Jersey-linked veteran jailed for 14 years over heiress kidnapping

Friday 29 January 2021

A French court has handed down a 14-year prison sentence against a former British special forces soldier, with previous links to Jersey, over the kidnapping of an elderly hotel heiress in Nice.

The sentence against Philip Dutton (52) comes after a three-and-a-half week trial that involved 12 other men over the kidnapping of Jacqueline Veyrac, who owns the five-star Grand Hotel in Cannes and the La Réserve restaurant on Nice seafront.

The incident took place on October 24 2016 on the street near Mrs Veyrac’s home. Then aged 76, she was thrown into the back of a Renault Kangoo and left bound and gagged in the vehicle on a quiet street. 

She was eventually released two days later after she managed to get free, and alert being a passer-by.

It followed a previous kidnapping attempt in similar circumstances in 2013.

Italian restaurant owner Guiseppe Serena was accused of ordering her abduction to obtain a $6million ransom which he would have used to open a new restaurant.

He allegedly resented the restaurant owner for terminating his role as manager at La Reserve restaurant in 2009. 

Chief Prosecutor Annie Brunet-Fuster originally sought a 25-year sentence against Dutton, who had admitted involvement in the kidnapping.

She however recommended a 30-year-sentence against Serena, who she described as the instigator, according to Agence France Presse. 

Serena, who only admitted his involvement in the 2016 kidnapping on Monday, blaming it on his “frustrated ego”, according to Nice Matin, has been jailed for 18 years.

Luc Goursolas, a paparazzo-turned-private detective, who put a GPS device on the hotel heiress’ vehicle, received two years one of which suspended after the Court concluded he had only been guilty of not reporting the crime, rather than being actively informed about the ploy. 

The five other men involved - charges were dropped against five of the co-accused - have been jailed for 17 months and up to 15 years.