Serial rapist convicted of murder, he is today one of the oldest prisoners in France

This Saturday, At the end of the investigation will focus on the criminal journey of Willy Van Coppernolle. Having become one of the oldest prisoners in France at 81, the Belgian is a repeat offender. Convicted of a murder and multiple rapes, he is of interest to the cold case center of Nanterre, as his modus operandi is similar to numerous crimes committed in Isère. Born on August 9, 1943 in Ghent (Belgium), he is today incarcerated at the Bapaume detention center (Pas-de-Calais), from which he does not want to leave.

Willy Van Coppernolle, a criminal backpacker

From the 1960s to the 1990s, Willy Van Coppernolle increased his abuses in very remote areas. From his native Belgium, to the south of France, via the Drôme, this youngest of sixteen children led a nomadic life. Enlisted in the Foreign Legion, then dismissed, this criminal backpacker took advantage of numerous aliases to commit his misdeeds, presenting himself in turn as a butcher, cook, baker and photocopier repairer. Sexual assault, theft, scams, everything goes wrong for this man arrested thirty times. If his profile makes us fear the worst, he never finds himself out of harm's way for very long…

Willy Van Coppernolle wants to end his life behind bars

Released on March 22, 1993, after three and a half years of detention for a rape reclassified as indecent assault, he committed murder a few days later. On March 27, 1993, Abdel Dkhissi, an 11-year-old boy, was kidnapped in Remoulins (Gard) before being probably raped – this could not be proven – and murdered with a stone to the head. On the night of April 3 to 4, 1993, in Gruissan (Aude), two hitchhikers aged 15 and 16 were threatened with a weapon by Willy Van Coppernolle, then raped. Their report will make it possible to arrest the Belgian repeat offender on April 20, 1993, in Narbonne (Aude). A 33-year-old man, victim of rape in 1981 in Fréjus, will then recognize his attacker, but will not be able to take legal action, the fault being the statute of limitations. Sentenced to life imprisonment on March 30, 1995 at the Gard assizes, Van Coppernolle saw his sentence be accompanied by a security period of 22 years. Having been able to have the right to do so for many years, he has never made a request for release according to information from Var Morning.