Family was ‘conned by tall tales’

THE bizarre case of the “recluses of Montflanquin” sees a man on trial accused of using tall tales to take advantage of an entire family of aristocrats from the Lot-et-Garonne.

It is alleged that Thierry Tilly, 48, managed to impose his authority on 11 members of the de Védrines family, aged from 24 to 96, and take about €5 million from them, by posing as a secret agent on a mission from Nato to save the world.

They were cultivated and well-off, including an ex-obstetrician, the director of a Paris secretarial school and highly qualified graduates.

According to prosecution lawyer Daniel Picoton, Tilly is a “Leonardo da Vinci of mental manipulation”, who managed to persuade the de Védrines to hide in the 16th century family château in the Lot-et-Garonne from 2001-2008 before then moving them to Oxford in the UK.

He is said to have passed himself off as a member of a secret society called the “Blue Light Foundation”, charged with bringing back equilibrium to the world. He said they were in danger from a plot by Freemasons and the family isolated themselves to the extent they became known as the “Montflanquin recluses”, giving him their money “to finance the struggle”.

It was only after three members defected and lodged complaints that Mr Tilly was arrested in 2009, before the rest were “freed” from his control by Mr Picotin, a specialist in cults. Mr Tilly was arrested the following year.

He faces charges including abusing vulnerable people and detaining them illegally as well as acts of violence and could be given up to 10 years in prison.

Another defendant, Jacques Gonzalez, who he presented as being his “boss” and to whom he handed part of the money, faces up to five years.

The case, being heard in Bordeaux, is seen as legally important because it hinges on matters like whether or not there was a “cult” element and how French law should treats cases of people imposing “mental control”.