"There is a sort of casualness when it comes to child protection," says French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, speaking about the Lyhanna case, following the tragic death of an 11-year-old girl whose alleged killer had been the subject of several complaints. The body of the young girl was found last week after she went missing on May 29 near the southwestern town of Fleurance. The 41-year-old accused, the father of a school friend of the victim, had twice before been formally accused of raping a child. One legal complaint was filed in August last year, but the investigation stalled and police had not yet questioned him by the time Lyhanna went missing nine months later. "Proceedings (...) brought against farmers" by the Auch public prosecutor’s office "were given priority treatment" while "the case of Mr Barella, despite his very serious criminal record, was left on the back burner," asserts the chair of the far-right Rassemblement National Party group in the National Assembly. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES