Terror suspect accused of radicalising driver who beheaded his boss

Frederic Jean Salvi

A Frenchman accused of radicalising the lorry driver who allegedly beheaded his boss at a factory in France last week lives and works in Leicester.

Terror suspect Frederic Jean Salvi was interviewed by British police this week after the Islamic State-inspired attack in Lyon.

The Islamic extremist, 36, lives with his wife and their five children at number 17, a modest semi-detached home.

After we traced him, he said at the property today: “The British authorities know where I am and have no problem with it.

"They’ve been to see me a few times. It’s always the same two officers – I think they are Special Branch.

“They came this week to ask if I knew anything about what happened in Lyon. Of course, I told them ‘no’.”

Salvi, a well-built man who says he is an instructor at a gym in Leicester, added: “I know the man who has been arrested but only because we grew up in the same town in France.”

Salvi converted to Islam while in jail for drug trafficking. After his release in 2004, he attended the same mosque in Pontarlier, France, as Yassin Salhi – the French truck driver who is in custody over the beheading last Friday.

Salvi was barred from the mosque for inciting hatred among a group of eight people said to include 35-year-old Salhi.

Referring to Salvi, a fellow worshipper said: “Everyone knew him because he was tall and calm. He tried to install a radical movement in the mosque but it did not work.”

Then in 2010, Salvi was wanted for questioning over an attempted car bombing.

A vehicle registered in his name was found packed with explosives in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta.

After the thwarted terror strike, Salvi disappeared before turning up in Leicester last year.

Speaking in fluent English at the home in the Humberstone area of the city, Salvi condemned the killing of Herve Cornara, 54, at the US-owned factory last week.

He also disputed he is still wanted in Indonesia over the car bomb attempt.