• Jérôme Gaillard, who had accused himself of the murder of his wife Magali Blandin in February 2021 in Montfort-sur-Meu, hanged himself in his cell in Rennes prison early Monday morning.

  • His lawyer and that of his father wonder about the conditions of imprisonment of the deceased and a potential lack of supervision or support.

  • Jérôme Gaillard had been on a hunger strike for three weeks and a confrontation with his parents, indicted for complicity and also imprisoned.

The tone is serious and the voice full of emotion. Monday morning, lawyer Jean-Guillaume Le Mintier learned of the death of one of his clients by SMS. “It's a shock. For seven months, I tried to accompany him as best as possible, to restore his confidence. He was in a state of great psychological distress ”. A few hours earlier, Jérôme Gaillard had committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell in Rennes-Vezin prison.

According to the first testimonies of the supervisors who found the lifeless body, the one who had confessed to having killed his wife Magali Blandin would have hanged himself with his sheets.

In a few months, the couple's four children lost their mother, hit with a baseball bat, before learning of the suicide of their father, whom he had not seen since the first suspicions of guilt.

Jérôme Gaillard's parents, imprisoned for helping their son kill his wife, have lost their last child.

About ten years ago, Jérôme Gaillard's brother took his own life.

A failure ?

In this already complex issue, many questions remain. Why did the main respondent kill his ex-wife? Did his parents help him? What role did his knowledge of Georgia have in this dossier? "We will never have certain answers, in particular on the personality of Jérôme Gaillard", summarizes Me Olivier Chauvel, lawyer of the father of the deceased. Incarcerated in another establishment, his client is "in shock" since the announcement of the death and does not even know if he will be able to attend the funeral of his 45-year-old son.

The day after the events, the suicide of the man who had accused himself of the murder questions.

How could such a fragile person end his life?

“An investigation has been opened to determine the causes of death.

But it is above all an administrative investigation that must be carried out.

We must shed light on this fiasco, ”summarizes Me Chauvel.

"Obviously, there has been a failure."

Murder of Magali Blandin: A kitty opened by her relatives to help her children https://t.co/llDrc4NLxZ via @ 20minutesRennes pic.twitter.com/EiXlRUsThW

- 20 Minutes Rennes (@ 20minutesrennes) April 20, 2021

The lawyer for the deceased is of the same opinion. Above all, he wonders about the protective measures implemented by the prison administration to avoid this tragedy. “He didn't care much about his own fate. What he wanted was for his parents to be released and for his four children to be reunited under one roof. He wanted to be able to see them if they ever wanted to. But he hit a wall, ”says Me Le Mintier. For three weeks and the confrontation with his parents, Jérôme Gaillard had started a hunger strike. Very weakened, he was visibly "struggling to get out of bed". How is it that he could have committed suicide? “He told me he would. I think the accumulation of fatigue and the lack of food must have reached his capacity for discernment.But how is it that he was not hospitalized? This is not normal, ”said his lawyer.

Four rounds per night

First imprisoned in Angers, Jérôme Gaillard had been transferred to Rennes-Vezin, where he had been placed in solitary confinement, due to the intense media coverage of the case.

"It is a protective measure to prevent him from rubbing shoulders with other detainees, it was for his safety," explains Eric Toxé, representative of the Ufap-Unsa union at the Rennes remand center.

After a month, the management of the establishment had requested his reassignment within the regional medico-psychological service (SMPR) of the prison.

A unit where psychologists and psychiatrists are present and where each of the detainees has their own 9 m2 room.

But where the walks are collective.

Identified as "fragile", Jérôme Gaillard was the subject of "specific surveillance" which includes four rounds per night, instead of two for the rest of the detainees. Insufficient to prevent the respondent from ending his life on Monday around 4 a.m. “We cannot control everything, anticipate everything. If someone really wants to end his life, it's difficult to prevent him, ”says Eric Toxé, who has served for twenty-seven years in prison.

The trade unionist recalls in passing the "shock" experienced by the staff at each of these tragedies.

“In my entire career, I have only encountered it once.

But I still remember it.

It marks for life ”.

The union representative refuses, however, to argue over the working conditions of the staff of the establishment, where a hundred mattresses are installed on the floor.

“We have a lack of supervisors, that's clear.

But that has no impact on the conditions of detention, ”he promises.

The prison director heard by the gendarmes

An investigation was opened by the Rennes prosecutor's office and entrusted to the gendarmerie. Asked by

20 Minutes

, the prison administration did not respond. According to our information, the investigators were to hear the director of the penitentiary establishment on Tuesday afternoon to try to understand how such a fragile prisoner could kill himself. “It's a drama for everyone. I am thinking of the children, of Magali Blandin's family, ”laments Jean-Guillaume Le Mintier.

Ten years ago, the lawyer defended Sophie Piédoux, Christophe Piédoux's new companion, in a case that strangely resembles that of Jérôme Gaillard.

This man who had admitted having killed Anne Caudal, his companion, pregnant at the time of the tragedy, had committed suicide in prison, a month after his imprisonment.

Taking with him his secrets.

Society

Murder of Magali Blandin: Her husband's parents knew he wanted to kill her

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Ille-et-Vilaine: Exceptional means and a fault ... How the husband of Magali Blandin ended up confessing to the murder

  • Domestic violence

  • Murder

  • Jail

  • Inmates

  • Suicide

  • Reindeer

  • Society