....must not be confused with Michel Fourniret, although they are both French and about the same age (66 and 64, respectively).

Michel Fournier is a retired French Army officer, who hoped to fly a giant helium balloon about 25 miles above Earth and parachute down. He failed:

Tuesday morning before dawn, Fournier and his team of 40 readied for what he has called Le Grand Saut (The Great Leap) from an airport in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. But as spectators watched, his 650-foot-high balloon inflated, then suddenly floated away, leaving the gondola with Fournier inside on the ground. The damaged balloon was recovered 25 miles away.

Michel Fourniret is a serial killer, known as the Ogre of the Ardennes, who has just been jailed for life.

Don't give him a balloon. He'll be over the wall and up to no good before you can say zut alors in a silly high-pitched voice.