France Probes Judicial System Failures After Murder of Schoolgirl

French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin has ordered the nation’s prosecutors to review all 70,000 ongoing complaints of violence by minors.
France Probes Judicial System Failures After Murder of Schoolgirl
French police guard a farm silo - where the body of an 11-year-old girl was found - in Puycasquier, southwestern France, on June,5, 2026. Frederic Lancelot/AP
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Around 6,000 people marched through a small town in south-west France on May 7 to protest after an 11-year-old girl was murdered in a case that has had political reverberations around the country.

The body of the girl, who has been identified only as Lyhanna, was discovered on June 4 in a disused grain silo in Puycasquier in the Gers department, 10 miles from the town of Fleurance, where she was last seen on May 29 getting into the car of the suspect, who has been named as 41-year-old Jérome B.

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Chris Summers
Chris Summers
Author
Chris Summers is a UK-based journalist covering a wide range of national stories, with a particular interest in crime, policing and the law.