No one had seen it coming. "I made a mistake with the copy-paste." Shock and then dismay swept through the criminal court in Albi, southern France, where Cédric Jubillar is standing trial, accused of murdering his wife. A "mistake." A "copy-paste." On Tuesday, October 7, Major Gilles Loïs, the officer in charge of phone surveillance in one of France's most high-profile criminal investigations, provided an answer to the question that had haunted the court since the previous day. Did Delphine Jubillar's lover's phone really ping at the cell tower covering the couple's home in the village of Cagnac-les-Mines on the night of December 15 to 16, 2020?

When the lover was called to the witness stand, the defense played its trump card by presenting evidence that his phone number was among the 216 potential suspects identified by investigators. All were subject to searches to verify their phone records.

The outcome of each investigation is included in the case file. Except for one. The defense insisted that it corresponded to Donat-Jean M.'s number. Cédric Jubillar's lawyer, Emmanuelle Franck, called this an "alteration" of the truth and a "forgery," plunging the court and jury into confusion.

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