Maelys de Araujo: former French soldier tells court girl’s death was ‘a mistake’

Nordahl Lelandais has admitted abducting and killed eight-year-old from wedding reception in 2017

A former French soldier who admitted kidnapping and killing an eight-year-old girl he abducted from a wedding reception has insisted her death was a mistake" but still refuses to give details of how she died.

At his long-awaited trial Nordahl Lelandais, 38, apologised to the family of Maelys De Araujo, who disappeared near Chambery in the French Alps in August 2017 sparking a six-month police search that dominated the national headlines for weeks.