French court jails Briton 18 years for employer’s murder

A French court Friday sentenced a 33-year-old British man to 18 years in prison for killing his employer after the victim allegedly said he wanted to have sex with the killer’s mother.

Neil Ludlam was convicted of voluntary homicide of 67-year-old Peter Fuller, a former engineer at French energy giant Total who lived on a large property in the southwest Dordogne region and had hired him as a gardener.

Fuller was found stabbed to death in his home by his ex-wife and a friend in June 2009.

The investigation quickly focused on Ludlam, who had no prior criminal record, and who had been hired three weeks before the killing.

After fleeing to Britain, Ludlam was extradited to France where he admitted to authorities that he had attacked his employer with a knife but said he did not intend to kill him.

According to his lawyer Philippe De Caunes, the argument flared when Fuller told Ludlam that he wanted to have sex with his mother and he “saw red.”

But prosecutors, who has called for a 20-year sentence, noted that Fuller had been stabbed in the head and chest, indicating that the killing had been intentional.

“It was a surprise and a disappointment, a surprise to see the severity of the penalty… and that it was considered an intentional homicide,” said De Caunes, who had 10 days to appeal the verdict.