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please see the show notes for this episode on your
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app or on our website. At around 3pm on Wednesday,
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September 20, 2017, a resident in the Southfields district of
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South West London was disturbed by a foul odour. Peering outside,
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they noticed a black smoke emanating from their next door
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neighbour's rear garden from what appeared to be some kind
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of weird barbecue. The concerned resident went and knocked on
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their neighbour's door to check if everything was okay, but
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there was no answer. Shrugging it off, they went about
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their day as the repugnant smoke continued to spiral above
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their neighbourhood. Three hours later, the resident could no longer
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ignore it. They phoned emergency services and reported the strange
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fire burning on Wimbledon Park Road. Firefighters arrived at the
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address at 6.20pm. A slim balding man with olive skin
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and greying facial hair opened the door. He was 40-year-old
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Wissam Medoni, known to friends as Sam. Wissam told the
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firefighters there was nothing to worry about. he was simply
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having a barbecue. But the firefighters wanted to check it
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out to make sure it didn't present any fire hazards.
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They walked through Wiesem's small two-bedroom flat and out a
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set of French doors into the rear garden. Just as
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Wiesem had described, several pieces of chicken were grilling on
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a small barbecue. Alongside it blazed an open bonfire, which
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was the source of the thick, foul-smelling smoke. The fire
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was remarkably close to the door, so firefighters deemed it
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a hazard and extinguished the flames. One of them, Thomas Hunt,
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then turned to Wiesem and asked what he was burning.
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Wiesem said it was the carcass of a sheep, which
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he'd purchased earlier from the Wimbledon markets. Thomas eyed the
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charred remains. Among two blackened logs were human fingers and
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a nose. Upon realising that he was looking at the
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remnants of a human body, firefighter Thomas Hunt wanted to
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confront Wiesem Medeni. But he wasn't sure how the man
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would react when he saw Thomas paused for a moment.
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In response to Wiesem's claim that he was burning a
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sheep carcass, Thomas finally said, Bollocks. Wiesem seemed unperturbed. He
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calmly shrugged off the comment and went to sit down.
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It was then that Thomas detected a look of resignation
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on Wiesem's face, as though he knew he'd been caught.
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While waiting for police to arrive, the firefighters sifted through
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the ashes and found items of clothing, jewellery and a
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pair of badly charred eyeglasses. Pieces of cooked chicken had
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also been thrown on the burning body in a crass
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attempt to disguise it. there was something else adding to
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the disturbing nature of the discovery. The body looked particularly
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small and frail. For the fire crew, this indicated one thing,
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that it was the body of a child. The police
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soon arrived and assessed the scene. The body was so
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badly burned that they couldn't determine the person's age or gender.
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They asked Wiesem who it was. He simply responded, It's
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not a child. 36-year-old Sabrina Kwadere was a glamorous woman.
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Born in Algeria but raised in Paris, she took great
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pride in her appearance. With long dark hair, olive skin
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and a keen sense of style, she was often mistaken
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for reality TV star Kim Kardashian. Having established herself as
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a successful fashion designer and makeup artist, Sabrina was awarded
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with invites to trendy events where she mingled with the
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rich and famous. Sabrina met Wissam Medani at a Parisian
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fun fair in 2001. Wissam had been immediately struck by
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her beauty and it wasn't long before he was completely
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besotted with her. Sabrina eventually moved from Paris to London,
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and Wiesem, also a French-Algerian, happily followed her. They'd called
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England home ever since. The couple had periods of separation
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throughout their 17-year-long relationship, during which Sabrina had two children
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to two different men, but she and Wiesem always wound
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up back together. They'd been living in the rented Wimbledon
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Park Road flat since 2013. Following the discovery of the
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burnt human remains at the couple's home, Wissam Madani was
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placed in handcuffs and escorted to the police station. Police
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attempted to interview him, but Wissam remained silent when questioned.
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When Sabrina Quader returned home with her two young sons,
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there was a collective sense of relief that her and
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her children were safe. But the question remained, whose body
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was found in the pyre? Sabrina was stunned by the
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police presence and asked what was going on. An officer
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told her that Wiesem was found burning a body in
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the backyard. This came as a huge shock to Sabrina.
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She said she'd been out all day and that things
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at home seemed completely normal when she left. In the afternoon,
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she picked up her children from school and took them
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to an after-school club, at which time Wiesem endeavoured to
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burn the unidentified body in their back garden. Sabrina couldn't
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believe what she was hearing. Meanwhile, police questioned the couple's
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neighbours to see if they'd noticed anything out of the ordinary.
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Southfields was an affluent, family-oriented suburb labelled as one of
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the best places to live in London, and crimes of
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this nature were unheard of. Neighbours were in disbelief. They
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knew the residents of the house to be a relatively
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normal family that mostly kept to themselves. They weren't very
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involved with the community and didn't attend street parties, but
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there was nothing much else to note. No one had
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seen or heard anything untoward in the days leading up
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to the fire. When they thought about it, however, they
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realised they hadn't seen the couple's young nanny in weeks.
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She was often sighted out and about running errands for
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her host family and picking up Sabrina's children from school,
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but not lately. What's more, neighbours had described her as
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wearing eyeglasses similar to those found in the fire. When
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asked about her nanny, Sabrina Quader claimed she had resigned
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two days earlier and returned home to France. Police asked
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for the nanny's name, but Sabrina could only remember her
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first name, Sophie. She had hired Sophie 18 months prior
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to help with the children while Wiesem was away for work.
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This immediately struck the police as odd. After employing and
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living with Sophie for such a long time, it seemed
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absurd that Sabrina didn't know her last name. They suspected
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that Sabrina knew more than she was letting on and
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took her to the station for further questioning. Given the
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level of destruction, DNA testing would be required to confirm
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the identity of the body Wiesem was attempting to destroy.
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But police were certain it was the couple's live-in nanny,
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21-year-old Sophie Leonet. When faced with this revelation, Sabrina caved.
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She revealed that Sophie was incompetent at her job and
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didn't do any of the tasks she was hired to do. Instead,
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she lazed around on the couch glued to her smartphone.
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Sabrina said, She was waiting for us to serve her.
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She said that Sophie had fallen in with the wrong
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crowd and had been drinking heavily. Sabrina also suspected that
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she had been stealing from her as a diamond pendant
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had gone missing from the house. Sophie's behaviour soon took
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a sinister turn. Sabrina discovered she had begun a relationship
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with Sabrina's ex-boyfriend, a man named Mark Walton, who was
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the biological father of Sabrina's youngest son. Sabrina revealed that
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Mark had sexually abused their son and that Sophie had
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been allowing it to happen. Not only allowing it, but
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facilitating the meetings by bringing the young boy to Mark
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without Sabrina's knowledge. When Wiesem found out what was happening,
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It was the final straw. Days earlier, at around midnight
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on Monday September 18, Sabrina was sleeping when Wiesem came
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into the room and woke her up. He told her
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he had confronted Sophie about the meetings with Mark and
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the abuse against Sabrina's son. He lost his temper and
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hit Sophie, causing her to fly back and hit her
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head against the bathroom wall. Her body stopped moving. It
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was obvious that she was dead. Wiesem and Sabrina panicked.
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They were scared of what it might mean for their
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family if they told the truth. They couldn't risk it.
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They decided to keep Sophie's death a secret and burn
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her body so no one would ever find out. If
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anyone asked where she was, they'd simply say she had
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decided to return home to France. They stashed her belongings
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in her suitcase, which they hid inside their small garden shed.
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When pressed, Wissam Meduni backed Sabrina's claims. He said that
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in an effort to extract information about Mark Walton and
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the child abuse, he had Sophie sit in a full
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bath and would periodically hold her head under the water
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to compel her to answer his questions. He was eventually
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so overcome with anger, he punched Sophie in the face,
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causing her head to strike the tiles. She lost consciousness
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and her body then slipped under the water. Wiesem tried
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to revive Sophie, explaining that he had never intended to
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kill her or cause her serious injury. He had simply
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lost control. When it was clear she was deceased, he
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agreed to burning her body to protect his family. Police
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were baffled by the story, but Sabrina had evidence to
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back up her claims. She produced a confession allegedly penned
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by Sophie. One part read, Mark Walton asked me to
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come and see him. He started to touch my breasts
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and he kissed my neck. Mark offered me some money
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and he asked me to come back with Sabrina's youngest child.
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Experts confirmed the handwriting was indeed Sophie's. Sophie's body had
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been so badly burnt that the exact cause of her
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death couldn't be established. Her lower jawbone, four of her
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ribs and her sternum were all found to have been fractured.
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The timing of these injuries were particularly noteworthy. Forensic experts
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concluded that the jawbone fracture happened hours before Sophie was killed,
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hinting that there was more to her bathtub interrogation than
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Wiesem just holding her head underwater. The chest injuries were
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even more suspicious. They were found to have occurred days
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before she died. Investigators examined Wiesem and Sabrina's mobile phones
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and what they found was shocking. Over a 12-day period,
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the couple had recorded over 8 hours of audio and
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video footage in which they subjected Sophie to harrowing interrogations.
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Using violence and coercion, they relentlessly tried to get her
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to confess to a range of offences. They accused her
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of being a spy, a thief, a heavy drug user
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and a pedophile. But at the heart of the interrogations
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lay one person, Mark Walton. Sabrina and Wiesem applied immense
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pressure and intimidation trying to make Sophie admit that she
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was having a sexual relationship with Mark and that the
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two were in cahoots to sexually exploit Sabrina's son's. The
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couple claimed they had evidence that Sophie had brought Mark
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to their flat so he could drug and sexually abuse
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the family. They compared Sophie to a Nazi collaborator and
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told her she was worse than a murderer. Sabrina said,
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You made a huge mistake. You delivered a four-year-old into
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the hands of a pedophile. Mark paid you, Sophie. I
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have evidence. You cannot go home without telling us everything.
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Sabrina told Sophie that she had friends in high places,
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including then US President Donald Trump, and that she could
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easily have her locked up. She threatened Sophie with 40
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years in prison, saying, Close your eyes for one minute
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and imagine yourself every day in a cage like an
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animal with other people inside. That's not a laughing matter.
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From the recordings it was clear that Sabrina was the
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main instigator. During one interrogation she said, On my mother's
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life I am not going to leave you alone. I
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will not touch you but I will not leave you
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alone until you tell me the truth. Is this clear?
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Do you understand? You will not go back to France
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until you've told me the truth. I am going to
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spoil your life as you have spoiled mine. Have you
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understood that? But Wiesem also played a significant role. In
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one recording, he called Sophie a liar and told her
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she wasn't allowed to return back to France until she'd
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revealed the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It
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was clear that Sophie was terrified. She rarely responded to
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the couple's hounding. but when she did, her voice was
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meek and barely audible. At first, and for a long while,
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she denied everything and seemed genuinely confused about what the
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couple were accusing her of. The extent of the physical
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violence wasn't clear, but loud thumping sounds indicated that Sabrina
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hit Sophie multiple times. The final video was filmed shortly
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before midnight on Monday, September 18, 2017. Investigators couldn't believe
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what they were watching. In stark contrast to the healthy,
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happy young woman who had left France 18 months earlier,
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Sophie Leonnet was a shadow of her former self. Her
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body was gaunt and skeletal, as though she hadn't eaten
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in weeks. she looked frail and broken. Her once thick
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and wavy brown hair had become thin and flat. This
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explained why the remains in the fire looked childlike. It
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was heart-wrenching to watch. The emaciated Sophie sat in front
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of a fireplace in the Wimbledon Park Road flat, a
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knitted blanket draped across her lap. There, the months of
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abuse and violent interrogations came to a head. Sophie finally broke.
