Oxford-based ‘guru’ is charged with kidnapping and torture

THREE GENERATIONS of an aristocratic French family have « awoken » from the spell of an Oxford-based guru who is accused of spinning a lurid fantasy to rob them of their fortune.

At least eight members of the Védrines family, aged between 96 and 24, are now said to be ready to give evidence against Thierry Tilly, a self-proclaimed financial genius, master spy and agent of an age-old secret order.

However, six of the Védrines clan, including the 96-year-old matriarch, have insisted on remaining in Britain for now, dashing hopes of a New Year reunion with their long-estranged relatives in France. Two others, including a former consultant gynaecologist who was working in Oxford as a jobbing gardener, have already returned from England to France and have declared they will support legal action against Mr Tilly.

Since his arrest in Switzerland in October, Mr Tilly, 44, has been in a prison in Bordeaux facing possible charges of kidnapping and torture. He is said to have convinced the Védrines family – part of the Protestant nobility of south-west France for 300 years – that they belonged to an ancient order called L’Equilibre du Monde (« the balance of the world ») La suite >