Police have charged a man on suspicion of attempting to access bank accounts of the family of an engineer murdered in the French Alps.
Nigerian-born Abiodun David John, 33, was charged with fraud after allegedly trying to get into accounts in the name of members of Saad al-Hilli's family after his death on September 5.
Surrey Police could not confirm whether the accounts belonged to Mr al-Hilli himself and stressed that the fraud charges were not linked to the ongoing investigation into who murdered the Iraqi-born engineer together with his wife, mother-in-law and a French cyclist.
A Surrey Police spokeswoman said: 'Abiodun David John was arrested at an address in Salford, Greater Manchester in October.
'He returned on bail today where he was charged with eight counts of fraud by false representation which are alleged to have taken place between July and September this year.'
About 100 police officers in Britain and France are investigating the murders of engineer Mr al-Hilli, 50, his dentist wife Iqbal, 47, her elderly mother, Suhaila Al-Allaf, 74, and passing cyclist Sylvain Mollier in a horrifying gun attack near Chevaline, Lake Annecy.
The couple's four-year-old daughter Zeena lay undiscovered under her mother's corpse for eight hours after the shooting, while her seven-year-old sister Zainab was found with serious injures after being shot and beaten.
French investigators searched the al-Hilli family home in Claygate, Surrey, in the wake of the deaths.
Later in September, Surrey Police asked Greater Manchester Police to arrest John at an address in Salford, on suspicion of fraud offences.
RJohn, who has since moved to London, strongly denies any wrongdoing.
He told the Manchester Evening News that it was his belief that his phones had been tapped and his internet accessed.
'When the police came into my house I did not know what they were talking about,' he told the newspaper.
'I am totally innocent. I do not know where this whole thing has come from.'
He will appear at Guildford Magistrates' Court tomorrow.
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