Woman found dead on rocks in Normandy is not British as reported, say police
Her body was found in the early hours of July 18 below the cemetery of a church
The woman was found near Saint-Nicolas church in Barfleur on July 18
Marcel Bakker/Shutterstock
A woman in her twenties was found dead on the rocks below the cemetery of the Saint-Nicolas church in Barfleur (Manche), Normandy in the early hours of Friday, July 18.
The discovery was made shortly after 09:00 by a local walking near the slipway area behind the church, a site overlooking the sea.
Initial reports described the woman as British but she has since been identified as a Brazilian national.
“She was lying among the rocks, between the sea and the cemetery,” a source close to the investigation told TF1. “The body showed signs of bruising.”
Emergency services, including the criminal brigade, research division and forensic police, were deployed throughout the day.
Divers and firefighters also searched the surrounding area to check for a second possible victim, but none was found.
The victim, who has not been publicly identified, had been reportedly staying with her partner in a rented gîte near the harbour.
The couple had been seen together the previous evening. According to investigators, “no line of inquiry is currently being ruled out.”
“We do not yet know whether the death was accidental or criminal,” the same source said. The man, a Swiss national, was questioned by gendarmes on Friday and again on Saturday. “He has not been placed in custody or formally implicated,” the source added.
The investigation is being led by the public prosecutor’s office in Cherbourg, which had not commented publicly by Saturday morning.
In two unrelated incidents also reported this weekend, a 75-year-old British man died on Friday after falling from a roof in Pressignac (Charente-Limousine).
He was reportedly visiting his daughter who has a home in the village, when the roof he was repairing collapsed.
Emergency crews were unable to revive him. His relatives were taken into care at the scene.
In the southern Alps, a 69-year-old British woman remains in a critical condition following a rafting accident in Saint-Chaffrey (Hautes-Alpes) on Saturday.
She was rescued from the banks of a rapid known locally as “le portefeuille” and airlifted to hospital in a life-threatening state.
“A criminal investigation for unintentional injury has been opened,” said Marion Lozac’hmeur, prosecutor in Gap.
The case has been handed to the CRS Alpes mountain police.