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She confessed to having an affair with Mark Walton. In
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an even more shocking revelation, she admitted that she drugged
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Wiesem so that Mark could come over to the flat
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and sexually assault him as well. Sabrina and Wiesem intended
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to hand the footage they had taken of Sophie's confession
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to police as evidence of her crimes. However, just hours
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after Sophie admitted to knowing and abetting Mark Walton, she
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was dead. Case file will be back shortly. Thank you
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Mark Walton was going about his morning in his new
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home of Los Angeles when he received a phone call
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from the police in London. He was shocked to hear
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that Sabrina Quader had just accused him of child molestation
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in collaboration with her nanny, who had just been killed.
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Mark couldn't believe what he was hearing. Although he'd come
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to expect extreme behaviour from Sabrina, this was beyond anything
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he had so far endured. He vehemently denied the lurid claims,
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telling police he'd never even met Sophie Leone or communicated
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with her. He wasn't even in the country during the
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dates Sabrina claimed the child abuse took place. Mark insisted
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he had nothing to hide. He offered to provide his passport,
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phone and anything else the police required to prove his innocence.
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For Mark Walton, his life changed forever in 2011 when
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he walked into a bank in London. Mark was a
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well-known figure in the music industry, having been one of
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the founding members of the wildly popular Irish boy band, Boyzone.
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He eventually left Boyzone to pursue a career in music
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production and had gone on to work with such artists
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as Jennifer Lopez and Enrique Iglesias. It was in the
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bank in London when he first laid eyes on Sabrina Quidere.
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He was immediately attracted to her and they struck up
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a conversation. With good looks, style and a common interest
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in the high life, the two quickly became a picture-perfect couple.
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It wasn't long before they moved in together and Sabrina
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eventually became pregnant. The early days of their relationship were happy,
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But once Mark's love goggles wore off, he saw Sabrina
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for who she really was. She had a wild temper
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and her mood could dramatically switch over the most trivial
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of things. She often acted irrationally without explanation. During some
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rough patches in their relationship, she called the police to
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report that Mark was hiring male sex workers, which was untrue.
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She also took to firing any nanny the pair hired
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to assist them, accusing them of stealing from her and
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of being romantically interested in Mark. She'd gone as far
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as installing hidden cameras throughout their home, which Mark was
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unaware of until he stumbled upon them himself. The couple
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split for good in 2014, after which Sabrina rekindled her
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relationship with Wissam Maduni. Mark moved to Los Angeles and
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continued to help support Sabrina financially, even paying the rent
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of her new Southfields flat. Regardless, she seemed determined to
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make his life difficult. Over the years, Sabrina reported Mark
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to the police over 30 times for a range of
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bizarre and baseless offences, including that he'd once tried to
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kill her, had hacked her phone and emails, and was
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trying to control her using black magic. Things only escalated
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when Mark completely cut Sabrina off financially. Amongst the many
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other outlandish accusations, she accused him and his friends of
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hiring a helicopter to spy on her. Some of Sabrina's
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claims were plain ludicrous, like the times she reported Mark
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for sexually mistreating her cat, when she never even owned
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a cat in the first place. The most outrageous was
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when Sabrina created a fake Facebook profile to publicly spread
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lies alleging Mark was a pedophile. Mark had been putting
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up with this issue privately for some time, after Sabrina
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falsely complained to social services that Mark had sexually abused
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their son. But this was the first time she had
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accused him publicly. Sabrina was arrested as a result and
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she reluctantly accepted a caution for sending malicious communications. The
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most recent incident had occurred just one month prior to
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Sophie Lyonnais' death in August 2017. Sabrina had called police
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to report that Sophie had taken her son to meet
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with Mark against her wishes. There, Mark threatened to kill
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the boy's family. Given Sabrina's previous history of false reports,
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police didn't believe her and therefore no action was taken.
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The following month, Sabrina recorded a dejected and exhausted Sophie
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at 11.32am, mere hours before she died. She pressed Sophie
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to admit that Mark Walton had been at their house,
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despite Sophie telling her time and again that she had
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never met him. Sabrina then told her, I hate lies,
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I hate, I hate, I hate lies, so stop telling
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lies and tell me the truth. For locals of Southfields,
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it was common to see Sophie Leonet out and about
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with Sabrina's children, often holding hands. It was clear that
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she was a hard worker and the children seemed to
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adore her. Contrary to what Sabrina told police about Sophie
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being lazy and useless, she had been doing a standout
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job with the children. A kind and gentle soul with
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unlimited patience, Sophie put enormous effort into her work, which
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took its toll on her. It wasn't in her nature
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to hurt anyone, especially not the very children she had
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been employed to look after. At one point, she even
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helped the kids set up a mini-stand on the street
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to sell sweets and biscuits. But in the weeks leading
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up to Sophie's death, neighbours had seen less and less
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of her. During one visit to the local fish and
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chip shop, owner Michael could tell by Sophie's body language
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that something wasn't right. He'd suspected the nanny wasn't doing well,
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as he noticed she often had tears in her eyes. eyes.
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Michael asked Sophie what was wrong and she confided that
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00:29:45.619 --> 00:29:52.319
Sabrina had beat her. Michael was shocked. He was friendly
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with Sabrina Quader and Wissam Meduni as the trio were
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in talks of doing business together. He asked Sophie what
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happened to cause the beating. The reason was preposterous. She
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00:30:07.150 --> 00:30:12.200
had dropped the butter. Michael's heart went out to Sophie.
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He'd once seen Sabrina yelling at her on the street,
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but she was speaking in French so he didn't know
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what she was saying. Michael offered to help Sophie find
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a new job and place to live, but he never
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00:30:26.450 --> 00:30:32.700
saw her again. Sabrina was also wrong in telling police
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00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:37.299
that Sophie had been mingling with a rough crowd. Truth was,
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00:30:37.599 --> 00:30:41.339
she had barely socialised with anyone outside of Sabrina's home.
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00:30:42.859 --> 00:30:46.250
Southfields was full of other foreign nannies, many of whom
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00:30:46.329 --> 00:30:52.529
bonded together, but Sophie mostly kept to herself. Some noticed
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00:30:52.650 --> 00:30:56.150
that Sabrina took advantage of Sophie's soft nature by making
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00:30:56.210 --> 00:30:59.630
her work long hours and take on additional duties like
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cooking and cleaning. Sophie was particularly shy and quiet, which
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00:31:05.559 --> 00:31:12.599
made her vulnerable to exploitation. A family friend named Stephen
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00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:16.700
witnessed Sabrina screaming at Sophie in French on several occasions.
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00:31:17.890 --> 00:31:20.940
Sophie looked scared and hungry, as though she was in
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00:31:21.019 --> 00:31:25.960
some kind of trance. Stephen was so concerned that Sophie
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00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:28.960
wasn't eating enough that he once brought food over for her.
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00:31:30.440 --> 00:31:34.589
He confronted Sabrina about her aggressive behaviour, but Sabrina said
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00:31:34.650 --> 00:31:40.329
that Sophie was lazy and didn't do enough cooking. A
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00:31:40.410 --> 00:31:44.009
former friend of Sabrina's named Nicole once visited the home
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00:31:44.089 --> 00:31:47.339
to find Sophie on the floor and Sabrina attacking her.
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00:31:48.750 --> 00:31:52.029
Nicole had to intervene as Sabrina tried to kick Sophie
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00:31:52.109 --> 00:31:57.240
and hit her with a chair. Afterwards, Nicole was so
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00:31:57.319 --> 00:32:00.000
worried about Sophie that she took her into her own
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00:32:00.059 --> 00:32:03.420
home with the intention of helping her get back to France.
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00:32:05.220 --> 00:32:09.380
Sabrina found out about it and turned up on Nicole's doorstep, quote,
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00:32:10.059 --> 00:32:15.019
screaming like a mad woman. She stormed in and demanded
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00:32:15.099 --> 00:32:19.609
Sophie get her stuff and return to the flat. Nicole
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00:32:19.710 --> 00:32:22.930
asked Sabrina to calm down, but she was so livid
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00:32:23.109 --> 00:32:29.769
that even Nicole was terrified of her. The extent of
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00:32:29.869 --> 00:32:33.490
what Sophie Leonnet was enduring in London was a secret
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00:32:33.589 --> 00:32:36.069
she never revealed to her family in any of her
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00:32:36.130 --> 00:32:40.950
correspondence to them back home. Sophie was from a modest
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00:32:41.029 --> 00:32:45.289
family in Troyes, a small provincial town in northeast France.
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00:32:46.789 --> 00:32:49.730
It was the lack of employment opportunities in Troyes that
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00:32:49.769 --> 00:32:53.529
had brought her to London in the first place. A
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00:32:53.589 --> 00:32:57.910
qualified childcare worker, she believed that a temporary move would
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00:32:57.970 --> 00:33:01.240
kickstart her career and give her the chance to improve
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00:33:01.279 --> 00:33:05.900
her English. The prospect of life in the big city
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00:33:06.019 --> 00:33:10.240
excited Sophie. She loved the arts and sought a life
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00:33:10.339 --> 00:33:15.059
surrounded by cinema, dance and theatre. She responded to an
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00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:17.980
ad to work as a live-in nanny and was thrilled
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00:33:18.029 --> 00:33:22.630
to be hired by Sabrina Quader. The glamorous woman and
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00:33:22.690 --> 00:33:27.369
her celebrity-studded lifestyle played perfectly into Sophie's dream image of
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00:33:27.450 --> 00:33:33.089
what life in London would be like. In 2016, just
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00:33:33.190 --> 00:33:37.769
days after her 20th birthday, Sophie left France and moved
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00:33:37.829 --> 00:33:47.500
into Sabrina's flat on Wimbledon Park Road. The job started
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00:33:47.559 --> 00:33:51.839
off well. Sophie got along with Sabrina's sons and looked
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00:33:51.960 --> 00:33:56.799
forward to earning a decent wage. Sabrina even gave her
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00:33:56.819 --> 00:34:01.519
a glamorous makeover, which Sophie proudly showed off on social media.
