The Au Pair Murder: Sophie Lionnet

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The English translation of the term au pair is "at par" or "equal to", indicating that the relationship is intended to be one of equals: the au pair is intended to become a member of the family, albeit a temporary one, rather than a traditional domestic worker.

Moving abroad can be extremely daunting, particularly as a single, young adult. As an au pair, however, it shouldn’t be quite as nerve-wracking. Au pairing is usually a positive experience for the au pair and the hiring family. Au pairs have the opportunity to embrace a new culture, improve their language skills (if moving to a country where a foreign language is spoken), make friends and gain independence.

Au pairs are usually female, between the ages of 18 and 30. Families provide the au pair with a room, meals and a small wage to spend in their spare time, usually in exchange for childcare and some household chores, depending on the agreed arrangements between the family and au pair.

It's an appealing way to spend a year if you're not sure what to do after school and want to do some travelling. Or you just need some time out to do something completely different. It's also convenient, as once you're connected with a family, everything is organized in terms of accommodation and employment.

Of course, it can also be a disaster. Inviting someone you've never met in-person into your home has plenty of risks, as does moving to a different country and staying with a family you don't know. Any fan of true crime knows all too well that appearances can be deceptive. In short, au pairing requires a high level of trust from both parties.

This is the story of a young woman whose experience as an au pair should have been rewarding and fulfilling, but turned into a living nightmare; one she would not make it out of alive.

“Only a sheep carcass”

On Sept. 20, 2017, firefighters arrived at the residence of Sabrina Kouider and Ouissem Medouni, after receiving calls from concerned neighbors about a foul-smelling bonfire in the back garden of their flat in Southfields, southwest London.

Their neighbors were right to be worried; the bonfire was on the verge of burning out of control. Medouni and Kouider stood nearby, cooking chicken on a barbecue. They appeared to be relaxed and unconcerned about the raging flames just feet away.

Once firefighters had gotten the blaze under control, they made a grisly discovery. When they asked Medouni what he was burning, he shrugged and calmly replied that it was the carcass of a sheep he had bought at Wimbledon Market.

On the contrary, Thomas Hunt, one of the first firefighters to arrive at the scene, saw what he believed to be a human nose and fingers burning in the fire. When he began sifting through the ashes, he found blackened pieces of clothing and jewelry.

“Bollocks,” Hunt responded to Medouni’s blatant lie that he was only burning animal remains.

It would turn out that Hunt's suspicions were correct. The remains on the bonfire were not those of a sheep at all, but rather, those of Medouni and Kouider’s 21-year-old French au pair, Sophie Lionnet.

Sophie Lionnet

Sophie Lionnet was born on Jan. 7, 1996 to Catherine Devallone and Patrick Lionnet in the town of Troyes, in north-east France.

It’s not clear when exactly, but at some point Catherine and Patrick divorced and Catherine married Stephane Devallone, Sophie’s stepfather. Despite the divorce, Sophie remained close with both of her parents.

Sophie was beautiful, with long, dark curls, greenish-grey eyes, and a kind, warm smile. She was quiet and gentle in nature, loved animals and dreamed of working with children.

Growing up, Sophie enjoyed playing the guitar, reading and ice skating.

Catherine, Sophie’s mother, described her daughter as someone who hated suffering and injustice. She was passionate about preventing animal cruelty. Sophie was a selfless and generous person, who was never particularly interested in material possessions.

A Change of Scene

On finishing school, Sophie completed a vocational course in childcare. Shortly after, she was offered a position as an au pair in London.

Compared with Troyes, which has a population of approximately 62,000 and looks like a town out of a fairytale, London is a completely different world. This was no small feat for Sophie, whose friends and family described as very shy, reserved and naive.

But Sophie viewed it as an adventure. Although she may have been a little apprehensive, it would be an excellent opportunity for her to spread her wings and get out of her comfort zone. It would also allow her to vastly improve her English. Furthermore, she would be working with children and gaining experience for her future career.

In January 2016, shortly after her 20th birthday, a nervous but excited Sophie moved to London. Never could she have known of the horrors that awaited her.

