Sophie Lionnet was born on 7th January, 1996, in Troyes, France.
After finishing school, Sophie did a vocational course in childcare before being offered a position as an au pair in London. In January, 2016, not long after her 20th birthday, Sophie Lionnet moved to London.
Sabrina Kouider was born in Algeria in 1983 and moved to France when she was child. When she was 19, she met 24-year-old Ouissem “Sam” Medouni. They quickly entered a relationship but Sabrina Kouider wasn’t faithful to Sam Medouni, though that didn’t really matter to him. He would always take her back.
In 2005, when Kouider was 22, she moved to London from France to be an au pair. 27-year-old Medouni went with her and got a job as a financial analyst at a bank.
Eventually Kouider became a fashion designer and makeup artist, and Medouni was successful in his financial career. They lived on Wimbledon Park Road in Southfields, London, in a flat worth £900,000. The couple lived there with their children. It is not known who the biological father of the children is, but it is believed that the youngest child is the son of Kouider’s ex-boyfriend, Mark Walton.
Mark Walton was one of the members of boyband Boyzone in 1993. He was only in the band a short while, leaving before the band became successful. Mark Walton and Kouider were in a relationship between 2011-2013, but Kouider never forgot about Mark Walton.
When Sophie Lionnet started working for Kouider and Medouni in 2016, she seemed to enjoy it. She loved looking after the children and made friends with the other nannies in the area. Sophie phoned her mother often and seemed happy with how things were going.
Shortly after Sophie started working for Kouider, things took a turn. Kouider became obsessed with the idea that Sophie was working with Mark Walton, trying to do her and her family harm. This is despite Sohpie having never met Walton in her life.
Kouider would call Walton accusing him of using black magic on her and hiring a helicopter to fly over her home and spy on her. Police received over 30 reports from Kouider about Walton, all of which turned out to be fake. She was actually given a caution by police for harassing Walton and accusing him of being a peadophile using a fake Facebook account.
Kouider accused Sophie of sleeping with Walton, being a peadophile, and being a spy. As well as helping Walton into the home so he could drug and sexually abuse her. During this time, Walton was actually living in Los Angeles.
In April 2017, around 15 months after starting her employment, Sophie’s mother noticed she seemed “fed up” and said she wanted to come home.
On August 8, 2017, Sophie’s mother said her daughter sounded “disoriented” and was crying. By this stage Sophie was being beaten and was not allowed to eat. Kouider and Medouni had also stopped paying her.
Kouider and Medouni interrogated Sophie over Mark Walton, and although Medouni initially left the flat during the first instances of abuse, he quickly began to join in. The couple would beat Sophie, hold her head underwater, and threatened her with violence, rape and prison if she didn’t confess to the accusations they put to her. She was also not allowed to leave the flat. The couple recorded a video of Sophie “confessing” in which she looks emaciated and broken.
On September 20, 2017, firefighters were called to the flat to put out a bonfire after neighbours noticed smoke and a “horrible” smell coming from the property. Once firefighters put out the fire, they realised that there was a body in the debris. It was the body of Sophie Lionnet.
Sophie Lionnet suffered “significant violence” with her injuries including five broken ribs and a fractured jawbone and sternum. Kouider and Medouni then attempted to cover up her murder by burning her body on the bonfire. In an attempt to mask the smell, they barbequed chicken next to the bonfire. Sophie’s cause of death could not be determined due to how badly her body was burned, but the most likely causes were a blow to the head, strangulation or drawing. She was just 21 years old.
The trial started in March 2015 at The Old Bailey in London. It lasted for 2 months. Ouissem Medouni (40) and Sabrina Kouider (34) were on trial for murder, and although they both admitted they tried to dispose of Sophie’s body, neither took responsibility for her murder. They both pointed the finger at each other.
It is believed that Kouider and Medouni suffered from “Folie À Deux”, or “Duel Psychosis” which is a very rare psychological disorder where a delusional belief is transmitted from one individual to another. It is believed that Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, and Fred and Rose West also suffered from this. Kouider was previously diagnosed with depression and borderline personality disorder. Medouni was not found to have any mental health issues.
Kouider and Medouni both used their bizarre obsession with Mark Walton to torture Sophie Lionnet. On the night Sophie was murdered Medouni initially said she had died “by accident” while he was interrogating her in the bath, though he later said he was only trying to protect Kouider. In a new statement, he said Kouider had woken him up, telling him that Sophie wasn’t breathing and when he got up he found her in the bath unresponsive. Kouider’s story was that Sophie had died in her sleep.
On May 24th, 2018, Sabrina Kouider and Ouissem Medouni were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. They must serve a minimum of 30 years.
At the sentencing hearing, a letter Kouider had written to Sophie and her family was read.
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 everyday 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 everyday 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.
Catherine Devallonne, Sophie’s mother said “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.”
Sources:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-44120874
https://casefilepodcast.com/case-236-sophie-lionnet/
https://www.talkmurderwithme.com/blog/2021/4/16/sophie-lionnet-murder