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00:34:02.940 --> 00:34:06.329
But after about a year, Sophie told her parents she
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00:34:06.369 --> 00:34:10.250
was bored and wanted to come home. She said there
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00:34:10.269 --> 00:34:12.929
were tensions in the family and it was getting harder
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00:34:12.989 --> 00:34:16.670
to take care of the children. She was made to
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00:34:16.750 --> 00:34:19.949
sleep in the same bedroom as Sabrina's sons, which meant
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00:34:19.989 --> 00:34:24.989
she had little time to herself. She also told her mother, Catherine,
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00:34:25.170 --> 00:34:30.510
that she was not being paid. Catherine voiced these concerns
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00:34:30.570 --> 00:34:34.260
to Sabrina, who reassured her that Sophie was being paid
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00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:38.760
into an English bank account. Police tried to find the
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00:34:38.820 --> 00:34:42.639
English bank account that Sabrina claimed Sophie was being paid into,
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00:34:43.260 --> 00:34:47.440
but it didn't exist. It didn't appear that Sophie was
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00:34:47.500 --> 00:34:53.980
being paid at all. Sabrina also urged Catherine to encourage
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00:34:54.039 --> 00:34:57.409
her daughter to stay on, explaining she thought of Sophie
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00:34:57.489 --> 00:35:02.269
like a sister and needed her around. It was clear
441
00:35:02.349 --> 00:35:05.630
that the feeling wasn't mutual when Sophie suddenly asked her
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00:35:05.670 --> 00:35:11.619
mother for money so she could return to France. Catherine obliged,
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00:35:11.920 --> 00:35:17.039
but Sophie never ended up purchasing a ticket home. Sophie's
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00:35:17.099 --> 00:35:20.119
parents were devastated to learn the truth of what their
445
00:35:20.159 --> 00:35:24.230
daughter had endured in London. Had they known she was
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00:35:24.309 --> 00:35:27.570
in any kind of trouble, they would have immediately travelled
447
00:35:27.650 --> 00:35:35.019
to help her. Investigators remained unconvinced that what they were
448
00:35:35.039 --> 00:35:38.559
being told was the full truth of what happened to Sophie.
449
00:35:40.280 --> 00:35:45.119
They ultimately charged both Wissam Meduni and Sabrina Quader with
450
00:35:45.179 --> 00:35:49.789
her murder and the obstruction of her body. The couple
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00:35:49.849 --> 00:35:54.369
continued to assert that Wissam interrogated Sophie alone and that
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00:35:54.429 --> 00:35:59.210
her death was accidental. In the lead up to their trial,
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00:35:59.510 --> 00:36:03.269
Wissam offered to plead guilty to manslaughter, but the request
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00:36:03.369 --> 00:36:08.710
was denied. Three days later, He turned the case upside
455
00:36:08.769 --> 00:36:12.800
down when he retracted his confession, claiming he'd been lying
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00:36:12.960 --> 00:36:19.079
all along to protect Sabrina. Those who knew the couple
457
00:36:19.159 --> 00:36:24.289
were aware the relationship between Sabrina and Wiesem wasn't entirely even-handed.
458
00:36:25.769 --> 00:36:29.670
Some friends thought Wiesem was, quote, punching above his weight,
459
00:36:30.030 --> 00:36:33.809
which led him to accept less than ideal treatment from Sabrina.
460
00:36:35.960 --> 00:36:38.559
Over the years, when she left him for other men,
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00:36:38.940 --> 00:36:45.460
Wiesem always welcomed her back. The truth, according to Wiesem,
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00:36:45.539 --> 00:36:48.820
was that on the evening of Monday September 18, he'd
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00:36:48.860 --> 00:36:54.469
been asleep when Sabrina suddenly woke him up. She kept repeating,
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She told him Sophie was in the bath and wasn't breathing.
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Wiesem got up and found Sophie's lifeless body lying in
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00:37:07.090 --> 00:37:11.989
the tub. He spent over an hour trying to revive her,
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00:37:12.389 --> 00:37:17.659
but it was too late. She was already dead. Sabrina
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refused to call the police, suggesting they burn Sophie's body instead.
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Wiesem eventually relented because he wanted to protect Sabrina and
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00:37:28.170 --> 00:37:32.679
keep her family together. He put Sophie's body in a
471
00:37:32.739 --> 00:37:37.320
suitcase and agreed to lie to the police. In his
472
00:37:37.380 --> 00:37:43.150
written statement, Wiesem said, I have always loved Sabrina and
473
00:37:43.210 --> 00:37:46.710
tried to protect her. This led me to make very
474
00:37:46.809 --> 00:37:51.690
regrettable choices. I should have been more assertive with Sabrina.
475
00:37:52.449 --> 00:37:56.650
Had I been, Sophie Lyonnais would probably still be alive.
476
00:37:59.610 --> 00:38:03.050
Wiesem went on to paint Sabrina as the hard cop
477
00:38:03.210 --> 00:38:08.119
when dealing with Sophie. On one occasion, Sabrina had forced
478
00:38:08.260 --> 00:38:11.599
Sophie into the bath and held her head underwater in
479
00:38:11.619 --> 00:38:16.980
the bid of extracting a confession about Mark Walton. On another,
480
00:38:17.360 --> 00:38:20.219
she hit Sophie with an electric cable so hard in
481
00:38:20.239 --> 00:38:25.369
the legs that she couldn't stand or walk properly. Wiesem
482
00:38:25.429 --> 00:38:28.489
admitted that he'd done nothing to stop the attacks or
483
00:38:28.610 --> 00:38:33.860
seek medical help for Sophie. Sabrina had fully convinced him
484
00:38:34.010 --> 00:38:38.400
that Sophie was helping Mark Walton sexually abuse Sabrina's sons.
485
00:38:39.920 --> 00:38:43.800
He maintained that he had never hurt Sophie himself or
486
00:38:43.880 --> 00:38:46.519
been involved with any of the acts on the night
487
00:38:46.559 --> 00:38:58.059
she was killed. Casefile will be back shortly. Thank you
488
00:38:58.139 --> 00:39:04.230
for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. Thank
489
00:39:04.250 --> 00:39:08.590
you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors,
490
00:39:08.829 --> 00:39:21.340
you support Casefile to continue to deliver quality content. Investigators
491
00:39:21.420 --> 00:39:26.619
viewed Wiesem's confession with scepticism. By this point, they had
492
00:39:26.659 --> 00:39:29.789
spoken to Sabrina's youngest son, the one at the same time.
493
00:39:30.300 --> 00:39:34.900
of the allegations against Sophie and Mark Walton. For the
494
00:39:34.960 --> 00:39:38.380
sake of clarity, Casefile will refer to him as Gareth.
495
00:39:40.300 --> 00:39:43.789
On the night of Monday September 18, Gareth woke up
496
00:39:43.869 --> 00:39:46.829
to the sound of noises coming from the family bedroom.
497
00:39:48.050 --> 00:39:50.519
He got up to see what was going on and
498
00:39:50.639 --> 00:39:56.820
noticed there was water spilling out from underneath the bathroom door. Inside,
499
00:39:57.260 --> 00:40:00.800
Gareth could hear the voices of his mother and stepfather.
500
00:40:02.570 --> 00:40:06.429
He also heard the sound of water splashing and Sophie crying.
501
00:40:08.170 --> 00:40:11.969
The next morning, he noticed his mother seemed happy and relaxed.
502
00:40:13.409 --> 00:40:16.860
Gareth asked what had happened, and Sabrina told him that
503
00:40:16.940 --> 00:40:19.920
Sophie was gone and they wouldn't be seeing her again.
504
00:40:23.070 --> 00:40:27.059
Gareth's statements placed both Sabrina and Wiesem at the scene
505
00:40:27.099 --> 00:40:30.619
of the crime, completely shattering the narrative that one of
506
00:40:30.679 --> 00:40:34.780
them acted alone in assaulting Sophie while the other person slept.
507
00:40:36.369 --> 00:40:39.949
With the couple refusing to tell the truth, investigators were
508
00:40:39.989 --> 00:40:43.110
left to charge them both with murder and piece together
509
00:40:43.130 --> 00:40:48.250
their own conclusions based on the evidence. They believed that
510
00:40:48.269 --> 00:40:51.909
the couple had essentially held Sophie prisoner inside their home
511
00:40:52.010 --> 00:40:56.949
for six weeks. During this time, they confiscated her phone
512
00:40:57.030 --> 00:41:02.269
so she couldn't contact anyone without Sabrina being present. They
513
00:41:02.309 --> 00:41:06.110
withheld food until Sophie would say or agree with whatever
514
00:41:06.150 --> 00:41:10.690
they demanded, just to eat. They also forced her to
515
00:41:10.769 --> 00:41:14.429
sleep in a tiny, dark room where she withered away.
516
00:41:16.269 --> 00:41:20.289
They interrogated her so intensely and violently that they eventually
517
00:41:20.349 --> 00:41:24.239
wore her down enough to extract a false confession, which
518
00:41:24.320 --> 00:41:28.880
they dictated to her as she wrote it down. They
519
00:41:28.960 --> 00:41:32.679
likely aimed to use the confession to blackmail Mark Walton
520
00:41:32.800 --> 00:41:37.789
into giving them more money. Sophie said and did everything
521
00:41:37.849 --> 00:41:41.110
the couple wanted in an effort to survive, even if
522
00:41:41.170 --> 00:41:47.230
she knew it wasn't true. Exactly how Sophie died and
523
00:41:47.289 --> 00:41:52.150
who had killed her remained a mystery. It also wasn't
524
00:41:52.230 --> 00:41:55.000
clear if she had been killed by accident during one
525
00:41:55.019 --> 00:41:58.420
of the torture sessions or if the couple decided she
526
00:41:58.480 --> 00:42:04.179
had to die. Either way, police believe Sabrina and Wiesem
527
00:42:04.239 --> 00:42:07.519
collectively put Sophie's body in a suitcase and hid it
528
00:42:07.639 --> 00:42:10.949
under one of the children's beds while deciding how to
529
00:42:11.010 --> 00:42:15.750
dispose of it. They then went about their normal lives
530
00:42:15.869 --> 00:42:19.800
for the next two days, with CCTV footage capturing them
531
00:42:19.880 --> 00:42:23.360
going grocery shopping and taking the children to school like
532
00:42:23.460 --> 00:42:33.619
nothing had happened. Sabrina and Wiesem's joint trial began in
533
00:42:33.699 --> 00:42:39.469
March 2018. Both pleaded guilty to perverting the course of
534
00:42:39.570 --> 00:42:44.000
justice by burning Sophie's body but not guilty to her murder.
535
00:42:46.050 --> 00:42:50.309
It was an exhaustive trial that lasted 43 days, during
536
00:42:50.369 --> 00:42:54.429
which both defendants continued to blame one another for her death.
537
00:42:56.090 --> 00:42:59.989
On the stand, Sabrina said that Wiesem tortured Sophie in
538
00:43:00.030 --> 00:43:03.679
the bath by putting her head underwater and by covering
539
00:43:03.719 --> 00:43:09.699
her mouth with a water-soaked towel. Sabrina shocked the court
540
00:43:09.860 --> 00:43:14.619
by claiming Wiesem demanded they have sex near Sophie's body to, quote,
541
00:43:15.119 --> 00:43:22.099
mark the occasion and she had obliged. Wiesem testified that
542
00:43:22.159 --> 00:43:25.400
Sabrina had killed Sophie and then asked for his help
543
00:43:25.519 --> 00:43:28.820
to cover up the crime. He said he didn't want
544
00:43:28.860 --> 00:43:31.789
to burn Sophie's body but went along with the plan
545
00:43:31.849 --> 00:43:36.369
because Sabrina asked him to. He said it felt disgusting
546
00:43:36.449 --> 00:43:43.909
and horrible. One of Sabrina's ex-boyfriends said unpredictable, unstable and
547
00:43:43.989 --> 00:43:49.690
obsessive behaviour was typical of Sabrina. He described her as a, quote,
548
00:43:50.429 --> 00:43:54.179
fickle lunatic and said she took advantage of people weaker
549
00:43:54.219 --> 00:44:00.280
than her. Quote, She would lie. Her behaviour was strange.
