Casefile True Crime - Case 236: Sophie Lionnet

Episode Date: February 25, 2023

When residents of the affluent Southfields area of south-west London notice foul smelling smoke coming from a home on Wimbledon Park Drive in September 2017, firefighters arrive to make sure the house isn’t in danger. Nothing could prepare them for what they find instead – the burning human remains of French au pair, 21-year-old Sophie Lionnet. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Elsha McGill Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Music – Andrew D.B. Joslyn Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon This episode's sponsors: Tiger, Tiger, Tiger – Grab your copy of the book  Rocket Money – Find and cancel subscriptions you no longer use BetterHelp – Get 10% off your first month of professional counselling with a licensed therapist In the Shadows – Listen to a new podcast from Casefile Presents (available exclusive on Wondery+)  For all credits and sources, please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-236-sophie-lionnet

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episode on your app or on our website. At around 3pm on Wednesday, September 20, 2017, a resident in the Southfields District of Southwest London was disturbed by a foul odor. Peering outside, they noticed a black smoke emanating from their next door neighbour's rear garden from what appeared to be some kind of weird barbecue. The concerned resident went and knocked on their neighbour's door to check if everything was okay, but there was no answer. Shrugging it off, they went about their day as the repugnant smoke continued to spiral above the neighbourhood. Three hours later, the resident could no longer ignore it. They phoned emergency services and reported the strange fire burning on Wimbledon Park Road.

Firefighters arrived at the address at 6.20pm. A slim, balding man with olive skin and graying facial hair opened the door. He was 40-year-old Weesam Meadowney, known to friends as Sam. Weesam told the firefighters there was nothing to worry about, he was simply having a barbecue. But the firefighters wanted to check it out to make sure it didn't present any fire hazards. They walked through Weesam's small two-bedroom flat and out a set of French doors into the rear garden. Just as Weesam had described, several pieces of chicken were grilling on a small barbecue. Alongside it blazed an open bonfire, which was the source of the thick, foul-smelling smoke.

The fire was remarkably close to the door, so firefighters deemed it a hazard and extinguished the flames. One of them, Thomas Hunt, then turned to Weesam and asked what he was burning. Weesam said it was the carcass of a sheep which he'd purchased earlier from the Wimbledon market. Thomas eyed the charred remains. Among two blackened logs were human fingers and a nose. Upon realizing that he was looking at the remnants of a human body, firefighter Thomas Hunt wanted to confront Weesam Mediney. But he wasn't sure how the man would react and didn't want to put the rest of his team in danger. Thomas paused for a moment. In response to Weesam's claim that he was burning a sheep carcass, Thomas finally said, bollocks. Weesam seemed unperturbed. He calmly

shrugged off the comment and went to sit down. It was then that Thomas detected a look of resignation on Weesam's face as though he knew he'd been caught. While waiting for police to arrive, the firefighters sifted through the ashes and found items of clothing, jewelry and a pair of badly charred eyeglasses. Pieces of cooked chicken had also been thrown on the burning body in a crass attempt to disguise it. There was something else adding to the disturbing nature of the discovery. The body looked particularly small and frail. For the fire crew, this indicated one thing, that it was the body of a child. The police soon arrived and assessed the scene. The body was so badly burned that they couldn't determine the person's age or gender. They asked Weesam who it

was. He simply responded, it's not a child. 36-year-old Sabrina Quadaire was a glamorous woman. Born in Algeria but raised in Paris, she took great pride in her appearance. With long dark hair, olive skin and a keen sense of style, she was often mistaken for reality TV star Kim Kardashian. Having established herself as a successful fashion designer and makeup artist, Sabrina was awarded with invites to trendy events where she mingled with the rich and famous. Sabrina met Weesam Metinee at a Parisian Fun Fair in 2001. Weesam had been immediately struck by her beauty and it wasn't long before he was completely besotted with her. Sabrina eventually moved from Paris to London and Weesam, also a French Algerian, happily followed her.

They'd called England home ever since. The couple had periods of separation throughout their 17-year-long relationship, during which Sabrina had two children to two different men, but she and Weesam always wound up back together. They'd been living in the rented Wimbledon Park Road flat since 2013. Following the discovery of the burnt human remains at the couple's home, Weesam Metinee was placed in handcuffs and escorted to the police station. Police attempted to interview him, but Weesam remained silent when questioned. When Sabrina Quadaire returned home with her two young sons, there was a collective sense of relief that her and her children were safe. But the question remained, whose body was found in the pyre?

Sabrina was stunned by the police presence and asked what was going on. An officer told her that Weesam was found burning a body in the backyard. This came as a huge shock to Sabrina. She said she'd been out all day and that things at home seemed completely normal when she left. In the afternoon, she picked up her children from school and took them to an after-school club, at which time Weesam endeavoured to burn the unidentified body in their back garden. Sabrina couldn't believe what she was hearing. Meanwhile, police questioned the couple's neighbours to see if they'd noticed anything out of the ordinary. Southfields was an affluent family-oriented suburb labelled as one of the

best places to live in London, and crimes of this nature were unheard of. Neighbours were in disbelief. They knew the residents of the house to be a relatively normal family that mostly kept to themselves. They weren't very involved with the community and didn't attend street parties, but there was nothing much else to note. No one had seen or heard anything untoward in the days leading up to the fire. When they thought about it, however, they realised they hadn't seen the couple's young nanny in weeks. She was often sighted out and about running errands for her host family and picking up Sabrina's children from school, but not lately. What's more, neighbours had described her as wearing eyeglasses similar to those found in the fire.

When asked about her nanny, Sabrina Quider claimed she had resigned two days earlier and returned home to France. Police asked for the nanny's name, but Sabrina could only remember her first name, Sophie. She had hired Sophie 18 months prior to help with the children while Wiesem was away for work. This immediately struck the police's odd. After employing and living with Sophie for such a long time, it seemed absurd that Sabrina didn't know her last name. They suspected that Sabrina knew more than she was letting on and took her to the station for further questioning. Given the level of destruction, DNA testing would be required to confirm the identity of the body Wiesem was attempting to destroy. But police was certain it was the

couple's live-in nanny, 21-year-old Sophie Leonet. When faced with this revelation, Sabrina caved. She revealed that Sophie was incompetent at her job and didn't do any of the tasks she was hired to do. Instead, she laced around on the couch, glued to her smartphone. Sabrina said, she was waiting for us to serve her. It was as if we were working for her and not her for us. She said that Sophie had fallen in with the wrong crowd and had been drinking heavily. Sabrina also suspected that she had been stealing from her, as a diamond pendant had gone missing from the house. Sophie's behavior soon took a sinister turn. Sabrina discovered she had begun a relationship with Sabrina's ex-boyfriend, a man named Mark Walton, who was the biological

father of Sabrina's youngest son. Sabrina revealed that Mark had sexually abused their son, and that Sophie had been allowing it to happen. Not only allowing it, but facilitating the meetings by bringing the young boy to Mark without Sabrina's knowledge. When Wiesem found out what was happening, it was the final straw. Days earlier at around midnight on Monday, September 18, Sabrina was sleeping when Wiesem came into the room and woke her up. He told her he had confronted Sophie about the meetings with Mark and the abuse against Sabrina's son. He lost his temper and hit Sophie, causing her to fly back and hit her head against the bathroom wall. Her body stopped moving. It was obvious that she

was dead. Wiesem and Sabrina panicked. They were scared of what it might mean for their family if they told the truth. They couldn't risk it. They decided to keep Sophie's death a secret and burn her body so no one would ever find out. If anyone asked where she was, they'd simply say she had decided to return home to France. They stashed her belongings in her suitcase which they hid inside their small garden shed. When pressed, Wiesem Madouni backed Sabrina's claims. He said that in an effort to extract information about Mark Walton and the child abuse, he had Sophie sit in a full bath and would periodically hold her head under the water to compel her to answer his questions. He was eventually so overcome with anger,

he punched Sophie in the face, causing her head to strike the tiles. She lost consciousness and her body then slipped under the water. Wiesem tried to revive Sophie, explaining that he had never intended to kill her or cause her serious injury. He had simply lost control. When it was clear she was deceased, he agreed to burning her body to protect his family. Police were baffled by the story, but Sabrina had evidence to back up her claims. She produced a confession allegedly penned by Sophie. One part read, Mark Walton asked me to come and see him. He started to touch my breasts and he kissed my neck.

Mark offered me some money, and he asked me to come back with Sabrina's youngest child. Experts confirmed the handwriting was indeed Sophie's. Sophie's body had been so badly burnt that the exact cause of her death couldn't be established. Her lower jawbone, four of her ribs and her sternum were all found to have been fractured. The timing of these injuries were particularly noteworthy. Forensic experts concluded that the jawbone fracture happened hours before Sophie was killed, hinting that there was more to her bathtub interrogation than Wiesem just holding her head under water. The chest injuries were even more suspicious.

They were found to have occurred days before she died. Investigators examined Wiesem and Sabrina's mobile phones, and what they found was shocking. Over a 12-day period, the couple had recorded over eight hours of audio and video footage, in which they subjected Sophie to harrowing interrogations. Using violence and coercion, they relentlessly tried to get her to confess to a range of offences. They accused her of being a spy, a thief, a heavy drug user, and a pedophile. But, at the heart of the interrogations lay one person, Mark Walton. Sabrina and Wiesem applied immense pressure and intimidation trying to make Sophie admit

that she was having a sexual relationship with Mark, and that the two were in cahoots to sexually exploit Sabrina's sons. The couple claimed they had evidence that Sophie had brought Mark to their flat so he could drug and sexually abuse the family. They compared Sophie to a Nazi collaborator and told her she was worse than a murderer. Sabrina said, You made a huge mistake. You delivered a four-year-old into the hands of a pedophile. Mark paid you, Sophie. I have evidence. You cannot go home without telling us everything. Sabrina told Sophie that she had friends in high places, including then-US President Donald Trump, and that she could easily have her locked up. She threatened Sophie with 40 years in prison,

saying, Close your eyes for one minute and imagine yourself every day in a cage like an animal with other people inside. That's not a laughing matter. From the recordings, it was clear that Sabrina was the main instigator. During one interrogation, she said, On my mother's life, I am not going to leave you alone. I will not touch you, but I will not leave you alone until you tell me the truth. Is this clear? Do you understand? You will not go back to France until you've told me the truth. I am going to spoil your life as you have spoiled mine. Have you understood that? But Weesam also played a significant role. In one recording, he called Sophie a liar

and told her she wasn't allowed to return back to France until she'd revealed the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It was clear that Sophie was terrified. She rarely responded to the couple's hounding, but when she did, her voice was meek and barely audible. At first and for a long while, she denied everything and seemed genuinely confused about what the couple were accusing her of. The extent of the physical violence wasn't clear, but loud thumping sounds indicated that Sabrina hit Sophie multiple times. The final video was filmed shortly before midnight on Monday, September 18, 2017. Investigators couldn't believe what they were watching.

In stark contrast to the healthy, happy young woman who had left France 18 months earlier, Sophie Lyonnais was a shadow of her former self. Her body was gaunt and skeletal as though she hadn't eaten in weeks. She looked frail and broken. Her once thick and wavy brown hair had become thin and flat. This explained why the remains in the fire looked childlike. It was heart-wrenching to watch. The emaciated Sophie sat in front of a fireplace in the Wimbledon Park Road flat, a knitted blanket draped across her lap. There, the months of abuse and violent interrogations came to a head. Sophie finally broke. She confessed to having an affair with Mark Walton. In an even more shocking revelation, she admitted that she drugged Wiesem so that Mark could come

over to the flat and sexually assault him as well. Sabrina and Wiesem intended to hand the footage they had taken of Sophie's confession to police as evidence of her crimes. However, just hours after Sophie admitted to knowing and abetting Mark Walton, she was dead. Mark Walton was going about his morning in his new home of Los Angeles when he received a phone call from the police in London. He was shocked to hear that Sabrina Quider had just accused him of child molestation in collaboration with her nanny, who had just been killed. Mark couldn't believe what he was hearing. Although he'd come to expect extreme behaviour from Sabrina, this was beyond anything he had so far endured. He vehemently denied the lurid claims,

telling police he'd never even met Sophie Lyonnais or communicated with her. He wasn't even in the country during the dates Sabrina claimed the child abuse took place. Mark insisted he had nothing to hide. He offered to provide his passport, phone, and anything else the police required to prove his innocence. For Mark Walton, his life changed forever in 2011 when he walked into a bank in London. Mark was a well-known figure in the music industry, having been one of the founding members of the wildly popular Irish boy band Boyzone. He eventually left Boyzone to pursue a career in music production and had gone on to work with such artists as Jennifer Lopez and Enrique Iglesias. It was in the bank in London when he

first laid eyes on Sabrina Quiddare. He was immediately attracted to her and they struck up a conversation. With good looks, style, and a common interest in the high life, the two quickly became a picture perfect couple. It wasn't long before they moved in together and Sabrina eventually became pregnant. The early days of their relationship were happy, but once Mark's love goggles wore off, he saw Sabrina for who she really was. She had a wild temper and her mood could dramatically switch over the most trivial of things. She often acted irrationally without explanation. During some rough patches in their relationship, she called the police to report that Mark was hiring male sex workers, which was untrue.

She also took to firing any nanny the pair hired to assist them, accusing them of stealing from her and of being romantically interested in Mark. She'd gone as far as installing hidden cameras throughout their home, which Mark was unaware of until he stumbled upon them himself. The couple split for good in 2014, after which Sabrina rekindled her relationship with Wisa Meduni. Mark moved to Los Angeles and continued to help support Sabrina financially, even paying the rent of her new Southfields flat. Regardless, she seemed determined to make his life difficult. Over the years, Sabrina reported Mark to the police over 30 times for a range of bizarre and baseless offenses, including that he'd once tried to kill her,

had hacked her phone and emails, and was trying to control her using black magic. Things only escalated when Mark completely cut Sabrina off financially. Amongst the many other outlandish accusations, she accused him and his friends of hiring a helicopter to spy on her. Some of Sabrina's claims were plain ludicrous, like the time she reported Mark for sexually mistreating her cat when she never even owned a cat in the first place. The most outrageous was when Sabrina created a fake Facebook profile to publicly spread lies alleging Mark was a pedophile. Mark had been putting up with this issue privately for some time, after Sabrina falsely complained to social services that Mark had sexually abused

their son. But this was the first time she had accused him publicly. Sabrina was arrested as a result, and she reluctantly accepted a caution for sending malicious communications. The most recent incident had occurred just one month prior to Sophie Lyonnais' death in August 2017. Sabrina had called police to report that Sophie had taken her son to meet with Mark against her wishes. There, Mark threatened to kill the boy's family. Given Sabrina's previous history of false reports, police didn't believe her, and therefore no action was taken. The following month, Sabrina recorded a dejected and exhausted Sophie at 11.32 am, mere hours before she died. She pressed Sophie to admit that Mark

Walton had been at their house, despite Sophie telling her time and again that she had never met him. Sabrina then told her, I hate lies, I hate, I hate, I hate lies, so stop telling lies and tell me the truth. For locals of Southfields, it was common to see Sophie Lyonnais out and about with Sabrina's children, often holding hands. It was clear that she was a hard worker, and the children seemed to adore her. Contrary to what Sabrina told police about Sophie being lazy and useless, she had been doing a standout job with the children. A kind and gentle soul with unlimited patience, Sophie put enormous effort into her work, which took its toll on her.

