Family’s fury as British businessman convicted of bludgeoning his fiancee to death freed from jail after just 22 MONTHS
Ian Griffin, 47, was jailed for 20 years for the murder of Kinga Legg, 36, after her naked body was found in the bath of their £800-a-night Paris hotel room in 2009
THE family of woman bludgeoned to death by her British businessman fiance have spoken of their fury after he was reportedly freed from jail after just 22 months.
Ian Griffin, 47, was jailed for 20 years for the murder of Kinga Legg, 36, after her naked body was found in the bath of their £800-a-night Paris hotel room in 2009.
But a French judge is said to have ordered his release without explanation at a closed hearing in October - a decision that shocked the wealthy Polish businesswoman's family.
Griffin, who is originally from Warrington, Cheshire, is believed to have since been living discreetly three hours east of Paris in the Alsace region of France.
Miss Legg's cousin Eva said the victim's family had been unaware he had been freed until they were contacted by reporters yesterday.
Speaking to the , she said: "Oh my God! How can this be? I thought that life meant life – you take a life and you pay for it by forfeiting your own freedom.
"We all thought he was in jail and that was where he was staying. How could they let him out?"
Miss Legg's dad, who was a former mayor of Opatowek where the family live, died just four months after Griffin was jailed in 2015.
Eva told the newspaper Miss Legg's mum Halina and brother Marek will be "devastated" by the judge's decision.
Griffin has reportedly been sharing pictures on Facebook over the past few weeks including snaps with his new partner and former Dragons' Den contestant Tracy Baker, and their two-year-old son.
Ms Baker, who he had been seeing while in a relationship with Miss Legg, stuck by him throughout the trial and broke down as she watched him led away to the cells in December 2014.
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But the pair are thought to have rekindled their relationship since his apparent release.
When approached Griffin told reporters he was unable to discuss his case because of a confidentiality order and explained his business was "busy" with "things in France and America".
He also said the murder case had "ruined my life, my reputation, my work".
Griffin told the Mail: "Every night I go to bed and I think, 'Why me?' I have to put my mind somewhere else. It’s a terrible thing that happened to me."
During his five-day trial, Griffin said he went into “black hole” of memory loss caused by alcohol and anti-depressants at the time of the murder.
He had told the court that he wanted to apologise to Ms Legg’s parents, saying: “To think I could do that to the girl I love, that’s killing me.
“I have been through every regret, every emotion. I would give my life for her’s tomorrow.”
But prosecutor Philippe Courroye said he failed to believe any of the versions Griffin offered for the murder, saying the case was a classic one of “violence against women”.
The prosecutor also dismissed suggestions that Griffin, a confessed love cheat, was a successful businessman, saying he had “no official income” and lived off his girlfriends and wealthy parents.
Ms Legg’s corpse was found in the bath of the couple’s 5* hotel room, after Griffin, who claimed it was all “an accident”, fled to England in his Porsche 911 sports car.
It sparked an international manhunt and he was found two weeks later in a tent close to his home in Cheshire.
He was arrested and extradited to France in 2011, but in a controversial legal move he was released on bail in March 2013 before his case was eventually brought to trial the following year.
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