550
00:44:00.719 --> 00:44:04.070
She was aggressive. Sometimes she was violent and pulled the
551
00:44:04.110 --> 00:44:06.670
hair of girls on the street just because of a look.
552
00:44:07.690 --> 00:44:12.570
She had a dual face, a dual personality. She was manipulative,
553
00:44:12.949 --> 00:44:16.489
she could charm and tell lies. She could be as
554
00:44:16.570 --> 00:44:23.849
lovable as she could be detestable. The prosecution pointed out
555
00:44:23.909 --> 00:44:26.949
that Sabrina had a track record of calling the police
556
00:44:27.010 --> 00:44:31.869
for a range of minor complaints. Once she had reported
557
00:44:31.949 --> 00:44:35.750
that Wiesem was working too hard. and another time she
558
00:44:35.809 --> 00:44:39.210
reported that a wooden toy was being used in their bathroom.
559
00:44:41.070 --> 00:44:45.170
It was revealed that in May of 2017, Sabrina had
560
00:44:45.210 --> 00:44:51.590
been diagnosed with depression and borderline personality disorder. The latter
561
00:44:51.670 --> 00:44:57.530
is characterised by emotional and mood instability, insecurity and impulsivity
562
00:44:57.710 --> 00:45:04.780
that can result in impaired social relationships. Sabrina's lawyer argued
563
00:45:04.880 --> 00:45:09.360
that his client's mental illness caused irrational delusions that led
564
00:45:09.420 --> 00:45:13.460
her to genuinely believe that Sophie Lyonnais had been recruited
565
00:45:13.530 --> 00:45:17.309
by Mark Walton to facilitate the abuse of her family.
566
00:45:18.849 --> 00:45:24.449
He said Sabrina's behaviour towards Sophie was, quote, entirely driven
567
00:45:24.550 --> 00:45:28.929
by Sabrina's mental illness in her desperation to obtain evidence
568
00:45:29.130 --> 00:45:35.989
of Mr Walton's abuse. the prosecution described Sabrina and Wiesem
569
00:45:36.150 --> 00:45:42.730
as a truly toxic combination. Their unhealthy, myopic, all-consuming and
570
00:45:42.849 --> 00:45:46.829
groundless obsession with Mark Walton had deprived them of reason
571
00:45:47.269 --> 00:45:53.010
and turned Sophie into something less than human. They argued
572
00:45:53.070 --> 00:45:56.329
that Sophie was killed out of revenge and punishment for
573
00:45:56.369 --> 00:46:03.150
Mark Walton refusing to financially support Sabrina. While only the
574
00:46:03.210 --> 00:46:07.230
two defendants would ever know who killed Sophie, the prosecution
575
00:46:07.309 --> 00:46:10.539
stated they were both equally responsible for coming up with
576
00:46:10.579 --> 00:46:14.340
the plan to destroy her body and escape responsibility for
577
00:46:14.380 --> 00:46:19.719
the horrendous crime. The presiding judge accepted that Sabrina had
578
00:46:19.780 --> 00:46:23.539
significant influence over Wiesem, but that didn't matter in the
579
00:46:23.599 --> 00:46:28.710
grand scheme of things. Wiesem was an intelligent and well-educated
580
00:46:28.789 --> 00:46:32.150
man who knew Sophie was in danger and did nothing
581
00:46:32.210 --> 00:46:34.840
to help her or put a stop to the abuse.
582
00:46:36.780 --> 00:46:41.960
Despite Sabrina's bizarre behaviour, Wiesem also actively went along with
583
00:46:42.000 --> 00:46:49.579
the interrogation sessions without coercion. While understanding that Sabrina's mental
584
00:46:49.679 --> 00:46:53.099
illness played a role, the judge concluded that her behaviour
585
00:46:53.159 --> 00:46:56.820
was ultimately driven by cruelty and a desire for revenge
586
00:46:56.960 --> 00:47:02.519
against Mark Walton. He was convinced that Sabrina intended to
587
00:47:02.719 --> 00:47:06.579
use Sophie's audio and written confession to blackmail Mark for
588
00:47:06.659 --> 00:47:12.239
financial gain. While Sabrina's mental illness could be blamed for
589
00:47:12.300 --> 00:47:16.510
her delusions, it couldn't explain the violent and brutal treatment
590
00:47:16.570 --> 00:47:22.460
of Sophie. The suffering and the torture you put her
591
00:47:22.500 --> 00:47:29.369
through before her death was prolonged and without pity. Sabrina
592
00:47:29.389 --> 00:47:33.289
Quader and Wissam Meduni were found guilty of the murder
593
00:47:33.349 --> 00:47:38.289
of Sophie Leonet. They were sentenced to life imprisonment with
594
00:47:38.349 --> 00:47:45.940
a minimum of 30 years. Nine months after Sophie's murder,
595
00:47:46.199 --> 00:47:51.250
her body was finally returned to France. Her mother, Catherine,
596
00:47:51.409 --> 00:47:56.730
would later remark, They took away my daughter's dignity and
597
00:47:56.889 --> 00:48:01.250
finally her life painfully ebbed away until she struggled to
598
00:48:01.289 --> 00:48:07.349
take her last breath in that bath. The case haunts
599
00:48:07.429 --> 00:48:12.070
Mark Walton, who was inadvertently pulled into the nightmare Sabrina created.
600
00:48:13.539 --> 00:48:17.409
In an emotional interview with Good Morning Britain, Mark said,
601
00:48:19.070 --> 00:48:21.429
The hardest thing for me going to bed at night
602
00:48:21.590 --> 00:48:25.030
was knowing that Sophie was telling the truth every time
603
00:48:25.070 --> 00:48:29.570
that she was answering those questions and interrogations. She never
604
00:48:29.630 --> 00:48:36.940
met me. Many have questioned how Wissam Meduni accepted Sabrina
605
00:48:36.960 --> 00:48:41.579
Quader's implausible lies about Sophie, given he was an intelligent
606
00:48:41.679 --> 00:48:46.840
and sane man. The couple's case has since been labelled
607
00:48:46.900 --> 00:48:50.840
an example of folie a deux, a rare psychiatric syndrome
608
00:48:50.900 --> 00:48:56.019
where two individuals share an identical delusion. The delusion is
609
00:48:56.139 --> 00:49:00.829
typically shared from one person to another. In this case,
610
00:49:01.210 --> 00:49:05.329
Sabrina created the delusions regarding Sophie and Mark and then
611
00:49:05.429 --> 00:49:10.650
transmitted them onto Wiesem. His love for Sabrina prevented him
612
00:49:10.710 --> 00:49:15.869
from viewing her behaviour critically and honestly. Instead, he let
613
00:49:15.929 --> 00:49:19.889
himself believe in her twisted reality, and by doing so,
614
00:49:20.280 --> 00:49:26.900
enabled and emboldened her. Another example of the folly-a-do phenomenon
615
00:49:27.099 --> 00:49:31.449
is the Erickson twins, covered in episode 17 of Case File.
616
00:49:34.269 --> 00:49:37.630
As for why Sophie didn't leave or otherwise seek help,
617
00:49:38.110 --> 00:49:42.570
it's likely that she didn't feel able to. Sabrina and
618
00:49:42.630 --> 00:49:45.750
Wiesem intimidated and bullied her to the point that she
619
00:49:45.829 --> 00:49:53.369
felt completely powerless, physically, mentally and financially. Police never found
620
00:49:53.429 --> 00:49:56.139
her passport or the money her mother had given her
621
00:49:56.239 --> 00:50:01.300
for a return ticket to France. It's suspected the couple
622
00:50:01.380 --> 00:50:07.219
took them away to prevent Sophie from escaping. While Sophie's
623
00:50:07.300 --> 00:50:11.780
exact reasonings for staying would never be known, investigators did
624
00:50:11.880 --> 00:50:14.820
find a short note that she had written shortly before
625
00:50:14.900 --> 00:50:22.690
her murder. It read, Why me? I need help to
626
00:50:22.769 --> 00:50:23.289
stop them.
627
00:50:36.920 --> 00:50:37.260
Thank you.
1
00:00:00.840 --> 00:00:04.710
For early access and ad-free episodes, check out our Patreon,
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Thank you very much.
4
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Acast recommends.
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This is John from the David McWilliams podcast. Now, if
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We take the big ideas shaping your life and we
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actually worth your time.
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Follow the David McWilliams podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
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Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If
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your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support,
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please see the show notes for this episode on your
19
00:01:45.980 --> 00:01:55.920
app or on our website. At around 3pm on Wednesday,
20
00:01:55.980 --> 00:02:00.739
September 20, 2017, a resident in the Southfields district of
21
00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:06.400
South West London was disturbed by a foul odour. Peering outside,
22
00:02:06.780 --> 00:02:09.530
they noticed a black smoke emanating from their next door
23
00:02:09.539 --> 00:02:12.650
neighbour's rear garden from what appeared to be some kind
24
00:02:12.710 --> 00:02:18.389
of weird barbecue. The concerned resident went and knocked on
25
00:02:18.409 --> 00:02:21.490
their neighbour's door to check if everything was okay, but
26
00:02:21.569 --> 00:02:25.430
there was no answer. Shrugging it off, they went about
27
00:02:25.490 --> 00:02:29.330
their day as the repugnant smoke continued to spiral above
28
00:02:29.389 --> 00:02:34.270
their neighbourhood. Three hours later, the resident could no longer
29
00:02:34.330 --> 00:02:39.349
ignore it. They phoned emergency services and reported the strange
30
00:02:39.449 --> 00:02:45.229
fire burning on Wimbledon Park Road. Firefighters arrived at the
31
00:02:45.289 --> 00:02:50.969
address at 6.20pm. A slim balding man with olive skin
32
00:02:51.069 --> 00:02:56.189
and greying facial hair opened the door. He was 40-year-old
33
00:02:56.330 --> 00:03:02.389
Wissam Medoni, known to friends as Sam. Wissam told the
34
00:03:02.449 --> 00:03:05.659
firefighters there was nothing to worry about. he was simply
35
00:03:05.719 --> 00:03:09.479
having a barbecue. But the firefighters wanted to check it
36
00:03:09.620 --> 00:03:12.319
out to make sure it didn't present any fire hazards.
37
00:03:13.740 --> 00:03:17.219
They walked through Wiesem's small two-bedroom flat and out a
38
00:03:17.259 --> 00:03:21.770
set of French doors into the rear garden. Just as
39
00:03:21.830 --> 00:03:25.530
Wiesem had described, several pieces of chicken were grilling on
40
00:03:25.569 --> 00:03:31.169
a small barbecue. Alongside it blazed an open bonfire, which
41
00:03:31.229 --> 00:03:36.870
was the source of the thick, foul-smelling smoke. The fire
42
00:03:36.949 --> 00:03:40.789
was remarkably close to the door, so firefighters deemed it
43
00:03:40.830 --> 00:03:45.969
a hazard and extinguished the flames. One of them, Thomas Hunt,
44
00:03:46.129 --> 00:03:48.930
then turned to Wiesem and asked what he was burning.
