A GRUESOME ENGLISH MURDER

Our neighbour in Les Mayets, Bernard was the first to tell me that an Englishman, who lived in a village only a few miles from us, had been found dead at his house.

That was three years ago in June 2009

He had apparently been murdered by another British national who had been staying with the deceased and there had been a heated argument.

Sure enough, the local regional newspaper, Sud Ouest carried a story in the Monday edition (June 30 2009) about the incident on its front page. Peter Fuller, aged 67, had died on Saturday night or early Sunday morning and his body was discovered by his ex-wife on Sunday at midday. He had suffered head wounds which were thought to be caused by a blunt instrument.

Fuller lived alone in a large house near Plaisance but for the last three weeks he had a young Englishman lodging with him who is said to be in his 30s. When the Gendarmes arrived at the scene the man had disappeared. The Sud Ouest reported that the man, who has not been named but who is the prime suspect in the murder case, boarded a plane at Bordeaux airport bound for London where he was detained by the British police.

Two of Fuller’s cars were missing. One, which had broken down or been involved in an accident, had been found abandoned near Fuller’s house. The other had apparently been used by the assailant to get to Bordeaux.

Formerly employed in the oil industry Fuller had been building an 18-hole golf course but was short of money and, to make ends meet, had started a restaurant selling English roasts and fish and chips.

On July 1^st 2009 the “SudOuest” reported that the suspected assailant of the retired English entrepreneur, Peter Fuller was Neil Andrew Ludlam aged 30. He could be sent back to France on the recommendation of English magistrates under “un mandate d’arret European”.

The body of Fuller was found by his ex-wife last Sunday morning at what was described as a “scene d’horreur”. He had been hit several times over the head with a blunt instrument.

According to French police Fuller was found face down in a sea of blood “une mare de sang”. There was evidence of a fierce fight. Furniture was turned upside down in the living room, the kitchen and in the dining room near the bar where empty bottles of alcohol and glasses were found. There were traces of blood on the walls and on the furniture.

Ludlam, who had been staying with Fuller, is reported to have fled the scene in one of Fuller’s cars. He was arrested by the British police at Luton airport when the aircraft he boarded in Bordeaux landed. He is reported to have had a large sum of cash on him.

One of the other unsolved mysteries is reported to be the theft of two cars stolen from Wheeler’s house. One was a red AX Citroen found crashed 12 kilometres from the scene of the crime. The other was a Mercedes coupe which has not yet been traced. The police have not been able to confirm whether this was the car Ludlam used to drive to Bordeaux airport.

It is also not known whether anyone else was involved in Peter Fuller's murder.

However “SudOuest” reported that this affair had created a degree of turmoil - “emoi” - in the British community living in the Dordogne.

Ludlam languished in a French jail for three years until he was finally found guilty of murdering his expatriate employer. He was sentenced by the Perigeux Tribunal de Justice to 18 years in prison for “stabbing and battering to death Peter Fuller in a drunken attack.”

The court heard that Mr. Fuller, 67, a retired Total oil engineer, was found face down in a pool of blood with cracked ribs, 59 injuries and seven stab wounds, including a punctured lung.

The Daily Telegraph carried the story of the trial on Saturday June 2. Ludlam is reported to have received well below the maximum 30-year term for murder after Charles Charollais, the prosecuting judge in Perigeux, argued that he had shown remorse and accepted responsibility for his crime.