Yesterday the local paper reported a story apart from the actual trial.

It seems a farmer at Floing saw Fourniret leaving a forest pathway at the wheel of a van back in 1990. A few months later he discovered a mound of earth the size of a grave.

He thought no more of it at the time because he was used to people with metal detectors searching for artifacts left over from the war and digging up their finds, but when he saw news of Fourniret's arrest it rang alarm bells.

Their eyes had met as Founiret drove out of the forest via a path which had no exit in the opposite direction. Could he have been burying another victim?

The farmer contacted the police and they came to take a statement at his farmhouse. However, he doesn't remember taking them to see the mound in the woods and he hasn't heard any more about it.

According to a police spokesman his story was too vague.

"C'est bidon, cette histoire" (It's a load of old codswallop).

However, there's a very interesting point in the farmer's story. He was adamant that Fourniret was not driving the big van that has been shown so much on the television.

He described a small white van, the size of the Post Office vans.

Now, the paper has discovered that Fourniret acquired just such a van - a Citroen C15 - in May 1990 and sold it five months later.

He also lived in Floing from 1988 until 1991.

I'd have thought that was enough to warrant further investigation, wouldn't you?

For the lighter side of French life try my other blog.