45
00:03:50.610 --> 00:03:53.310
Wiesem said it was the carcass of a sheep, which
46
00:03:53.370 --> 00:03:58.389
he'd purchased earlier from the Wimbledon markets. Thomas eyed the
47
00:03:58.430 --> 00:04:04.509
charred remains. Among two blackened logs were human fingers and
48
00:04:04.569 --> 00:04:34.769
a nose. Upon realising that he was looking at the
49
00:04:34.829 --> 00:04:38.509
remnants of a human body, firefighter Thomas Hunt wanted to
50
00:04:38.550 --> 00:04:42.709
confront Wiesem Medeni. But he wasn't sure how the man
51
00:04:42.750 --> 00:04:49.490
would react when he saw Thomas paused for a moment.
52
00:04:51.449 --> 00:04:54.149
In response to Wiesem's claim that he was burning a
53
00:04:54.209 --> 00:05:03.399
sheep carcass, Thomas finally said, Bollocks. Wiesem seemed unperturbed. He
54
00:05:03.459 --> 00:05:06.220
calmly shrugged off the comment and went to sit down.
55
00:05:07.959 --> 00:05:11.069
It was then that Thomas detected a look of resignation
56
00:05:11.149 --> 00:05:14.269
on Wiesem's face, as though he knew he'd been caught.
57
00:05:16.449 --> 00:05:19.949
While waiting for police to arrive, the firefighters sifted through
58
00:05:19.970 --> 00:05:23.449
the ashes and found items of clothing, jewellery and a
59
00:05:23.490 --> 00:05:28.730
pair of badly charred eyeglasses. Pieces of cooked chicken had
60
00:05:28.810 --> 00:05:31.509
also been thrown on the burning body in a crass
61
00:05:31.569 --> 00:05:36.500
attempt to disguise it. there was something else adding to
62
00:05:36.540 --> 00:05:41.709
the disturbing nature of the discovery. The body looked particularly
63
00:05:41.850 --> 00:05:47.209
small and frail. For the fire crew, this indicated one thing,
64
00:05:47.930 --> 00:05:52.500
that it was the body of a child. The police
65
00:05:52.569 --> 00:05:56.519
soon arrived and assessed the scene. The body was so
66
00:05:56.579 --> 00:06:00.360
badly burned that they couldn't determine the person's age or gender.
67
00:06:02.139 --> 00:06:08.160
They asked Wiesem who it was. He simply responded, It's
68
00:06:08.259 --> 00:06:17.920
not a child. 36-year-old Sabrina Kwadere was a glamorous woman.
69
00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:22.139
Born in Algeria but raised in Paris, she took great
70
00:06:22.199 --> 00:06:26.660
pride in her appearance. With long dark hair, olive skin
71
00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:29.879
and a keen sense of style, she was often mistaken
72
00:06:29.959 --> 00:06:35.639
for reality TV star Kim Kardashian. Having established herself as
73
00:06:35.699 --> 00:06:39.959
a successful fashion designer and makeup artist, Sabrina was awarded
74
00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:43.279
with invites to trendy events where she mingled with the
75
00:06:43.339 --> 00:06:49.939
rich and famous. Sabrina met Wissam Medani at a Parisian
76
00:06:50.040 --> 00:06:55.139
fun fair in 2001. Wissam had been immediately struck by
77
00:06:55.199 --> 00:06:58.170
her beauty and it wasn't long before he was completely
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besotted with her. Sabrina eventually moved from Paris to London,
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and Wiesem, also a French-Algerian, happily followed her. They'd called
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England home ever since. The couple had periods of separation
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throughout their 17-year-long relationship, during which Sabrina had two children
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to two different men, but she and Wiesem always wound
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up back together. They'd been living in the rented Wimbledon
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Park Road flat since 2013. Following the discovery of the
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burnt human remains at the couple's home, Wissam Madani was
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placed in handcuffs and escorted to the police station. Police
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attempted to interview him, but Wissam remained silent when questioned.
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When Sabrina Quader returned home with her two young sons,
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there was a collective sense of relief that her and
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her children were safe. But the question remained, whose body
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was found in the pyre? Sabrina was stunned by the
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police presence and asked what was going on. An officer
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told her that Wiesem was found burning a body in
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the backyard. This came as a huge shock to Sabrina.
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She said she'd been out all day and that things
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at home seemed completely normal when she left. In the afternoon,
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she picked up her children from school and took them
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to an after-school club, at which time Wiesem endeavoured to
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burn the unidentified body in their back garden. Sabrina couldn't
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believe what she was hearing. Meanwhile, police questioned the couple's
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neighbours to see if they'd noticed anything out of the ordinary.
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Southfields was an affluent, family-oriented suburb labelled as one of
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the best places to live in London, and crimes of
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this nature were unheard of. Neighbours were in disbelief. They
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knew the residents of the house to be a relatively
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normal family that mostly kept to themselves. They weren't very
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involved with the community and didn't attend street parties, but
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there was nothing much else to note. No one had
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seen or heard anything untoward in the days leading up
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to the fire. When they thought about it, however, they
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realised they hadn't seen the couple's young nanny in weeks.
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She was often sighted out and about running errands for
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her host family and picking up Sabrina's children from school,
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but not lately. What's more, neighbours had described her as
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wearing eyeglasses similar to those found in the fire. When
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asked about her nanny, Sabrina Quader claimed she had resigned
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two days earlier and returned home to France. Police asked
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for the nanny's name, but Sabrina could only remember her
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first name, Sophie. She had hired Sophie 18 months prior
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to help with the children while Wiesem was away for work.
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This immediately struck the police as odd. After employing and
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living with Sophie for such a long time, it seemed
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absurd that Sabrina didn't know her last name. They suspected
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that Sabrina knew more than she was letting on and
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took her to the station for further questioning. Given the
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level of destruction, DNA testing would be required to confirm
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the identity of the body Wiesem was attempting to destroy.
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But police were certain it was the couple's live-in nanny,
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21-year-old Sophie Leonet. When faced with this revelation, Sabrina caved.
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She revealed that Sophie was incompetent at her job and
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didn't do any of the tasks she was hired to do. Instead,
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she lazed around on the couch glued to her smartphone.
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Sabrina said, She was waiting for us to serve her.
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She said that Sophie had fallen in with the wrong
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crowd and had been drinking heavily. Sabrina also suspected that
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she had been stealing from her as a diamond pendant
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had gone missing from the house. Sophie's behaviour soon took
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a sinister turn. Sabrina discovered she had begun a relationship
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with Sabrina's ex-boyfriend, a man named Mark Walton, who was
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the biological father of Sabrina's youngest son. Sabrina revealed that
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Mark had sexually abused their son and that Sophie had
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been allowing it to happen. Not only allowing it, but
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facilitating the meetings by bringing the young boy to Mark
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without Sabrina's knowledge. When Wiesem found out what was happening,
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It was the final straw. Days earlier, at around midnight
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on Monday September 18, Sabrina was sleeping when Wiesem came
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into the room and woke her up. He told her
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he had confronted Sophie about the meetings with Mark and
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the abuse against Sabrina's son. He lost his temper and
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hit Sophie, causing her to fly back and hit her
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head against the bathroom wall. Her body stopped moving. It
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was obvious that she was dead. Wiesem and Sabrina panicked.
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They were scared of what it might mean for their
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family if they told the truth. They couldn't risk it.
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They decided to keep Sophie's death a secret and burn
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her body so no one would ever find out. If
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anyone asked where she was, they'd simply say she had
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decided to return home to France. They stashed her belongings
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in her suitcase, which they hid inside their small garden shed.
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When pressed, Wissam Meduni backed Sabrina's claims. He said that
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in an effort to extract information about Mark Walton and
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the child abuse, he had Sophie sit in a full
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bath and would periodically hold her head under the water
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to compel her to answer his questions. He was eventually
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so overcome with anger, he punched Sophie in the face,
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causing her head to strike the tiles. She lost consciousness
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and her body then slipped under the water. Wiesem tried
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to revive Sophie, explaining that he had never intended to
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kill her or cause her serious injury. He had simply
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lost control. When it was clear she was deceased, he
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agreed to burning her body to protect his family. Police
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were baffled by the story, but Sabrina had evidence to
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back up her claims. She produced a confession allegedly penned
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by Sophie. One part read, Mark Walton asked me to
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come and see him. He started to touch my breasts
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and he kissed my neck. Mark offered me some money
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and he asked me to come back with Sabrina's youngest child.
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Experts confirmed the handwriting was indeed Sophie's. Sophie's body had
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been so badly burnt that the exact cause of her
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death couldn't be established. Her lower jawbone, four of her
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ribs and her sternum were all found to have been fractured.
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The timing of these injuries were particularly noteworthy. Forensic experts
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concluded that the jawbone fracture happened hours before Sophie was killed,
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hinting that there was more to her bathtub interrogation than
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Wiesem just holding her head underwater. The chest injuries were
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even more suspicious. They were found to have occurred days
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before she died. Investigators examined Wiesem and Sabrina's mobile phones
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and what they found was shocking. Over a 12-day period,
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the couple had recorded over 8 hours of audio and
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video footage in which they subjected Sophie to harrowing interrogations.
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Using violence and coercion, they relentlessly tried to get her
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to confess to a range of offences. They accused her
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of being a spy, a thief, a heavy drug user
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and a pedophile. But at the heart of the interrogations
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lay one person, Mark Walton. Sabrina and Wiesem applied immense
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pressure and intimidation trying to make Sophie admit that she
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was having a sexual relationship with Mark and that the
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two were in cahoots to sexually exploit Sabrina's son's. The
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couple claimed they had evidence that Sophie had brought Mark
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to their flat so he could drug and sexually abuse
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the family. They compared Sophie to a Nazi collaborator and
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told her she was worse than a murderer. Sabrina said,
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You made a huge mistake. You delivered a four-year-old into
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the hands of a pedophile. Mark paid you, Sophie. I
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have evidence. You cannot go home without telling us everything.
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Sabrina told Sophie that she had friends in high places,
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including then US President Donald Trump, and that she could
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easily have her locked up. She threatened Sophie with 40
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years in prison, saying, Close your eyes for one minute
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and imagine yourself every day in a cage like an
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animal with other people inside. That's not a laughing matter.
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From the recordings it was clear that Sabrina was the
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main instigator. During one interrogation she said, On my mother's
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life I am not going to leave you alone. I
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will not touch you but I will not leave you
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alone until you tell me the truth. Is this clear?
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Do you understand? You will not go back to France
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until you've told me the truth. I am going to
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spoil your life as you have spoiled mine. Have you
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understood that? But Wiesem also played a significant role. In
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one recording, he called Sophie a liar and told her
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she wasn't allowed to return back to France until she'd
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revealed the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It
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was clear that Sophie was terrified. She rarely responded to
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the couple's hounding. but when she did, her voice was
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meek and barely audible. At first, and for a long while,
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she denied everything and seemed genuinely confused about what the
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couple were accusing her of. The extent of the physical
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violence wasn't clear, but loud thumping sounds indicated that Sabrina
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hit Sophie multiple times. The final video was filmed shortly
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before midnight on Monday, September 18, 2017. Investigators couldn't believe
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what they were watching. In stark contrast to the healthy,
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happy young woman who had left France 18 months earlier,
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Sophie Leonnet was a shadow of her former self. Her
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body was gaunt and skeletal, as though she hadn't eaten
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in weeks. she looked frail and broken. Her once thick
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and wavy brown hair had become thin and flat. This
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explained why the remains in the fire looked childlike. It
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was heart-wrenching to watch. The emaciated Sophie sat in front
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of a fireplace in the Wimbledon Park Road flat, a
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knitted blanket draped across her lap. There, the months of
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abuse and violent interrogations came to a head. Sophie finally broke.
