Verdict due in "murder" trial of wife who "disappeared" WITH UPDATE SEE END

There are two high profile court cases making the headlines here in France at the moment.

The first is that of Jacques Viguier, a law professor accused of murdering his wife, Suzanne, nine years ago.

A verdict is expected on Thursday afternoon.

The other concerns the death in 2006 of Ilan Halimi, a 23-year-old Jewish man, who was kidnapped by a gang and tortured over a period of three weeks.

The trial of the gang-leader and 26 other accused opened in Paris on Thursday and is expected to last a couple of months.

You can read more about it here.

For the moment though, back to the Viguier trial and the accusation that he murdered his wife.

The main protagonists are Viguier, the husband with a reputation for being something of a "ladies' man" and Suzanne, a wife, tired of her husband's infidelities, who had taken a lover herself.

The last time anyone saw Suzanne Viguier was in the early hours of the morning on February 27, 2000.

That was when Olivier Durandet - her lover - dropped her off at the home she shared with her her husband and three children.

Viguier waited until March 1 before informing the police of his wife's "disappearance" and a week later an investigation was opened.

And suspicion quickly fell on Viguier, who was taken into police custody, and spent nine months in detention.

Because it was during the course of their investigations that the police uncovered a number of elements that not only gave the case something of the flavour of an Alfred Hitcock movie, but also pointed, as far as the prosecution was concerned, to Viguier's guilt.

The couple for example, although they still shared the family home, no longer slept together in the same bedroom.

Then there was the mattress for example - the one Suzanne slept on. It was nowhere to be found.

Viguier initially claimed he had sent it away to be cleaned in readiness for his wife's return, but later changed his story and insisted that he had thrown it away at a local tip.

When the police returned from the dump with a partially burnt mattress, which didn't exactly match the description, Viguier confirmed that that it was the one he had thrown away.

Police also found traces of Suzanne's blood on the staircase and the bath of the couple's home.

None of her personal effects were missing. In fact she had apparently even left the house without her glasses.

But the fact still remained - and does until today - that no body has been found.

Viguier has always maintained his innocence, and during the trial he has had the support of the couple's three children.

Clémence, now 19 and twins Guillaume and Nicolas, 17 have all testified over the past week solidly supporting their father.

"Just as others have done, I've tried to imagine that my father could be guilty but I just don't think he did it," Clémence told the court - a feeling echoed by both her brothers.

And even his mother-in-law, Claude Petit-Lamarca, the mother of the supposed murder victim, testified before the court that she believed Viguier to be innocent.

A verdict in the trial is expected on Thursday afternoon, with the prosecution asking for 15-20 years behind bars if Viguier is found guilty.

UPDATE

Viguier acquitted - found not guilty on all three counts; voluntary homicide, intentional violence towards his wife, and violence against his wife without the intention of killing her.

Chloé Mortaud's Miss France crown hangs in the balance

The reigning Miss France, Chloé Mortaud, could lose her title if a case which appeared before the courts on Wednesday goes against her.

The challenge isn't from any of the other 35 competitors Mortaud beat to win the crown on December 6 last year.

Instead it's coming from Marine Beaury, who is disputing Mortaud's eligibility for the final in the first place.

Beaury was the runner-up in the regional qualifying competition, "Miss Albigeois Midi-Pyrénées", a contest won by Mortaud in September 2008 and which secured her place in the final.

In an interview with a monthly glossy magazine, which ironically appeared just after Mortaud had lifted the national title, Beaury claimed that the vote in the regional contest had been rigged.

Some members of the jury, she maintained, had close personal ties to Mortaud's parents and that contravened the regulations of the competition.

Her claims were rejected by the organisers of the regional pageant, but Beaury didn't let the matter lie there.

She got in touch with a group which represents disgruntled ex-Misses in France - yes such a thing exists, "Collectif des Miss en colère" and the upshot has been the case reaching the courts.

Should it go against her, Mortaud could be stripped of her title and forced to return any prize money she has earned or give back gifts she has received.

In recent years, the Miss France competition has been no stranger to controversy just ask the 2008 winner, Valérie Bègue (the former Miss Réunion).

She was involved in a tussle with the doyenne of the organising committee, Geneviève de Fontenay, after “suggestive” photographs of her appeared in the very same magazine to which Beaury initially took her case, just a month after her election December 2007.

Bègue was allowed to retain her title but banned from representing France at international competitions.

And the 2004 winner, Lætitia Bléger, was stripped of her title just six months into the job after she posed naked for a well-known monthly magazine.

A decision on the case "Beaury versus Mortaud" is expected on June 12.

Britain has got talent (apparently) but has France?

Have you ever tried making a tarte tartin?

It's a French speciality, much the same thing as an upside-down apple tart with the fruit being caramelised in sugar and butter before being baked. Delicious.

Well it acts as an admittedly rather tortured culinary metaphor for this country's version of Pop Idol, called la Nouvelle Star - although unfortunately it's far from being as appetising.

Because although all the ingredients are apparently there, somehow the oven has been set at too high a temperature and the whole thing looks as though it's going to be seriously burnt.

For those of you who might not have understood what the blazes I'm on about and think that perhaps I've been popping too many of those little green pills, rest assured I'm fine.

Although after an evening last week spent listening to the caterwauling that was supposed to pass for this country's "next big thing", I'm none too certain.

At the same time as Britain (and the world) was "discovering" Susan Boyle, France was unleashing the very best of the worst on viewers - and it's set to continue.

So if your ears are prepared to endure an excruciating assault (you can click on the links provided to hear what I mean).