A Toxic Combination

Sabrina Kouider (born 1983) and Ouissem “Sam” Medouni (born 1978), were French nationals, living on Wimbledon Park Road in Southfields, a district in southwest London located within the Borough of Wandsworth.

Ouissem Medouni and Sabrina Kouider (source: Le Parisien)

Kouider was born in Algeria and moved to France as a child. At 19, she was manning a crepe stand at a funfair on the outskirts of Paris when she met 24-year-old Medouni. Right away, Medouni was entranced by her beauty and charm. He began pursuing her relentlessly and soon became wrapped around her little finger. Kouider was manipulative and disloyal, cheating on Medouni and regularly leaving him for other men. But she always returned to him, and he took her back, no questions asked.

In 2005, at the age of 22, Kouider left France for London…for a job as an au pair (!). Medouni, who was 27 at this point, got a job in London as a financial analyst at the French bank, Societe Generale.

Between Medouni’s job in finance and Kouider going on to become a successful fashion designer and makeup artist, the pair did well for themselves; the flat they rented in Southfields was valued at £900,000.

The couple had two children, although during my research, I found very little information about them, other than that they were boys aged eight and four at the time this story takes place. Sources differ a lot, but at least one of the boys were Kouider’s from a previous relationship; the father of her youngest child was her ex-boyfriend, Mark Walton, who will feature prominently later in this story.

Neighbors referred to Kouider and Medouni as “anti-social” and “odd”. Sabrina Kouider always looked very glamorous and dressed well, they said. But the couple were not friendly, and were often inconsiderate of those living around them, leaving garbage sitting on the street outside their home for days, blocking neighbors’ driveways with their cars and not paying rent to their landlord on time.

The New Au Pair

At first, Sophie’s experience as an au pair for Kouider and Medouni was a positive one. The children adored her, and she was in her element looking after them. She befriended other nannies working in the area, of which there were many.

On phone calls with her mother, Catherine, Sophie seemed happy and pleased with the way things were going in the beginning. She got along with Sabrina Kouider, often chatting at the kitchen table over cups of tea. Kouider, who loved doing hair and makeup, even gave Sophie a makeover at one point.

However, the initial phase in which Sophie was content and at ease in her new job would not last. It’s difficult to tell exactly when things began to go downhill.

A Bizarre Obsession

Mark Walton, Sabrina Kouider’s ex-boyfriend and father to her younger child, had a hold on Kouider that was so baffling and unfathomable, it’s hard to believe that it’s not something out of a bad movie. Her obsession with this man truly embodies the phrase “stranger than fiction”.

Just bear with me on this part - it is relevant to the story. The band Boyzone was formed in 1993 by Irish music manager Louis Walsh (I personally know him best from evenings spent watching music talent show The X Factor). Mark Walton was one of the founding members of Boyzone, but was only in the band for about a year before being pushed out by other band members. The band would go on to become very successful in the UK, but not with Walton as a part of it.

Mark Walton and Sabrina Kouider (source: Daily Mail)

At the time this story takes place, Walton was living in Los Angeles and working in the music industry. According to Walton, he and Kouider were in a relationship from 2011 to 2013. Some months after Sophie arrived in London and began working as an au pair for Kouider and Medouni, Kouider began exhibiting severely delusional behavior.

Her delusions centered around an absurd obsession with the idea that her 21-year-old French au pair was colluding with Mark Walton in an attempt to do her (Kouider) and her family harm. Sophie had never met Walton in her life.

I believe Kouider’s rage towards Walton stemmed from a bad break up, or the idea that he might somehow get custody of their child. She would call him and accuse him of sexually abusing her cat (even though she did not have one), using black magic on her and hiring a helicopter to fly over her home and spy on her.

Police received more than 30 reports from Kouider about Walton, all of which turned out to be bogus. She was given a caution by police for creating a fake Facebook profile and using it to harass Walton, mainly accusing him of being a pedophile.

Kouider’s accusations against Sophie included her sleeping with Walton, being a pedophile, a spy, and helping Walton come into her home so that he could drug and sexually assault her (Kouider), Moudini and the children.