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She confessed to having an affair with Mark Walton. In
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an even more shocking revelation, she admitted that she drugged
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Wiesem so that Mark could come over to the flat
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and sexually assault him as well. Sabrina and Wiesem intended
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to hand the footage they had taken of Sophie's confession
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to police as evidence of her crimes. However, just hours
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after Sophie admitted to knowing and abetting Mark Walton, she
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was dead. Case file will be back shortly. Thank you
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Mark Walton was going about his morning in his new
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home of Los Angeles when he received a phone call
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from the police in London. He was shocked to hear
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that Sabrina Quader had just accused him of child molestation
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in collaboration with her nanny, who had just been killed.
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Mark couldn't believe what he was hearing. Although he'd come
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to expect extreme behaviour from Sabrina, this was beyond anything
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he had so far endured. He vehemently denied the lurid claims,
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telling police he'd never even met Sophie Leone or communicated
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with her. He wasn't even in the country during the
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dates Sabrina claimed the child abuse took place. Mark insisted
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he had nothing to hide. He offered to provide his passport,
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phone and anything else the police required to prove his innocence.
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For Mark Walton, his life changed forever in 2011 when
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he walked into a bank in London. Mark was a
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well-known figure in the music industry, having been one of
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the founding members of the wildly popular Irish boy band, Boyzone.
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He eventually left Boyzone to pursue a career in music
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production and had gone on to work with such artists
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as Jennifer Lopez and Enrique Iglesias. It was in the
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bank in London when he first laid eyes on Sabrina Quidere.
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He was immediately attracted to her and they struck up
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a conversation. With good looks, style and a common interest
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in the high life, the two quickly became a picture-perfect couple.
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It wasn't long before they moved in together and Sabrina
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eventually became pregnant. The early days of their relationship were happy,
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But once Mark's love goggles wore off, he saw Sabrina
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for who she really was. She had a wild temper
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and her mood could dramatically switch over the most trivial
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of things. She often acted irrationally without explanation. During some
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rough patches in their relationship, she called the police to
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00:25:13.490 --> 00:25:17.430
report that Mark was hiring male sex workers, which was untrue.
314
00:25:18.710 --> 00:25:21.829
She also took to firing any nanny the pair hired
315
00:25:21.869 --> 00:25:25.190
to assist them, accusing them of stealing from her and
316
00:25:25.250 --> 00:25:29.930
of being romantically interested in Mark. She'd gone as far
317
00:25:30.009 --> 00:25:33.450
as installing hidden cameras throughout their home, which Mark was
318
00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:39.279
unaware of until he stumbled upon them himself. The couple
319
00:25:39.339 --> 00:25:43.839
split for good in 2014, after which Sabrina rekindled her
320
00:25:43.880 --> 00:25:49.410
relationship with Wissam Maduni. Mark moved to Los Angeles and
321
00:25:49.450 --> 00:25:53.420
continued to help support Sabrina financially, even paying the rent
322
00:25:53.500 --> 00:25:59.140
of her new Southfields flat. Regardless, she seemed determined to
323
00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:04.779
make his life difficult. Over the years, Sabrina reported Mark
324
00:26:04.819 --> 00:26:07.900
to the police over 30 times for a range of
325
00:26:07.960 --> 00:26:12.240
bizarre and baseless offences, including that he'd once tried to
326
00:26:12.299 --> 00:26:15.579
kill her, had hacked her phone and emails, and was
327
00:26:15.640 --> 00:26:22.180
trying to control her using black magic. Things only escalated
328
00:26:22.369 --> 00:26:28.089
when Mark completely cut Sabrina off financially. Amongst the many
329
00:26:28.170 --> 00:26:31.990
other outlandish accusations, she accused him and his friends of
330
00:26:32.029 --> 00:26:37.079
hiring a helicopter to spy on her. Some of Sabrina's
331
00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:41.259
claims were plain ludicrous, like the times she reported Mark
332
00:26:41.339 --> 00:26:44.609
for sexually mistreating her cat, when she never even owned
333
00:26:44.690 --> 00:26:49.089
a cat in the first place. The most outrageous was
334
00:26:49.130 --> 00:26:53.150
when Sabrina created a fake Facebook profile to publicly spread
335
00:26:53.269 --> 00:26:58.890
lies alleging Mark was a pedophile. Mark had been putting
336
00:26:58.950 --> 00:27:02.559
up with this issue privately for some time, after Sabrina
337
00:27:02.619 --> 00:27:06.400
falsely complained to social services that Mark had sexually abused
338
00:27:06.519 --> 00:27:10.440
their son. But this was the first time she had
339
00:27:10.500 --> 00:27:16.200
accused him publicly. Sabrina was arrested as a result and
340
00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:23.400
she reluctantly accepted a caution for sending malicious communications. The
341
00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:26.809
most recent incident had occurred just one month prior to
342
00:27:26.890 --> 00:27:33.430
Sophie Lyonnais' death in August 2017. Sabrina had called police
343
00:27:33.470 --> 00:27:36.269
to report that Sophie had taken her son to meet
344
00:27:36.329 --> 00:27:41.809
with Mark against her wishes. There, Mark threatened to kill
345
00:27:41.849 --> 00:27:47.680
the boy's family. Given Sabrina's previous history of false reports,
346
00:27:47.940 --> 00:27:51.559
police didn't believe her and therefore no action was taken.
347
00:27:53.700 --> 00:27:58.460
The following month, Sabrina recorded a dejected and exhausted Sophie
348
00:27:58.619 --> 00:28:05.650
at 11.32am, mere hours before she died. She pressed Sophie
349
00:28:05.710 --> 00:28:08.589
to admit that Mark Walton had been at their house,
350
00:28:08.990 --> 00:28:12.130
despite Sophie telling her time and again that she had
351
00:28:12.190 --> 00:28:18.380
never met him. Sabrina then told her, I hate lies,
352
00:28:19.000 --> 00:28:23.140
I hate, I hate, I hate lies, so stop telling
353
00:28:23.220 --> 00:28:32.059
lies and tell me the truth. For locals of Southfields,
354
00:28:32.259 --> 00:28:35.240
it was common to see Sophie Leonet out and about
355
00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:40.289
with Sabrina's children, often holding hands. It was clear that
356
00:28:40.329 --> 00:28:43.130
she was a hard worker and the children seemed to
357
00:28:43.210 --> 00:28:48.740
adore her. Contrary to what Sabrina told police about Sophie
358
00:28:48.779 --> 00:28:52.019
being lazy and useless, she had been doing a standout
359
00:28:52.079 --> 00:28:56.319
job with the children. A kind and gentle soul with
360
00:28:56.400 --> 00:29:00.849
unlimited patience, Sophie put enormous effort into her work, which
361
00:29:00.930 --> 00:29:05.009
took its toll on her. It wasn't in her nature
362
00:29:05.069 --> 00:29:08.450
to hurt anyone, especially not the very children she had
363
00:29:08.470 --> 00:29:12.779
been employed to look after. At one point, she even
364
00:29:12.819 --> 00:29:15.339
helped the kids set up a mini-stand on the street
365
00:29:15.380 --> 00:29:19.259
to sell sweets and biscuits. But in the weeks leading
366
00:29:19.339 --> 00:29:22.880
up to Sophie's death, neighbours had seen less and less
367
00:29:22.940 --> 00:29:27.869
of her. During one visit to the local fish and
368
00:29:27.900 --> 00:29:31.609
chip shop, owner Michael could tell by Sophie's body language
369
00:29:31.730 --> 00:29:37.170
that something wasn't right. He'd suspected the nanny wasn't doing well,
370
00:29:37.509 --> 00:29:40.220
as he noticed she often had tears in her eyes. eyes.
371
00:29:41.980 --> 00:29:45.579
Michael asked Sophie what was wrong and she confided that
372
00:29:45.619 --> 00:29:52.319
Sabrina had beat her. Michael was shocked. He was friendly
373
00:29:52.380 --> 00:29:56.250
with Sabrina Quader and Wissam Meduni as the trio were
374
00:29:56.309 --> 00:30:01.009
in talks of doing business together. He asked Sophie what
375
00:30:01.069 --> 00:30:07.109
happened to cause the beating. The reason was preposterous. She
376
00:30:07.150 --> 00:30:12.200
had dropped the butter. Michael's heart went out to Sophie.
377
00:30:13.160 --> 00:30:16.000
He'd once seen Sabrina yelling at her on the street,
378
00:30:16.200 --> 00:30:18.789
but she was speaking in French so he didn't know
379
00:30:18.849 --> 00:30:23.410
what she was saying. Michael offered to help Sophie find
380
00:30:23.450 --> 00:30:26.390
a new job and place to live, but he never
381
00:30:26.450 --> 00:30:32.700
saw her again. Sabrina was also wrong in telling police
382
00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:37.299
that Sophie had been mingling with a rough crowd. Truth was,
383
00:30:37.599 --> 00:30:41.339
she had barely socialised with anyone outside of Sabrina's home.
384
00:30:42.859 --> 00:30:46.250
Southfields was full of other foreign nannies, many of whom
385
00:30:46.329 --> 00:30:52.529
bonded together, but Sophie mostly kept to herself. Some noticed
386
00:30:52.650 --> 00:30:56.150
that Sabrina took advantage of Sophie's soft nature by making
387
00:30:56.210 --> 00:30:59.630
her work long hours and take on additional duties like
388
00:30:59.670 --> 00:31:05.500
cooking and cleaning. Sophie was particularly shy and quiet, which
389
00:31:05.559 --> 00:31:12.599
made her vulnerable to exploitation. A family friend named Stephen
390
00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:16.700
witnessed Sabrina screaming at Sophie in French on several occasions.
391
00:31:17.890 --> 00:31:20.940
Sophie looked scared and hungry, as though she was in
392
00:31:21.019 --> 00:31:25.960
some kind of trance. Stephen was so concerned that Sophie
393
00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:28.960
wasn't eating enough that he once brought food over for her.
394
00:31:30.440 --> 00:31:34.589
He confronted Sabrina about her aggressive behaviour, but Sabrina said
395
00:31:34.650 --> 00:31:40.329
that Sophie was lazy and didn't do enough cooking. A
396
00:31:40.410 --> 00:31:44.009
former friend of Sabrina's named Nicole once visited the home
397
00:31:44.089 --> 00:31:47.339
to find Sophie on the floor and Sabrina attacking her.
398
00:31:48.750 --> 00:31:52.029
Nicole had to intervene as Sabrina tried to kick Sophie
399
00:31:52.109 --> 00:31:57.240
and hit her with a chair. Afterwards, Nicole was so
400
00:31:57.319 --> 00:32:00.000
worried about Sophie that she took her into her own
401
00:32:00.059 --> 00:32:03.420
home with the intention of helping her get back to France.