A word of warning. Some of the "performances" (inverted commas absolutely vital) were horrible.

There are two alternatives. If you're really brave enough (or should that be masochistic?) then you hotfoot it over to the show's official website and can click on each of the candidates. All the videos are available, so they shouldn't have been deleted yet (although perhaps on reflection they should be).

Alternatively you can take a listen here to the so-called "highlights". Ahem. Just three minutes worth and you'll get more than a fair picture of what viewers had to suffer.

A word or two on la Nouvelle Star and how it functions.

It's now in its sixth season and has in the past thrown up some real surprises and introduced some singers who would probably have made it anyway, but were given the extra push by appearing on the show.

Amel Bent (season two, third place), Christophe Willem (season four, winner) and Julian Doré (season five, winner) have all been successful in the French-speaking world, and probably have the talent, voices and following to stick around for a while longer.

Many of the past winners seem to have slipped into obscurity such as Jonatan Cerrada (season one, winner - although to give him his due, he did represent France one year at the Eurovision Song Contest), Steeve Estatof (season two, winner) and Myriam Abel (season three, winner).

The jury is out on last year's Nouvelle Star, Amandine Bourgeois as she has yet to release an album.

And that provides a segué into the jury. Yes there is one, comprised of four "heavyweights" from the music industry.

Another serious clearing of the throat.

They spend several weeks holding auditions held up and down France for hopefuls from this country (of course) as well as Switzerland, Belgium and Canada, before whittling the choice down to the finalists - who then....well you probably know the rest of it.

There were 15 who made it through to the last stage in Paris. With one being eliminated by the voting public each week, Tuesday saw them down to the last eight.

The current make-up of the jury is André Manoukian, a jazz songwriter who has been with the programme since it started and makes rather wild and off the wall statements.

His most famous this year has been - quite rightly - after being subjected to one of the finalist's performances a couple of weeks ago he came up with the expression, "I have to admit that there has been an ETC - un erreur terrible de casting"

Then there's Lio, (real name Wanda Maria Ribeiro Furtado Tavares de Vasconcelos), a Belgian singer of Portuguese origin who had several (forgettable) hits in France in the 1980s.

Philippe Manœuvre hides behind his trademark sunglasses come rain or shine and brings yonks of experience as a rock journalist to the show.

Finally there's Sinclair (real name Mathieu Blanc-Francard) who is another singer-songwriter although most French would probably be hard pushed to name one of his hits.

The four have more or less done their job in choosing the finalists and have little say in what happens now as the voting is purely up to the public, although of course after each song they get to "rate" the performance with a "red" (bad) or "blue" thumbs up and are not averse to having a handbags at dawn moment or two when they disagree.

Anyway, here's that promised selection of contestants who last week were still in with a chance of becoming the next Nouvelle Star - in the order in which they appeared.

First up Mahdi - a favourite of the jury, who was actually a contestant last year but dropped out before the finals for personal reasons. Sadly he didn't make that decision this year and last week decided to "murder" a Jean-Jacques Goldman number, Aicha.

Mélissa then karaoked her way through one of her favourite songs, the Pointer Sister's "Im so exicted.

"Doing the job of three," said Philippe Manœuvre, giving her the thumbs up. Maybe he should have taken his glasses off. I always find it helps me hear better.

Then it was the turn of the 17-year-old hairdresser Thomas - we know that's his profession because we're reminded of it at every available opportunity.

He can sing (now there's a surprise) but is terribly camp and insisted on wiggling and strutting his way through a song - this time "Onde Sensuelle".

"More Marlène Dietrich, less Liza Minelli next time," was the helpful advice of the jury afterwards. Huh?

Dalé sang what we were told was a Claude François song but in reality was in fact just the French version of a song written and performed by Johnny Nash back in the 1970s "I can see clearly".

Next up was Soan (pronounce that Swarn), who took to the stage in a dress and Doc Marten-type boots with the obligatory over-made eyes to give us his rendition of The Cure's "Boy's don't cry".

"Uh sorry - this was done way back when, and you'll never be a Robert Smith, so stop trying." That was the should-have-been fifth member of the jury - me - in case you were wondering.

There was momentary relief as Lary put in the performance of the evening with 10CC's "I'm not in love". Still it was hard to get past the hair.

Leila was next, and after a catastrophic wail the previous week, she "had to improve".

Her solution was to rework "Dès que je te vois" by the sublime Vanessa Paradis.

All right so she looked a little like Vanessa on steroids as she stomped around the stage, but you could tell the jury wanted her to perform well, and she was different enough to get my vote - no I didn't ring in - even if she was as nervous as the proverbial cat on a hot tin roof.

Damien - he of the face made for radio and a voice for the dustbin - then massacred the Corgis "Everybody has gotta learn some time" which brought us finally (hooray) to Camélia Jordana (yes she has two first names).

She's only 16 and clearly the pick of the bunch as far as the jury is concerned, although this time around her rendition of Marilyn Monroe's "I wanna be loved by you" was not a wise choice.

The warbling was over and all that was left was the result of the vote with the show's presenter, Virginie Guilhaume, calling out each of the successful candidates one by one until there were just two remaining - Thomas and Mélissa.

"And the candidate who will be joining us here once again to continue the adventure," Guilhaime paused for the dramatic effect. "Is Thomas".

So Mélissa out, plenty of hugging and tears - and a huge sigh of relief that it was over for another week.

"Just seven candidates left," Guilhaume reminded us as the she hurriedly wrapped the programme up.

"Join us next week for another exceptional show."

What?

Will I?

It's on this evening and even though I know I shouldn't, I'm still wondering whether I will.