“Folie à Deux”

It is believed that Kouider and Medouni suffered from the very rare psychological disorder known as “folie à deux” (the literal translation being “madness for two”) or dual psychosis.

It is a “psychiatric syndrome in which symptoms of a delusional belief, and sometimes hallucinations are transmitted from one individual to another".

Other famous cases in which the perpetrators were believed to suffer from folie à deux include that of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley (the Moors Murders) and Fred and Rosemary West.

Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, the Moors Murderers, a notable case of folie à deux (source: Wikipedia)

Kouider had previously been diagnosed with depression and borderline personality disorder. On top of these existing psychological disorders, she manipulated Medouni into sharing her delusions.

Medouni was completely on board with anything Kouider said or did; no matter how off-the-wall it was. In fact, he not only entertained her delusions, he fully embraced them.

During a psychiatric assessment, Medouni was not found to have any mental health issues, but fully believed in Kouider’s accusations against Mark Walton.

In the beginning, when Kouider’s violent behavior towards Sophie was just starting out, Medouni would leave the flat and go for a walk instead of joining in the abuse. However, it was not long before he began participating, particularly after he became a part of Kouider’s ridiculous stories - specifically that Sophie was helping Walton come into their home so he (Walton) could sexually assault him (Medouni).

Sophie’s Miserable Final Months

Several members of the Southfields community recalled seeing Sophie out and about in the months leading up to her murder. However, being very shy and not speaking much English, she did not speak to people she didn’t know well.

One such person who later spoke to the press about Sophie was Michael Cromer, who owned a fish and chip restaurant in the area and had spoken to Kouider and Medouni about the possibility of going into business together. Sophie would sometimes join the couple at Cromer’s restaurant, but she barely spoke.

She came in a few times on her own, clearly upset. Cromer asked her what was wrong, and she told him that her mother was ill.

Addressing the question of “why didn’t she (Sophie) just leave her employer’s home?”, Ruth Bowskill, a chief prosecutor at the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service), said that Sophie had written and spoken to her family about leaving.

However, it seemed likely that the pair manipulated and gained control over her.

"Given the intimidation, the bullying and the behavior towards her... it's likely that she didn't feel able to leave," Bowskill said.

In April 2017, about 15 months into her employment, Catherine noticed her daughter seemed unhappy and “fed up” when they spoke on the phone. She wanted to come home, Sophie told her.

While searching Kouider and Medouni’s home after Sophie’s murder, investigators never found her passport or the plane ticket her mother had bought for her. It was likely the couple had destroyed them.

On August 8, 2017, Catherine recalled her daughter crying and sounding “disoriented” during a phone call. At that point, Sophie was being beaten, no longer being paid and being interrogated regularly. Kouider and Medouni were not letting her eat, and she had become extremely thin as a result.

In the final 12 days before her murder, Sophie was not allowed to leave the flat on Wimbledon Park Road.

On Sept. 20, 2017, firefighters were called to the flat and discovered a body being burned on a bonfire.

Two days later, Kouider and Medouni were arrested on suspicion of murder.

The Trial

The trial of Ouissem Moudini (40) and Sabrina Kouider (34) for the murder of Sophie Lionnet began in March, 2018 at London’s Old Bailey. The two admitted that they tried to dispose of the au pair’s body. However, when it came to who was responsible for her murder, they pointed the finger at each other, both refusing to take the blame.

Mugshots of Ouissem Moudini and Sabrina Kouider (source: Le Journal du Dimanche)

Prosecuting Moudini and Kouider was Richard Horwell QC (Queen’s Counsel, for non-UK readers). Horwell relayed to the jury the horrific abuse Sophie endured in the final months of her life at the hands of her employers, whose motives were "punishment and revenge" against Mark Walton.

"Sophie was trapped in a domestic nightmare.”

Kouider’s accusations against Walton were pure delusional fantasy, Howell told the jury. As for Medouni, he was a weak, submissive and pliable individual who “punched above his weight” when it came to women, as was demonstrated in his relationship with Kouider.

