Alps family friend: 'I can help the shootings inquiry'

It is more than a week since three members of the al-Hilli family were killed in Chevaline and two young girls were orphaned having witnessed the gruesome murder of their parents and grandmother.

Today the French prosecutor arrives in Surrey, looking for background information and clues that may lead to establishing a motive for their murder.

He will focus on potential family feuds, financial matters and links to Iraq.

But a close family friend has told me that the press and police are focusing too much on the family being the intended targets of the horrific attack.

Zaid Alabdi, a London-based dentist, believes his friends were never the intended victims. He believes the French cyclist, 40-year-old Sylvan Mollier, who was also killed could have been the focus of the gunman.

Zaid, who was at dental school in Baghdad with Iqbal al-Hilli, believes the family were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Mr Alabdi says he is the al-Hillis' closest friend here in the UK.

He immediately contacted police when he realised they had been killed, but has yet to be asked to contribute to the investigation.

He knows the family home well and believes he could offer useful assistance to detectives.