French public criticism of the official handling of the Lyhanna case has grown louder following fresh information from the United States.
The U.S.-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) claims to have reported suspicious online activity by the alleged killer, Jérôme Barella, to the French National Police’s juvenile division.
The U.S. organisation forwarded several reports concerning Barella, now the main suspect in Lyhanna’s murder, to the French Office for Minors (Ofmin). While this branch of the judicial police exists to combat sexual violence against minors, it does not appear to have followed up on the information provided.
Lyhanna, aged 11, was found dead in an agricultural silo in the Gers region. Local police forces were asked to trawl their records for any reference to the main suspect. Despite NCMEC forwarding hundreds of thousands of reports annually to French law enforcement based on web and social media data regarding online child pornography, little if any material mentioning Barella has come to light.
While NCMEC appears to be indicting the non-cooperation or indifference of the French authorities, Jérôme Barella’s father and brother face new and resurfaced allegations about serious sexual crimes. To the wider public, the Lyhanna case is a source of intense anger, with thousands protesting against the failure of the authorities to protect children, not least by a predator who was already well-known to them.