Sophie’s parents and stepfather travelled to London to attend the trial.

Sophie’s Vulnerability

Horwell spoke of how the naive and shy Sophie Lionnet was unable to defend herself against a manipulative and abusive person like Sabrina Kouider:

"Sophie was not only young, but also, we suggest, naive and particularly vulnerable and this made her an easy target for abuse and exploitation."

They were easily able to break her down with their vicious and relentless interrogations, which involved beatings and holding her head under water in the bathtub. Eventually, they forced Sophie to confirm Kouider’s deranged accusations were true: that she was conspiring to help Mark Walton come to their home so he could drug them and sexually assault them. They threatened her with rape, violence and prison if she did not confess.

A haunting photo of an emaciated Sophie days before her murder (source: Mirror)

A video, taken on Sept. 18, 2017, of Sophie “confessing” was shown to the jury. In it, she is emaciated and looks completely broken. Shortly after the video was taken, Sophie was dead, Horwell said.

"You will have seen the state of Sophie when she uttered the words that can be heard on that video clip and whatever may be said about that final confession it is anything but voluntary,” Horwell said.

Horwell described the defendants’ actions as a "campaign of intimidation, torture and violence" which left the young woman "crushed".

These interrogations were recorded on the cell phones of Kouider and Medouni; more than eight hours of recordings were uncovered. At trial, Horwell played sections of the interrogations to the jury.

In one of the recordings from Sept. 11, nine days before the murder, Kouider was heard screaming at Sophie: "You destroy everything. I was trying to find myself again. I pray to god not to make me touch you. I don't want to make my hands dirty."

Sophie’s Physical Injuries

Before her body was thrown onto the bonfire, Sophie suffered “significant violence” at the hands of her employers, the prosecution told the jury.

Her injuries included a fractured jawbone and sternum, and five broken ribs.

In the end, the defendants burned Sophie’s body on the bonfire in their back garden in an attempt to cover up the murder. They were barbecuing chicken next to the bonfire in which they were burning their victim’s body.

"The fire was put out and then the burnt debris was turned over with a spade to ensure that the fire had been fully extinguished. As the ash was turned, the remains of Sophie started to appear.”

They planned to tell a story about how Sophie had left their employment out of the blue and returned to France.

The gender and age of the body was not clear at first, given how badly burned it was, a Home Office pathologist said at trial. The body was not even confirmed to be that of Sophie’s until two weeks later, on Oct. 3, when DNA tests came back.

Her ultimate cause of death was never determined; the three most likely causes were a blow to the head, strangulation or drowning.

Mark Walton’s Testimony

Mark Walton flew from Los Angeles to London to testify against Sabrina Kouider.

During his testimony, he said that he and Kouider had been in a relationship for two years and he was very much in love with her. She was, however, extremely volatile and unpredictable. He could never predict when she would suddenly snap and start screaming at him.

“She would go from softly spoken French accent, then she would flip, get very angry, very loud and just not care where we were. She would just go crazy over something trivial,” he said.

He paid for several nannies, but she would always fire them, paranoid that they were stealing from her and flirting with him.

“We have heard that your name was referred to by Sabrina Kouider before and after her arrest. Had you ever heard of Sophie Lionnet?” Horwell asked Walton.

“Never, ever,” Walton replied.

“Had you ever talked to her?”

“Never.”

“Had you ever communicated with her in any way?”

“No way, never.”

The first time he had ever heard of the au pair was September 21, when police in London contacted him the day after the murder, Walton told the court.

The Defence

At trial, Kouider was represented by Icah Peart QC and Medouni by Orlando Pownall QC.

The defence was weak, but this was not the attorneys’ faults; what the pair did was indefensible. It was also kind of all over the place. I could not make much sense of it; it sort of seemed as though they were throwing everything at the wall to see what might stick.

Medouni’s initial statement was that Sophie died “by accident” while he "interrogated" her in the bath. However, he retracted this, saying he only said this to protect Kouider. In his new statement, he said he was actually woken up by Kouider telling him that Sophie was “not breathing". He got up and found her in the bath. As Kouider told him, she was not breathing, he said.

