A BUSINESSMAN whose company is registered in Swindon was among the family members massacred on a holiday in the French Alps.

Saad al-Hilli was shot dead along with his wife Ikbal, another woman, believed to be his mother-in-law, and a passing French cyclist.

Their four-year-old daughter, named as Zaina, lay in terror under her mother’s body in the car for eight hours before being discovered by police. Her seven-year-old sister, believed to be called Zehab, was found severely injured nearby and was placed in a medically-induced coma in hospital.

Mr al-Hilli, 50, is listed at Companies House as the secretary of Swindon-based aerial photography firm AMS 1087 Ltd.

Documents show he took up the post in 2007. The director is Surrey businessman James Barnett, who did not want to comment yesterday.

No one was available for comment at the company’s accountancy firm, AMS Accountancy Ltd, in Delta Business Park, Westlea.

Mr al-Hilli lived in Claygate, Surrey, but his Facebook account showed he had friends in Bath and Bristol. The family are believed to have been holidaying with Mrs al-Hilli’s mother, who holds a Swedish passport, and had been driving near Lake Annecy, a popular tourist spot in the Haute-Savoie region.

All of the victims were shot. At least 15 shell casings, believed to be from an automatic pistol, were found near the car.

The scene was discovered by a British cyclist.

The younger daughter was found unscathed by forensic science officers in the early hours yesterday after lying under her mother’s body in the family’s bullet-riddled BMW estate.

The girl had gone undiscovered for so long because police were waiting for specialist units to arrive from Paris to comb the scene for clues before opening the car.

Mr al-Hilli was born in Baghdad but held British citizenship after moving to the country at least a decade ago. He was found at the wheel of the UK-registered vehicle.

Public prosecutor Eric Maillaud told a press conference the four-year-old girl, who is receiving psychiatric treatment, had been found terrorised and motionless, in the midst of the bodies.

Her sister had been hit extremely violently, he said.

The French cyclist, named as Sylvain Mollier, was found with gunshot wounds near the car.

The motive remains a mystery, amid speculation the family could have been the victims of an armed robbery.