A 34 year old British man has been shot dead by a single gunshot from a hunter in Morzine area of French Alps.

The man has been named as Marc Sutton, who ran a restaurant called Wild Beets in Morzine. Mr Sutton is said to have died instantly from the shot.

Mr Sutton was reportedly riding his mountain bike in thick woodland at around 6pm Saturday October 13th. He was wearing bright blue clothing. He was apparently on a popular mountain bike track, very likely to be on the Super Morzine mountainside.

A post on the ‘Morzine Crew – Talk To Me‘ Facebook page has since seen numerous comment calling for hunting to be banned in the area. There have also been plenty of pro-hunting comments saying that hunting is a “lifelong tradition”.

More 20 people have died in hunting accidents within the past three years in France.

A 22 year old hunter has not yet been arrested; he was taken to hospital for severe shock. An inquiry has begun of aggravated manslaughter.

The UK Foreign Office said today (Sunday October 14th): “We are in contact with the local authorities about the death of a British man in France, and we are providing assistance to his family.”