduction, murder and rape of a minor under the age of 15, committed in a state of recidivism, and was remanded in custody. Following his indictment, a woman lawyer was appointed to represent him. Sydor refused her services and asked to be defended by Maître Georges Rimondi. The case caused quite a stir in the press, because of Sydor's profile: a multi-recidivist killer, twice a murderer in the past. After this case, the case of Patrick Tissier, also a child killer and repeat offender, led to the adoption of a new law: the introduction of an incompressible life sentence in France.^[8][14][15]

On 14 June 1995, Sydor went on trial before the Annecy Assize Court for the murder and rape of Blanc.

During the trial, Sydor remained calm, without showing any emotion, and discussed certain points of the procedure. He also accused the courts of having set him free in 1978 by making her responsible for Jessica's murder. The atmosphere is heavy because the accused is a multi-recidivist killer, twice convicted of murder, although the image of serial killer was not used until 1997. During the hearing, Blanc's father lost control and threw a chair at Sydor, who continued to deny his involvement. The police intervened and managed to stop the incident. Although aged 66, the accused was judged to be extremely dangerous and quite capable of re-offending, despite his age.^[3][12][16]

On 15 June, Sydor was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a 30-year security period. He was transferred to the Ensisheim prison. Maître Rimondi later spoke of a man ‘of extreme rudeness’, who ‘could not find his place in society’. Rimondi, who became a notorious defender during the Flactif case and the Allinges tragedy, admits that ‘this case and this man marked me for life’. I defended the worst of criminals for the worst of crimes‘, he admits, ’but there had to be a court decision, a verdict so that justice could be done in full".^[3][12][16]

In 2012, Sydor and his lawyer, Yüksel Demir, invoked the Kouchner law and applied for his release on medical grounds. Blanc's family signed a petition for her continued detention. At 82, Sydor suffers from heart disease and urinary incontinence. On 11 July, the Colmar enforcement court rejected Sydor's request for release. The experts considered that he remained dangerous and should remain behind bars. Sydor and Me Demir appealed against this decision. On 11 December, the Court of Appeal again rejected his application for release, finding a high risk of reoffending despite his 83 years of age.^{[17][18][19][20][21][22]}

"The application was rejected, the judge followed the conclusions of the medical and psychological expert reports and proposed a transfer to a suitable prison, which my client refused. The court went further than the law, explaining in its recitals that the villagers had mobilised to prevent Mr Sydor's release, while the mayor of the village said he feared public disorder if he were released. As for the transfer to a medical prison, this is unacceptable to my client, who considers this type of establishment to be a death trap".

- Yüksel Demir, Michel Sydor's lawyer.

The victim's family lawyer, Frédéric Noetinger-Berlioz, welcomed the court's decision.^[19]

"The Code of Criminal Procedure is clear: for such an application to have a chance of succeeding, there must be no risk of re-offending, and the condition of the convicted person must be incompatible with detention. In this case, neither condition was met.

- Frédéric Noetinger-Berlioz, lawyer for the Blanc family.

Sydor died on 1 November 2014 at the Ensisheim prison, aged 85. Detained since July 1993, he could have applied for parole from July 2023.^{[19][21][23][24][25]}

• List of French serial killers