French ‘seduction coach’ jailed for life for savage murder of ex-girlfriend

A self-styled expert in "seduction" and "masculinity" has been jailed for life for the murder of his ex-girlfriend in a town outside Paris in 2020.

Mickaël Philétas, 41, a former French railworker who retrained as an aerobics coach and posted videos online about living the life of an alpha male, was found guilty of stabbing to death his 34-year-old ex-girlfriend at her home in Ecquevilly.

The court in Yvelines heard that Philétas, who had described himself online as a "seduction coach", had knifed his ex-partner more than 80 times after arriving at her home late at night.

He was also convicted of the attempted murder of her new partner, as well as the attempted murder and sexual assault of her younger sister on the same night.

The public prosecutor, Marine Montauzou, told the court Philétas's actions amounted to a "savage crime" and there was "no doubt" it was premeditated.

Referring to his video output, the prosecutor said it was clear he did "not tolerate any woman standing up to him". She said he had a "homicidal hatred of women".

Philétas told investigators he did not hate women. He said he had posted more than 1,500 videos on YouTube about masculinity because he was interested in online communications.