402
00:32:05.220 --> 00:32:09.380
Sabrina found out about it and turned up on Nicole's doorstep, quote,
403
00:32:10.059 --> 00:32:15.019
screaming like a mad woman. She stormed in and demanded
404
00:32:15.099 --> 00:32:19.609
Sophie get her stuff and return to the flat. Nicole
405
00:32:19.710 --> 00:32:22.930
asked Sabrina to calm down, but she was so livid
406
00:32:23.109 --> 00:32:29.769
that even Nicole was terrified of her. The extent of
407
00:32:29.869 --> 00:32:33.490
what Sophie Leonnet was enduring in London was a secret
408
00:32:33.589 --> 00:32:36.069
she never revealed to her family in any of her
409
00:32:36.130 --> 00:32:40.950
correspondence to them back home. Sophie was from a modest
410
00:32:41.029 --> 00:32:45.289
family in Troyes, a small provincial town in northeast France.
411
00:32:46.789 --> 00:32:49.730
It was the lack of employment opportunities in Troyes that
412
00:32:49.769 --> 00:32:53.529
had brought her to London in the first place. A
413
00:32:53.589 --> 00:32:57.910
qualified childcare worker, she believed that a temporary move would
414
00:32:57.970 --> 00:33:01.240
kickstart her career and give her the chance to improve
415
00:33:01.279 --> 00:33:05.900
her English. The prospect of life in the big city
416
00:33:06.019 --> 00:33:10.240
excited Sophie. She loved the arts and sought a life
417
00:33:10.339 --> 00:33:15.059
surrounded by cinema, dance and theatre. She responded to an
418
00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:17.980
ad to work as a live-in nanny and was thrilled
419
00:33:18.029 --> 00:33:22.630
to be hired by Sabrina Quader. The glamorous woman and
420
00:33:22.690 --> 00:33:27.369
her celebrity-studded lifestyle played perfectly into Sophie's dream image of
421
00:33:27.450 --> 00:33:33.089
what life in London would be like. In 2016, just
422
00:33:33.190 --> 00:33:37.769
days after her 20th birthday, Sophie left France and moved
423
00:33:37.829 --> 00:33:47.500
into Sabrina's flat on Wimbledon Park Road. The job started
424
00:33:47.559 --> 00:33:51.839
off well. Sophie got along with Sabrina's sons and looked
425
00:33:51.960 --> 00:33:56.799
forward to earning a decent wage. Sabrina even gave her
426
00:33:56.819 --> 00:34:01.519
a glamorous makeover, which Sophie proudly showed off on social media.
427
00:34:02.940 --> 00:34:06.329
But after about a year, Sophie told her parents she
428
00:34:06.369 --> 00:34:10.250
was bored and wanted to come home. She said there
429
00:34:10.269 --> 00:34:12.929
were tensions in the family and it was getting harder
430
00:34:12.989 --> 00:34:16.670
to take care of the children. She was made to
431
00:34:16.750 --> 00:34:19.949
sleep in the same bedroom as Sabrina's sons, which meant
432
00:34:19.989 --> 00:34:24.989
she had little time to herself. She also told her mother, Catherine,
433
00:34:25.170 --> 00:34:30.510
that she was not being paid. Catherine voiced these concerns
434
00:34:30.570 --> 00:34:34.260
to Sabrina, who reassured her that Sophie was being paid
435
00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:38.760
into an English bank account. Police tried to find the
436
00:34:38.820 --> 00:34:42.639
English bank account that Sabrina claimed Sophie was being paid into,
437
00:34:43.260 --> 00:34:47.440
but it didn't exist. It didn't appear that Sophie was
438
00:34:47.500 --> 00:34:53.980
being paid at all. Sabrina also urged Catherine to encourage
439
00:34:54.039 --> 00:34:57.409
her daughter to stay on, explaining she thought of Sophie
440
00:34:57.489 --> 00:35:02.269
like a sister and needed her around. It was clear
441
00:35:02.349 --> 00:35:05.630
that the feeling wasn't mutual when Sophie suddenly asked her
442
00:35:05.670 --> 00:35:11.619
mother for money so she could return to France. Catherine obliged,
443
00:35:11.920 --> 00:35:17.039
but Sophie never ended up purchasing a ticket home. Sophie's
444
00:35:17.099 --> 00:35:20.119
parents were devastated to learn the truth of what their
445
00:35:20.159 --> 00:35:24.230
daughter had endured in London. Had they known she was
446
00:35:24.309 --> 00:35:27.570
in any kind of trouble, they would have immediately travelled
447
00:35:27.650 --> 00:35:35.019
to help her. Investigators remained unconvinced that what they were
448
00:35:35.039 --> 00:35:38.559
being told was the full truth of what happened to Sophie.
449
00:35:40.280 --> 00:35:45.119
They ultimately charged both Wissam Meduni and Sabrina Quader with
450
00:35:45.179 --> 00:35:49.789
her murder and the obstruction of her body. The couple
451
00:35:49.849 --> 00:35:54.369
continued to assert that Wissam interrogated Sophie alone and that
452
00:35:54.429 --> 00:35:59.210
her death was accidental. In the lead up to their trial,
453
00:35:59.510 --> 00:36:03.269
Wissam offered to plead guilty to manslaughter, but the request
454
00:36:03.369 --> 00:36:08.710
was denied. Three days later, He turned the case upside
455
00:36:08.769 --> 00:36:12.800
down when he retracted his confession, claiming he'd been lying
456
00:36:12.960 --> 00:36:19.079
all along to protect Sabrina. Those who knew the couple
457
00:36:19.159 --> 00:36:24.289
were aware the relationship between Sabrina and Wiesem wasn't entirely even-handed.
458
00:36:25.769 --> 00:36:29.670
Some friends thought Wiesem was, quote, punching above his weight,
459
00:36:30.030 --> 00:36:33.809
which led him to accept less than ideal treatment from Sabrina.
460
00:36:35.960 --> 00:36:38.559
Over the years, when she left him for other men,
461
00:36:38.940 --> 00:36:45.460
Wiesem always welcomed her back. The truth, according to Wiesem,
462
00:36:45.539 --> 00:36:48.820
was that on the evening of Monday September 18, he'd
463
00:36:48.860 --> 00:36:54.469
been asleep when Sabrina suddenly woke him up. She kept repeating,
464
00:36:54.489 --> 00:36:57.289
She told him Sophie was in the bath and wasn't breathing.
465
00:37:03.369 --> 00:37:07.050
Wiesem got up and found Sophie's lifeless body lying in
466
00:37:07.090 --> 00:37:11.989
the tub. He spent over an hour trying to revive her,
467
00:37:12.389 --> 00:37:17.659
but it was too late. She was already dead. Sabrina
468
00:37:17.719 --> 00:37:22.420
refused to call the police, suggesting they burn Sophie's body instead.
469
00:37:23.960 --> 00:37:28.070
Wiesem eventually relented because he wanted to protect Sabrina and
470
00:37:28.170 --> 00:37:32.679
keep her family together. He put Sophie's body in a
471
00:37:32.739 --> 00:37:37.320
suitcase and agreed to lie to the police. In his
472
00:37:37.380 --> 00:37:43.150
written statement, Wiesem said, I have always loved Sabrina and
473
00:37:43.210 --> 00:37:46.710
tried to protect her. This led me to make very
474
00:37:46.809 --> 00:37:51.690
regrettable choices. I should have been more assertive with Sabrina.
475
00:37:52.449 --> 00:37:56.650
Had I been, Sophie Lyonnais would probably still be alive.
476
00:37:59.610 --> 00:38:03.050
Wiesem went on to paint Sabrina as the hard cop
477
00:38:03.210 --> 00:38:08.119
when dealing with Sophie. On one occasion, Sabrina had forced
478
00:38:08.260 --> 00:38:11.599
Sophie into the bath and held her head underwater in
479
00:38:11.619 --> 00:38:16.980
the bid of extracting a confession about Mark Walton. On another,
480
00:38:17.360 --> 00:38:20.219
she hit Sophie with an electric cable so hard in
481
00:38:20.239 --> 00:38:25.369
the legs that she couldn't stand or walk properly. Wiesem
482
00:38:25.429 --> 00:38:28.489
admitted that he'd done nothing to stop the attacks or
483
00:38:28.610 --> 00:38:33.860
seek medical help for Sophie. Sabrina had fully convinced him
484
00:38:34.010 --> 00:38:38.400
that Sophie was helping Mark Walton sexually abuse Sabrina's sons.
485
00:38:39.920 --> 00:38:43.800
He maintained that he had never hurt Sophie himself or
486
00:38:43.880 --> 00:38:46.519
been involved with any of the acts on the night
487
00:38:46.559 --> 00:38:58.059
she was killed. Casefile will be back shortly. Thank you
488
00:38:58.139 --> 00:39:04.230
for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. Thank
489
00:39:04.250 --> 00:39:08.590
you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors,
490
00:39:08.829 --> 00:39:21.340
you support Casefile to continue to deliver quality content. Investigators
491
00:39:21.420 --> 00:39:26.619
viewed Wiesem's confession with scepticism. By this point, they had
492
00:39:26.659 --> 00:39:29.789
spoken to Sabrina's youngest son, the one at the same time.
493
00:39:30.300 --> 00:39:34.900
of the allegations against Sophie and Mark Walton. For the
494
00:39:34.960 --> 00:39:38.380
sake of clarity, Casefile will refer to him as Gareth.
495
00:39:40.300 --> 00:39:43.789
On the night of Monday September 18, Gareth woke up
496
00:39:43.869 --> 00:39:46.829
to the sound of noises coming from the family bedroom.
497
00:39:48.050 --> 00:39:50.519
He got up to see what was going on and
498
00:39:50.639 --> 00:39:56.820
noticed there was water spilling out from underneath the bathroom door. Inside,
499
00:39:57.260 --> 00:40:00.800
Gareth could hear the voices of his mother and stepfather.
500
00:40:02.570 --> 00:40:06.429
He also heard the sound of water splashing and Sophie crying.
501
00:40:08.170 --> 00:40:11.969
The next morning, he noticed his mother seemed happy and relaxed.
502
00:40:13.409 --> 00:40:16.860
Gareth asked what had happened, and Sabrina told him that
503
00:40:16.940 --> 00:40:19.920
Sophie was gone and they wouldn't be seeing her again.
504
00:40:23.070 --> 00:40:27.059
Gareth's statements placed both Sabrina and Wiesem at the scene
505
00:40:27.099 --> 00:40:30.619
of the crime, completely shattering the narrative that one of
506
00:40:30.679 --> 00:40:34.780
them acted alone in assaulting Sophie while the other person slept.
507
00:40:36.369 --> 00:40:39.949
With the couple refusing to tell the truth, investigators were
508
00:40:39.989 --> 00:40:43.110
left to charge them both with murder and piece together
509
00:40:43.130 --> 00:40:48.250
their own conclusions based on the evidence. They believed that
510
00:40:48.269 --> 00:40:51.909
the couple had essentially held Sophie prisoner inside their home
511
00:40:52.010 --> 00:40:56.949
for six weeks. During this time, they confiscated her phone
512
00:40:57.030 --> 00:41:02.269
so she couldn't contact anyone without Sabrina being present. They
513
00:41:02.309 --> 00:41:06.110
withheld food until Sophie would say or agree with whatever
514
00:41:06.150 --> 00:41:10.690
they demanded, just to eat. They also forced her to
515
00:41:10.769 --> 00:41:14.429
sleep in a tiny, dark room where she withered away.