In Kouider's defence statement, she said that Sophie died in her sleep.

Peart used Medouni’s initial statement against him in his defence of Kouider: "He says he forced her head under water and held it there repeatedly. Mr Medouni states he punched Miss Lionnet in the face, her head then went backwards and hit the tiles and as a result, she slipped under the water and fell unconscious."

When he found her in the bath and unresponsive, he dragged her out and tried to resuscitate her, but he was unsuccessful, Peart added.

The prosecution were successful in convincing the jury of Sabrina Kouider and Ouissem Medouni’s guilt. On May 24, 2018, after a trial that lasted two months, the pair were found guilty of murdering Sophie Lionnet.

On hearing the verdict, Kouider burst into tears. Medouni stared into his lap, motionless.

"They starved, tortured and broke her until she could no longer fight. They took away her dignity and finally her life," Sophie’s mother said when speaking to the press after the pair were convicted. “They are self-obsessed monsters.”

Patrick Lionnet said:

"Sabrina and Ouissem have not only stolen the life of my daughter so brutally and without remorse, they have also stolen mine."

Sabrina Kouider’s Apology Letter

Kouider wrote an apology letter to Sophie and her family, which was read out during the sentencing hearing. It said:

Dear Sophie,

May peace be with you.

First of all I wish everyone including Sophie, especially her parents and family who are suffering badly, to know how deeply sorry I am for what happened to Sophie. We shared many good times together as well as pains until things went terribly wrong and it ended up in this horrendous tragedy.

I think of you every day and I am shocked and sad that you are not part of this world any more. It feels like a horrible dream to me that I wish I could just wake up from. Every day I live with sadness and sorrow. I am suffering every day thinking of you and what happened to you that dreadful night.

I only wish I could turn the clock back so that it never happened and you would still be alive with us today. I will now live without hope and I can't ever imagine ever being happy again. I struggle every day and I am very disappointed in myself.

Sophie I wish things could have been different and I hope that you rest in peace with God.

With deepest regret,

Sabrina Kouider

Sentencing

In an attempt to get leniency for his client, Kouider’s lawyer told the judge that her actions were a result of "delusions and personality disorders", which left her with "irrational and completely overwhelming fear" that Sophie was conspiring against her and her family with Mark Walton.

He said her behavior towards the victim was “entirely driven by Kouider’s mental illness in her desperation to obtain evidence of Mr Walton’s abuse”.

While Judge Nicholas Hilliard acknowledged that the couple were severely delusional (suffering from “folie à deux”, as I mentioned earlier), particularly Kouider, who was the driving force, this was not a defence for their heinous treatment and eventual murder of their shy and vulnerable au pair.

Looking straight at Kouider and Medouni, Hilliard said:

“You were both involved in torturing Sophie in the bath in the lead-up to her death in making her think she would drown unless you gave her information you wanted which was not in her power to give because it did not exist.

The suffering and the torture you put her through before her death was prolonged and without pity.

Addressing Kouider, he said that her motivations were to see Sophie and Mark Walton suffer for no justifiable reason.

He finished by saying:

“I do not think you thought for one moment you were acting lawfully. I’m sure you knew the way you interrogated her was unacceptable in the extreme, that it was unlawful to assault her and she was in a dreadful state by the time of her death and torturing her in the bath was totally and utterly wrong.”

Kouider and Medouni were both sentenced to life in prison, to serve a minimum of 30 years.

"No one, no god will ever forgive you both for what you have done to my daughter... You are equally as evil as one another," Catherine Devallonne said.

Sophie Lionnet, 1/1/1996-9/20/2017 (source: here)

A celebration of Sophie’s life, attended by over 150 people, was held at Saint-Etienne Cathedral in Sens, France on June 6, 2018.

Patrick Lionnet, Sophie’s father, said of his daughter:

"Sophie was so nurturing, she liked children and animals. She could not stand seeing others suffering and it breaks my heart to know that she was abused to the end of her life."

Sophie’s aunt said of her niece: