An Au Pair in London: Episode 432

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[7] Hello and welcome to episode 432 of the UK True Crime Podcast.

[8] I'm Adam.

[9] Thank you so much for joining me this week for this episode, which comes from southwest London.

[10] It's the most shocking story and it looks at the world that's been previously unknown to me, the world of nannies and au pairs.

[11] But before we begin, let's set some context for today's story with our guest the month and year game.

[12] You ready?

[13] Sam Smith topped the UK charts with Too Good At Goodbyes.

[14] In the US, the first track I can confidently pronounce or come close to was The Imagined Dragons at number four with Believer.

[15] And in Australia, the top album was Ed Sheeran with the Division sign.

[16] In the news this month, Catalonia's parliament passed a law to allow a referendum on independence from Spain.

[17] Hurricane Irma.

[18] Hit the Caribbean and then Florida.

[19] Elite football manager Wayne Rooney pleaded guilty to drink driving and was banned for two years.

[20] And measles was declared as eradicated in the UK.

[21] Finally, in UK True Crime News, a terrorist bomb only partially exploded in an attack at Parsons Green tube station in West London, injuring 29 people.

[22] with the perpetrator being arrested at the port of Dover the next day.

[23] So did you guess the month and year?

[24] It was September 2017.

[25] Alright then, so today's story begins just a couple of miles south of Parsons Green in Wandsworth, which is about six miles southwest of central London.

[26] Thick smoke filled the air surrounding Wimbledon Park Road in the Southfields district in Wandsworth.

[27] on the afternoon of Wednesday 20th September 2017.

[28] The area is crammed with row upon row of terraced houses, but for the majority of this suburb of southwest London, the exact location of the fire was indeterminate.

[29] The hot mass obscured from their view.

[30] The fire had started on the back patio of a home belonging to a French -Algerian couple.

[31] 40 -year -old financial analyst, Ousim, Meduni, and his wife, 34 -year -old Sabrina Kuda.

[32] Along with their two small children, they occupied the ground floor of the two -bedroom ground floor flat.

[33] The small garden with the patio is just set back from the road, the two separated by a tall brick wall, and just a couple of hundred metres away are railway tracks.

[34] It wasn't a fire as such, it was the smoke and the almost nasty acidic smell from what was happening that concerned neighbours and they knocked on the couple's door but received no answer.

[35] The local fire department was called and by the time firefighters arrived at the address at 6 .20pm, this small smouldering fire had been going on for around about three hours.

[36] When the fire crew entered the rear of the property, they were immediately confronted by the burning mound outside the back door.

[37] Next to it, a tall, slender and slightly balding Osim stood, barbecuing chicken thighs.

[38] When asked what he was burning, he told them it was a sheep.

[39] We talk on this podcast a lot about first responders and how good their instincts are.

[40] And one member of the fire crew noticed what looked like a, it seemed like a, almost like a resignation spread across Osim's face.

[41] This, combined with the strange story of burning a farm animal in the middle of suburban London, it didn't add up, it posed some questions.

[42] Looking more closely among the charcoaled lump and the glowing embers, firefighters noticed a glint of jewellery, scorched clothing, and most shocking of all, what looked to be human appendages.

[43] The crew called in the local police station and asked officers to attend the scene.

[44] and upon their arrival, they too were alarmed by the scene before them.

[45] Osim was taken to Wandsworth Station for further questioning.

[46] Sabrina, who had been absent at the time of the inspection by the fire and the police crews, returned to the property that evening and was also arrested and brought in for questioning.

[47] After further investigation of the burned mess in the back garden, police had reason to suspect.

[48] that the remnants could be those of a small child.

[49] But the identity, age and gender of the victim remained a mystery for now.

[50] At Wandsworth Station, Osim denied it was a child in the fire, but otherwise remained tight -lipped.

[51] This only fuelled detective's suspicions further.

[52] After two days, Osim and Sabrina were charged with murder, but no clear motive for the killing had been established.

[53] and the victim was yet to be formally identified.

[54] Detectives urgently looked more into the couple's background, as well as talking with local people who knew them in this vital time soon after a crime had been committed.

[55] French newspapers would describe Algerian -born Usum as coming from a modest background, the son of a plumber, having grown up in the southern suburbs of Paris.

[56] The story of how he met Sabrina...

[57] Starts like a Parisian novel, but fair warning here, it winds up a psychological horror.

[58] They first met in the summer of 2001, when Sabrina was 18 years old and working on a sweet stall at a local fair.

[59] Lake Easton, she was born in northern Algeria before moving to Paris with her mum.

[60] Six years her senior.

[61] Usain pursued Sabrina, utterly beguiled by her beauty, and she was an amazingly classically attractive woman.

[62] Years later, neighbours of the pair would compare Sabrina to a Kardashian, in a favourable way physically, I should add, referencing her sleek black hair, her high cheekbones, and glamorous outfits.

[63] The couple moved in together in the suburbs of Paris, and then with Oosim's dad after Sabrina lost her job.

[64] Unfortunately, the relationship soon ended when Oosim discovered that Sabrina was sleeping with his friend.

[65] As well as Oosim, Sabrina had a brief relationship with a Frenchman called Anthony Francois, the father of her first child.

[66] This relationship also broke down.

[67] It seems that Sabrina behaved in certain ways out of character with her day -to -day behaviour due to certain trauma she suffered as a child.

[68] For example, on her 18th birthday, she jumped from a fourth -floor balcony suffering serious back injuries.

[69] Two years later, Sabrina drank cleaning fluid after breaking up with her then -fiancée.

[70] But she survived her ordeal and soon she was back with Usim.

[71] This was a pattern that was repeated over the next decade.

[72] Although they would often break up, they were always drawn back together.

[73] I'm sure you know people who have a similar dynamic in their relationship.

[74] It's unclear who followed who to England's capital city, but what is known for sure is that by 2005, the pair lived in a flat in Queensway, London, just north of Hyde Park.

[75] Oosim got a job in London with a French bank, and Sabrina found work with an international marketing company.

[76] They were soon married in a traditional Islamic ceremony.

[77] But in 2011, the couple separated once again.

[78] And then joining our story is Mark Walton.

[79] I wonder if you've heard of him.

[80] He was one of the founding members of the popular 90s heavy grunge band, Boyzone.

[81] Sabrina and Mark met in Notting Hill and he moved into a flat in Queensway in early 2012.

[82] The following year, Sabrina gave birth to a second child with Mark.

[83] According to media reports, the links to which can all be found as always in the show notes of this episode, Sabrina hired several nannies throughout her time at the flat, but none of them lasted long, all were dismissed for some form of alleged wrongdoing, from stealing to flirting with their partner Mark.

[84] Mark, who was at the time newly managing boy band Blue, supported Sabrina as she tried to break into the fashion industry.

[85] As you know, it's not an easy thing to do.

[86] Sabrina made a large number of accusations against Mark at this time, one of which is that he was sleeping with male sex workers.

[87] Mark found her accusations annoying and ridiculous and told friends how Sabrina's temperament often flipped from being alluring, friendly, happy to angry.

[88] And it wasn't behaviour she just saved for the privacy of her home life.

[89] She would happily create a scene in public without hesitation, seeming to enjoy the drama.

[90] The relationship continued to decline and they called it quits after two years and Sabrina returned to Usum.

[91] Despite the bitter end to their relationship, Mark did continue to support Sabrina financially, gifting her thousands of pounds over a span of several months.

[92] for her rent on the Southfield's home, which she shared with Usim, and where she would eventually be arrested.

[93] Despite this, Sabrina's allegations against Mark Walton continued to ramp up.

[94] In 2014, she accused him of sexually abusing a cat, hiring helicopters to spy on her, trying to control her with black magic.

[95] Each accusation was more lurid than the last, and all were false.

[96] The final straw for Mark came when Sabrina created a fake social media account in 2015 which accused him of being a paedophile.

[97] Police found no basis for the claims made and instead Sabrina was cautioned to keep her distance from Mark Walton.

[98] Living in southwest London, Usim and Sabrina raised Sabrina's two children together.

[99] In January 2016 when Usim returned to London after a trip back home, In the aftermath of his dad's death, he found a young woman sleeping there.

[100] Her name was Sophie Leonette, their new nanny.

[101] Originally from the northern region of Troyes in eastern France, Sophie's parents separated when she was young.

[102] Sophie moved with her mum to Paron, a small town on the edge of Burgundy.

[103] Just 21 years old in 2016 when the couple first hired her.

[104] Sophie's social media was a window to her life, where she shared news stories about local events, old photographs of her and her friends.

[105] She expressed love, sadness and ambition.

[106] She vocalised support for environmental causes and was very strong on protecting animals.

[107] She told the world that she was a movie buff, so much so that her consumption of movies meant that she experienced her own life.

[108] in 24 frames per second.

[109] She also hated horror films.

[110] In the pictures you see of her, she's a very slight young woman.

[111] She's got a light complexion and dark curly hair.

[112] It gives her a very classic look.

[113] In most photographs, she's wearing glasses and she is showing a gentle and very friendly smile.

[114] Sophie confided in Friends that her dream was studying movies at university.

[115] but she opted instead for child -minding diploma.

[116] Her dad, you know, you think you're doing the best, right?

[117] He imagined that this would lead to a job in a nursery as he knew that his daughter loved children and was very good with them.

[118] He thought it was a solid job for her.

[119] He was shocked when Sophie told him she was going to London to work as an au pair and told how she'd been introduced to Sabrina the previous year by a friend of Sabrina's brother.

[120] Sophie's new living position would mean she was given room and board, plus a weekly fee in exchange for looking after the children.

[121] Sophie told her family she would only go for a couple of months just to gain a new experience in London.

[122] Once in England, the mild -mannered Sophie integrated herself easily into the Usum Sabrina household and she was really well liked by the children she cared for.

[123] Two months, though, soon turned into 19 months.

[124] And although her family heard from her regularly, as time went on, communications became more and more sporadic.

[125] It's worth noting that in May 2017, Sabrina was diagnosed with depression and borderline personality disorder, but she refused to accept this diagnosis.

[126] Then on the 25th of July 2017, Sophie reached out to her family.

[127] The message, which she starts off by apologising that it's been so long since she last spoke with them, tells her family that she no longer had access to the internet or enough credit to make a phone call abroad.

[128] The message goes on to read, I've been very worried about what is happening here.

[129] There are a lot of tensions and I'm being accused of things that I would never dare to do.

[130] She, referring to Sabrina, believes that it is true when it is not.

[131] In short, suddenly I feel worried.

[132] But I'm coming back very soon in July.

[133] And that's for sure.

[134] Because due to the tensions that are here and the hassle, it's better for me to come back for everyone's good.

[135] Sophie's dad, Patrick, on reading the message from his daughter.

[136] took her talk of tension in the home to be that of a normal husband and wife with two young children and all those pressures we all face in daily life.

[137] But the reality of what Sophie had been experiencing was far beyond what anyone in her family or circle of friends could imagine.

[138] Although she was only receiving £50 a week for round -the -clock work, the couple, they had long since stopped paying her.

[139] When friends of Sophie's asked her about her pay, She was private and reserved on the subject and shied away from it, choosing to discuss other topics.

[140] But the lack of funds, that was just the start of Sophie's problems.

[141] In July, a friend and neighbour of Sabrina's popped into the couple's home, where she found Sophie holding her head and crying, and Sabrina in the most terrible rage.

[142] Sabrina was upset that Sophie had failed to prepare breakfast for the family.

[143] The shocked friend had to hold Sabrina back from physically attacking Sophie, managing to prevent her from kicking the young girl to the floor.

[144] Sabrina instead grabbed a chair to throw which the neighbour took from her grasp before she could hurt Sophie.

[145] Then the following month after another concerning incident, the same neighbour took Sophie into her home.

[146] This time she lied to Sabrina.

[147] telling her that she had bought Sophie a ticket to go back to France.

[148] But after hearing this news, Sabrina turned up on the woman's doorstep, screaming, I quote, like a madwoman, and she stormed into the home absolutely livid.

[149] The woman looked on as Sabrina dragged Sophie away from her.

[150] She didn't call the police or raise the alarm.

[151] At the start of August, Sophie's mum answered her phone to a call from her daughter.

[152] who was calling from a neighbour's phone asking her for 40 euros to pay for her Eurostar ticket back to France.

[153] Her mum happily agreed and said that she would send the money as soon as she got paid her salary.

[154] But the next day Sophie's mum received another phone call, this time it was from Sabrina, saying there had been a misunderstanding and that Sophie would be staying a little longer.

[155] In actual fact, as you would have guessed by now.

[156] Sophie was absolutely desperate to leave and return home.

[157] A letter to her employers around this time pleads, Local residents noticed Sophie becoming withdrawn and clearly unhappy.

[158] A local fish and chip shop owner befriended her and often saw her crying.

[159] She confided to him that her mum was ill. and she wanted to go home, but later admitted she was also being mistreated by her employers.

[160] She described being assaulted for dropping butter.

[161] This man offered food, help finding a new job and even a loan for a ticket home.

[162] But before she could accept his offer, Sabrina angrily confronted him, accusing Sophie of manipulating people and having multiple affairs.

[163] A text on Sabrina's phone indicated that by mid -September, Sophie was no longer working for them and had left for France.

[164] When she was arrested, Sabrina pretended that she couldn't even remember the surname of the nanny that she'd employed.

[165] She told officers that Sophie had fled a few days beforehand after the couple confronted her with serious allegations of wrongdoing.

[166] In fact...

[167] Sophie had let her family know that she would be finally returning to them on the 18th of September.

[168] But days after the charred remains were found in the garden of the couple's home, police knocked on the door of Sophie's mum and dad and explained that their daughter would never be coming home.

[169] Before the old Bailey, Sabrina and Oosim denied murder but admitted perverted the course of justice by burning her body.

[170] Although Sophie had been named by investigators as the victim of the crime, there was still the matter of a formal identification, which given the circumstances could only be determined by forensics.

[171] A fortnight after the arrest, the DNA test results officially confirmed that the so -called child in the fire was actually the young au pair.

[172] With news of Sophie's murder hitting headlines internationally.

[173] The reaction from the other young au pairs working in the UK was palpable.

[174] Many young men and women in the industry have experienced exploitation and isolation by employers, and they have called for stricter policies to protect them.

[175] Those affected, often young and inexperienced, have been warned to be vigilant when making casual arrangements without an agency involved.

[176] Of course it's easy to give this advice, but much more difficult for people.

[177] living this on a daily basis.

[178] No one ever had a bad word to say about Sophie.

[179] She was shy, quiet, she was kind.

[180] She never actually caused any trouble at all.

[181] So what possible explanation did the pair have for assaulting and killing Sophie?

[182] The answer to that all -important question lay in a shocking collection of videos on the couple's phones.

[183] Police discovered at least eight hours of chilling footage, showing Sophie over the course of months being brutally interrogated, accused by the couple of being in cahoots with Sabrina's ex, Mark Walton, to harm the family in exchange for fame and money.

[184] Their recorded ramblings are repetitive, at times incoherent, or devoid of an actual question.

[185] Really, they're just a barrage of abuse.

[186] The accusations from Sabrina return to baseless and absurd events.

[187] The couple repeatedly shout at the 21 -year -old au pair, unleashing nothing short of psychological warfare on her.

[188] At times, Sabrina is a bad cop while Usin plays the good cop role.

[189] Sabrina calls Sophie a fool, saying, I would have protected you, in reference to Mark Walton's alleged attempts to charm and manipulate her.

[190] She told Sophie, she'd have eaten him raw in front of her.

[191] As the weeks draw on, Sophie can be seen on the videos appearing more and more emaciated.

[192] She's clearly terrified.

[193] Early on in the footage, she tries to plead with the couple to believe her innocence.

[194] But as time wears on, she becomes so weak and tired from the constant abuse, she simply sits in silence.

[195] She is waterboarded, whipped with cables.

[196] threatened with rape and jail.

[197] In one recording made just before midnight on the 11th of September, Usim likens Sophie to a French person who gave up dues to the Nazis.

[198] In another, she is labelled as worse than a murderer.

[199] Eventually, Sophie can do nothing but comply with the accusations.

[200] She knows what Sabrina is accusing her and Walton of is untrue, and yet perhaps she feels the only way out.

[201] is to just tell Sabrina and Usim what they want to hear.

[202] Hours before her death, a filmed so -called confession, shows a dreadful -looking Sophie admit that she had drugged Usim so Walton could sexually assault him.

[203] At their trial for murder, despite Sabrina's ludicrous accusations, her defence counsel did not apply for her to be deemed unfit for trial or plead an insanity defence.

[204] One tactic used by the pair in their campaign of terror was to confiscate her identity card and phone and stop paying her.

[205] Their hope was to isolate her and force her to confess.

[206] The prosecution also presented to jurors the interrogation videos and painted a vivid picture of Sophie's final agonising and terrifying hours.

[207] A video taken by the pair two days before Sophie died shows her sitting in front of a fireplace.

[208] her hair meekly braided at the nape of her neck.

[209] She is even more emaciated.

[210] She's clearly terrified and her eyes are cast downwards as she's interrogated.

[211] Both Sabrina and Usim took the stand in their own defence.

[212] Each blamed the other for causing Sophie's death with her look soft on this podcast, right?

[213] It became a classic case of he said, she said.

[214] Accused of keeping Sophie as a slave, Sabrina hit back and alleged it was the other way round, and that she, the employer, was cooking, washing and buying food.

[215] She said that Sophie lived the life of a princess, not a prisoner.

[216] Although she admitted to being violent to Sophie on three occasions, she insisted that she wasn't the one to kill Sophie, nor had she made any false accusations against Walton.

[217] She insisted that Usain was the one who killed Sophie, bashing her head against the bath during interrogation so hard that it killed her.

[218] She told the court how her husband told her to lie to police and even had sex with her almost straight after the murder, even though she didn't want to.

[219] When it came to Usim's time to speak, he claimed that Sophie died at the hands of his wife during interrogation, that she had continued alone after he'd gone to bed.

[220] At about 1 .30am, on either the 18th or the 19th of September, he told how Sabrina woke him up saying that Sophie wasn't breathing.

[221] Usim claimed that after finding Sophie in the bath in her pyjamas with her eyes open, he made an attempt to resuscitate her, but she was already dead.

[222] Rather than alerting police, he put her body in a suitcase in a panic.

[223] He claimed it was his wife who suggested burning it in the garden.

[224] He told how Sabrina had ruined his life.

[225] and accepted that he could have tried to stop her.

[226] He acknowledged that with his intervention, Sophie would still be alive.

[227] A number of people were called to give evidence at the trial.

[228] Mark Walton was there.

[229] He confirmed that the string of false allegations that Sabrina had made against him, the latest concerning Sophie and his alleged attempts to drug and abuse her family, were categorically not true.

[230] Of course they weren't.

[231] and he'd not been in the country even when all this had occurred.

[232] In fact, he'd never even met Sophie.

[233] Anthony Francois, Sabrina's ex -partner and father to her first child, made a statement to police which was read out in court.

[234] In his statement, he described Sabrina as aggressive and said she often targeted weaker people.

[235] He claimed she loved attention and was prone to attacking people over something as minor as a simple look.

[236] A bone specialist professor told the court that Sophie had four broken ribs and a broken sternum when she died, which was estimated to have happened up to three days before death.

[237] He said that Sophie also suffered a fractured jaw around two hours before death and all the injuries were caused by significant blunt impact trauma.

[238] After six days of deliberations at the end of a trial that lasted three months, The pair were found guilty of murder.

[239] They were also found guilty of obstructing justice and illegally disposing of a body.

[240] In the summer of 2018, after the trial had concluded, Sophie's remains were flown back to France.

[241] At her funeral, held at the St Etienne Cathedral in Saint, her mum read a quote directly from Sophie's own messages.

[242] It read, Do not take my silence for ignorance.

[243] my calm for acceptance, or my kindness for weakness.

[244] So what do you make of what we've heard today?

[245] The story is, well, before anything else, it's just really, really sad, isn't it?

[246] Really sad.

[247] And what's beyond shocking is the cruelty and abuse carried out by the couple of Sophie.

[248] And what really stays with me, I'm afraid, are all the glaring red flags about what was happening, which were either misinterpreted, I get that, or ignored.

[249] There were opportunities to save Sophie.

[250] And it's really hard.

[251] No one's apportioning blame.

[252] It's nobody's fault.

[253] But it means those involved will have to live their life wondering what if.

[254] However, let's be absolutely clear that the only people at fault here were the two people who killed Sophie and are now in a prison cell.

[255] They killed Sophie.

[256] Nobody else.

[257] During the story, we touched briefly on other nannies or au pairs who are likely to be suffering abuse across the UK and further afield.

[258] Although Sophie's life was taken so young and she can't be helped now, we all have a responsibility to stop a similar fate happening to anybody else.

[259] If any of us have any concerns ever, however minor, then we must speak up and contact the police.

[260] And if we are wrong, then so be it.

[261] But if only one life is saved, it has to be worth it.

[262] But to finish, our thoughts go out to the family and friends of Sophie.

[263] So kind, so gentle and so young.

[264] And yet she lost her life in the most dreadful of circumstances.

[265] Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of the UK True Crime Podcast.

[266] And a huge thank you to Tanita Matthews for researching and writing this episode.

[267] You can buy Tanita's first book, co -written by Chris Clark, by searching The Murder of Judith Roberts, or by following the link in the show notes.

[268] I also need to bring to your attention some theatre you won't want to miss if you are in the London area.

[269] And this is a true crime play called Down the Road.

[270] It runs from March the 4th to the 29th at the Playhouse East in Hackerston, and you can claim 20 % off the ticket price, by using the code TRUECRIME.

[271] For more details, please just follow the link in the show notes.

[272] And if you would like to support me in creating a weekly podcast, and why wouldn't you, please do join my community on Patreon.

[273] As well as helping me, it means that you can listen to every single episode totally advert -free, gain instant access to 88 full -length bonus episodes, access our group Discord and Facebook page, and there were loads of competitions and other exclusive bits.

[274] A huge thank you to all my supporters at Patreon.

[275] To join our community, just head to patreon .com slash UKTrueCrime.

[276] And why not join over 94 ,000 of us at the UK True Crime Facebook group as we discuss all things UK True Crime, unsurprisingly, 24 -7.

[277] You'll be made very welcome.

[278] And finally, to see some of my stories on YouTube, then just search UK True Crime Life.

[279] Okay, so that's all for me for another week.

[280] So thank you again so much for joining me. And another huge thank you to Tanita Matthews for this story.

[281] So until we speak again next week, please do take it easy.

[282] And despite all the others, stay classy.

[283] Cheerio for now.

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