516
00:41:16.269 --> 00:41:20.289
They interrogated her so intensely and violently that they eventually
517
00:41:20.349 --> 00:41:24.239
wore her down enough to extract a false confession, which
518
00:41:24.320 --> 00:41:28.880
they dictated to her as she wrote it down. They
519
00:41:28.960 --> 00:41:32.679
likely aimed to use the confession to blackmail Mark Walton
520
00:41:32.800 --> 00:41:37.789
into giving them more money. Sophie said and did everything
521
00:41:37.849 --> 00:41:41.110
the couple wanted in an effort to survive, even if
522
00:41:41.170 --> 00:41:47.230
she knew it wasn't true. Exactly how Sophie died and
523
00:41:47.289 --> 00:41:52.150
who had killed her remained a mystery. It also wasn't
524
00:41:52.230 --> 00:41:55.000
clear if she had been killed by accident during one
525
00:41:55.019 --> 00:41:58.420
of the torture sessions or if the couple decided she
526
00:41:58.480 --> 00:42:04.179
had to die. Either way, police believe Sabrina and Wiesem
527
00:42:04.239 --> 00:42:07.519
collectively put Sophie's body in a suitcase and hid it
528
00:42:07.639 --> 00:42:10.949
under one of the children's beds while deciding how to
529
00:42:11.010 --> 00:42:15.750
dispose of it. They then went about their normal lives
530
00:42:15.869 --> 00:42:19.800
for the next two days, with CCTV footage capturing them
531
00:42:19.880 --> 00:42:23.360
going grocery shopping and taking the children to school like
532
00:42:23.460 --> 00:42:33.619
nothing had happened. Sabrina and Wiesem's joint trial began in
533
00:42:33.699 --> 00:42:39.469
March 2018. Both pleaded guilty to perverting the course of
534
00:42:39.570 --> 00:42:44.000
justice by burning Sophie's body but not guilty to her murder.
535
00:42:46.050 --> 00:42:50.309
It was an exhaustive trial that lasted 43 days, during
536
00:42:50.369 --> 00:42:54.429
which both defendants continued to blame one another for her death.
537
00:42:56.090 --> 00:42:59.989
On the stand, Sabrina said that Wiesem tortured Sophie in
538
00:43:00.030 --> 00:43:03.679
the bath by putting her head underwater and by covering
539
00:43:03.719 --> 00:43:09.699
her mouth with a water-soaked towel. Sabrina shocked the court
540
00:43:09.860 --> 00:43:14.619
by claiming Wiesem demanded they have sex near Sophie's body to, quote,
541
00:43:15.119 --> 00:43:22.099
mark the occasion and she had obliged. Wiesem testified that
542
00:43:22.159 --> 00:43:25.400
Sabrina had killed Sophie and then asked for his help
543
00:43:25.519 --> 00:43:28.820
to cover up the crime. He said he didn't want
544
00:43:28.860 --> 00:43:31.789
to burn Sophie's body but went along with the plan
545
00:43:31.849 --> 00:43:36.369
because Sabrina asked him to. He said it felt disgusting
546
00:43:36.449 --> 00:43:43.909
and horrible. One of Sabrina's ex-boyfriends said unpredictable, unstable and
547
00:43:43.989 --> 00:43:49.690
obsessive behaviour was typical of Sabrina. He described her as a, quote,
548
00:43:50.429 --> 00:43:54.179
fickle lunatic and said she took advantage of people weaker
549
00:43:54.219 --> 00:44:00.280
than her. Quote, She would lie. Her behaviour was strange.
550
00:44:00.719 --> 00:44:04.070
She was aggressive. Sometimes she was violent and pulled the
551
00:44:04.110 --> 00:44:06.670
hair of girls on the street just because of a look.
552
00:44:07.690 --> 00:44:12.570
She had a dual face, a dual personality. She was manipulative,
553
00:44:12.949 --> 00:44:16.489
she could charm and tell lies. She could be as
554
00:44:16.570 --> 00:44:23.849
lovable as she could be detestable. The prosecution pointed out
555
00:44:23.909 --> 00:44:26.949
that Sabrina had a track record of calling the police
556
00:44:27.010 --> 00:44:31.869
for a range of minor complaints. Once she had reported
557
00:44:31.949 --> 00:44:35.750
that Wiesem was working too hard. and another time she
558
00:44:35.809 --> 00:44:39.210
reported that a wooden toy was being used in their bathroom.
559
00:44:41.070 --> 00:44:45.170
It was revealed that in May of 2017, Sabrina had
560
00:44:45.210 --> 00:44:51.590
been diagnosed with depression and borderline personality disorder. The latter
561
00:44:51.670 --> 00:44:57.530
is characterised by emotional and mood instability, insecurity and impulsivity
562
00:44:57.710 --> 00:45:04.780
that can result in impaired social relationships. Sabrina's lawyer argued
563
00:45:04.880 --> 00:45:09.360
that his client's mental illness caused irrational delusions that led
564
00:45:09.420 --> 00:45:13.460
her to genuinely believe that Sophie Lyonnais had been recruited
565
00:45:13.530 --> 00:45:17.309
by Mark Walton to facilitate the abuse of her family.
566
00:45:18.849 --> 00:45:24.449
He said Sabrina's behaviour towards Sophie was, quote, entirely driven
567
00:45:24.550 --> 00:45:28.929
by Sabrina's mental illness in her desperation to obtain evidence
568
00:45:29.130 --> 00:45:35.989
of Mr Walton's abuse. the prosecution described Sabrina and Wiesem
569
00:45:36.150 --> 00:45:42.730
as a truly toxic combination. Their unhealthy, myopic, all-consuming and
570
00:45:42.849 --> 00:45:46.829
groundless obsession with Mark Walton had deprived them of reason
571
00:45:47.269 --> 00:45:53.010
and turned Sophie into something less than human. They argued
572
00:45:53.070 --> 00:45:56.329
that Sophie was killed out of revenge and punishment for
573
00:45:56.369 --> 00:46:03.150
Mark Walton refusing to financially support Sabrina. While only the
574
00:46:03.210 --> 00:46:07.230
two defendants would ever know who killed Sophie, the prosecution
575
00:46:07.309 --> 00:46:10.539
stated they were both equally responsible for coming up with
576
00:46:10.579 --> 00:46:14.340
the plan to destroy her body and escape responsibility for
577
00:46:14.380 --> 00:46:19.719
the horrendous crime. The presiding judge accepted that Sabrina had
578
00:46:19.780 --> 00:46:23.539
significant influence over Wiesem, but that didn't matter in the
579
00:46:23.599 --> 00:46:28.710
grand scheme of things. Wiesem was an intelligent and well-educated
580
00:46:28.789 --> 00:46:32.150
man who knew Sophie was in danger and did nothing
581
00:46:32.210 --> 00:46:34.840
to help her or put a stop to the abuse.
582
00:46:36.780 --> 00:46:41.960
Despite Sabrina's bizarre behaviour, Wiesem also actively went along with
583
00:46:42.000 --> 00:46:49.579
the interrogation sessions without coercion. While understanding that Sabrina's mental
584
00:46:49.679 --> 00:46:53.099
illness played a role, the judge concluded that her behaviour
585
00:46:53.159 --> 00:46:56.820
was ultimately driven by cruelty and a desire for revenge
586
00:46:56.960 --> 00:47:02.519
against Mark Walton. He was convinced that Sabrina intended to
587
00:47:02.719 --> 00:47:06.579
use Sophie's audio and written confession to blackmail Mark for
588
00:47:06.659 --> 00:47:12.239
financial gain. While Sabrina's mental illness could be blamed for
589
00:47:12.300 --> 00:47:16.510
her delusions, it couldn't explain the violent and brutal treatment
590
00:47:16.570 --> 00:47:22.460
of Sophie. The suffering and the torture you put her
591
00:47:22.500 --> 00:47:29.369
through before her death was prolonged and without pity. Sabrina
592
00:47:29.389 --> 00:47:33.289
Quader and Wissam Meduni were found guilty of the murder
593
00:47:33.349 --> 00:47:38.289
of Sophie Leonet. They were sentenced to life imprisonment with
594
00:47:38.349 --> 00:47:45.940
a minimum of 30 years. Nine months after Sophie's murder,
595
00:47:46.199 --> 00:47:51.250
her body was finally returned to France. Her mother, Catherine,
596
00:47:51.409 --> 00:47:56.730
would later remark, They took away my daughter's dignity and
597
00:47:56.889 --> 00:48:01.250
finally her life painfully ebbed away until she struggled to
598
00:48:01.289 --> 00:48:07.349
take her last breath in that bath. The case haunts
599
00:48:07.429 --> 00:48:12.070
Mark Walton, who was inadvertently pulled into the nightmare Sabrina created.
600
00:48:13.539 --> 00:48:17.409
In an emotional interview with Good Morning Britain, Mark said,
601
00:48:19.070 --> 00:48:21.429
The hardest thing for me going to bed at night
602
00:48:21.590 --> 00:48:25.030
was knowing that Sophie was telling the truth every time
603
00:48:25.070 --> 00:48:29.570
that she was answering those questions and interrogations. She never
604
00:48:29.630 --> 00:48:36.940
met me. Many have questioned how Wissam Meduni accepted Sabrina
605
00:48:36.960 --> 00:48:41.579
Quader's implausible lies about Sophie, given he was an intelligent
606
00:48:41.679 --> 00:48:46.840
and sane man. The couple's case has since been labelled
607
00:48:46.900 --> 00:48:50.840
an example of folie a deux, a rare psychiatric syndrome
608
00:48:50.900 --> 00:48:56.019
where two individuals share an identical delusion. The delusion is
609
00:48:56.139 --> 00:49:00.829
typically shared from one person to another. In this case,
610
00:49:01.210 --> 00:49:05.329
Sabrina created the delusions regarding Sophie and Mark and then
611
00:49:05.429 --> 00:49:10.650
transmitted them onto Wiesem. His love for Sabrina prevented him
612
00:49:10.710 --> 00:49:15.869
from viewing her behaviour critically and honestly. Instead, he let
613
00:49:15.929 --> 00:49:19.889
himself believe in her twisted reality, and by doing so,
614
00:49:20.280 --> 00:49:26.900
enabled and emboldened her. Another example of the folly-a-do phenomenon
615
00:49:27.099 --> 00:49:31.449
is the Erickson twins, covered in episode 17 of Case File.
616
00:49:34.269 --> 00:49:37.630
As for why Sophie didn't leave or otherwise seek help,
617
00:49:38.110 --> 00:49:42.570
it's likely that she didn't feel able to. Sabrina and
618
00:49:42.630 --> 00:49:45.750
Wiesem intimidated and bullied her to the point that she
619
00:49:45.829 --> 00:49:53.369
felt completely powerless, physically, mentally and financially. Police never found
620
00:49:53.429 --> 00:49:56.139
her passport or the money her mother had given her
621
00:49:56.239 --> 00:50:01.300
for a return ticket to France. It's suspected the couple
622
00:50:01.380 --> 00:50:07.219
took them away to prevent Sophie from escaping. While Sophie's
623
00:50:07.300 --> 00:50:11.780
exact reasonings for staying would never be known, investigators did
624
00:50:11.880 --> 00:50:14.820
find a short note that she had written shortly before
625
00:50:14.900 --> 00:50:22.690
her murder. It read, Why me? I need help to
626
00:50:22.769 --> 00:50:23.289
stop them.
627
00:50:36.920 --> 00:50:37.260
Thank you.
