French authorities face mounting embarrassment and public fury after it emerged that US child protection organisations repeatedly warned them about the main suspect in the brutal murder of 11-year-old Lyhanna, whose body was found on June 4 in a disused grain silo near Fleurance in south-west France.
The suspect, 41-year-old Jérôme Barella, a father of one of Lyhanna’s classmates, had been the subject of several prior complaints for sexual violence against minors.
Despite these red flags, including a formal complaint filed in summer 2025 alleging repeated rape of another young girl, he was never properly questioned or placed under investigation before Lyhanna’s disappearance on May 29.
Now even more damning, the US-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) sent multiple alerts to France’s specialised unit (OFMIN) about Barella’s suspicious online activity involving minors.
These warnings, which originated from American monitoring of global child exploitation material, appear to have been inadequately followed up by French police and prosecutors.
According to Le Monde, the American warnings about Jérôme Barella only came to light after French investigators carried out a background check on him as part of the Lyhanna murder inquiry.
BFMTV reported that the National Office for Minors receives nearly 200,000 reports from the American organisation each year.
Barella is now in custody and under formal investigation for Lyhanna’s murder.
He admits being with the girl on the afternoon she disappeared but claims he dropped her off at a swimming pool.
However, the pool reportedly was closed.
Lyhanna was buried today, in private.
The case has triggered a national crisis over France’s child-protection system and the handling of prior warnings.
President Emmanuel Macron has already described the failures as “unacceptable”, while Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin has ordered a full review of 70,000 allegations of violence against minors.
Public anger has led thousands taking to the streets in protests demanding judicial reform and accountability.
Many are asking how a man with such a documented history of predatory behaviour was allowed to remain free.
The case has exposed deep systemic problems in the French justice system withc chronic understaffing of specialised units dealing with child abuse, slow processing of complaints, and a reluctance to act decisively on repeat offenders.
In 2023, the Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence Against Children (Ciivise) published a report alerting to the possible dysfunction of the French justice system concerning the protection of minors.
Critics argue this reflects a broader institutional failure to protect the most vulnerable.
Former Interior Minister and presidential hopeful Bruno Retailleau has called for mandatory chemical castration for the most dangerous sex offenders following the murder.
