French town buries murdered child as questions mount over police failings

An 11-year-old girl called Lyhanna, murdered two weeks ago in south-western France, has been buried amid persistent public anger at failings that left her suspected killer at large.

Fellow residents joined the girl's family for a funeral ceremony before she was interred in the cemetery of the small town of Fleurance, 50km (30 miles) west of Toulouse.

Mayors across the broader Gers region called on people to gather in support of the family outside town halls, where flags were flown at half-mast.

Lyhanna's murder provoked a wave of revulsion across France after it emerged prime suspect Jérôme Barella, 41, was denounced nine months ago to police for alleged repeated sexual abuse of a 10-year-old.

And, according to newspaper Le Monde, US authorities had alerted French police after Barella's online activity suggested he could be accessing images that showed child sex abuse.

French police only discovered this after conducting a trawl for Barella's name following his arrest last week. The French National Office for Minors (OFMIN) said the signal came in 2023 and was judged to be "weak". The office said it received around 300,000 signals every year.

New sexual allegations have also emerged, regarding not just Barella, but his father and brother, too.

On Wednesday, Barella's brother Yannick was placed under investigation for rape following complaints by two women, one of whom was a minor at the time of the alleged crime. The other woman is his former partner.