The suspect in a shooting at a leading French newspaper office had lived in Britain for several years before returning to France in July, the Paris prosecutor says.

Abdelhakim Dekhar, also suspected of three other attacks, had written a “confused” letter criticising media manipulation and capitalism and including a vague reference to Syria.

Dekhar is in custody in a suburban Paris hospital after police detained him on Wednesday night, ending a two-day nationwide manhunt.

Police found him in a “semi-conscious state” after an attempt to kill himself with medication, Prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters. The witness who turned Dekhar in said he had been staying with him and they met while working in a restaurant together in London 13 years ago.