It wasn't in her nature to hurt anyone, especially not the very children she had been employed to look after. At one point, she even helped the kids set up a mini stand on the street to sell sweets and biscuits. But in the weeks leading up to Sophie's death, neighbors had seen less and less of her. During one visit to the local fish and chip shop, owner Michael could tell by Sophie's body language that something wasn't right. He'd suspected the nanny wasn't doing well, as he noticed she often had tears in her eyes. Michael asked Sophie what was wrong, and she confided that Sabrina had beat her.

Michael was shocked. He was friendly with Sabrina Quedere and Wisa Meduny, as the trio were in talks of doing business together. He asked Sophie what happened to cause the beating. The reason was preposterous. She had dropped the butter. Michael's heart went out to Sophie. He'd once seen Sabrina yelling at her on the street, but she was speaking in French, so he didn't know what she was saying. Michael offered to help Sophie find a new job and place to live, but he never saw her again. Sabrina was also wrong in telling police that Sophie had been mingling with a rough crowd.

Truth was, she had barely socialized with anyone outside of Sabrina's home. Southfields was full of other foreign nannies, many of whom bonded together, but Sophie mostly kept to herself. Some noticed that Sabrina took advantage of Sophie's soft nature by making her work long hours and take on additional duties like cooking and cleaning. Sophie was particularly shy and quiet, which made her vulnerable to exploitation. A family friend named Steven witnessed Sabrina screaming at Sophie in French on several occasions. Sophie looked scared and hungry as though she was in some kind of trance.

Steven was so concerned that Sophie wasn't eating enough that he once brought food over for her. He confronted Sabrina about her aggressive behavior, but Sabrina said that Sophie was lazy and didn't do enough cooking. A former friend of Sabrina's named Nicole once visited the home to find Sophie on the floor and Sabrina attacking her. Nicole had to intervene as Sabrina tried to kick Sophie and hit her with a chair. Afterwards, Nicole was so worried about Sophie that she took her into her own home with the intention of helping her get back to France.

Sabrina found out about it and turned up on Nicole's doorstep, quote, screaming like a mad woman. She stormed in and demanded Sophie get her stuff and return to the flat. Nicole asked Sabrina to calm down, but she was so livid that even Nicole was terrified of her. The extent of what Sophie Leonet was enduring in London was a secret she never revealed to her family in any of her correspondence to them back home. Sophie was from a modest family in Tois, a small provincial town in northeast France. It was the lack of employment opportunities in Tois that had brought her to London in the first

place. A qualified childcare worker, she believed that a temporary move would kick start her career and give her the chance to improve her English. The prospect of life in the big city excited Sophie. She loved the arts and sought a life surrounded by cinema, dance, and theatre. She responded to an ad to work as a live-in nanny and was thrilled to be hired by Sabrina Quedere. The glamorous woman and her celebrity-studded lifestyle played perfectly into Sophie's dream image of what life in London would be like. In 2016, just days after her 20th birthday, Sophie left France and moved into Sabrina's flat on

Wimbledon Park Road. The job started off well. Sophie got along with Sabrina's sons and looked forward to earning a decent wage. Sabrina even gave her a glamorous makeover, which Sophie proudly showed off on social media. But after about a year, Sophie told her parents she was bored and wanted to come home. She said there were tensions in the family and it was getting harder to take care of the children. She was made to sleep in the same bedroom as Sabrina's sons, which meant she had little time to herself. She also told her mother, Catherine, that she was not being paid. Catherine voiced these concerns to Sabrina, who reassured her that Sophie was being paid into an English bank account.

Police tried to find the English bank account that Sabrina claimed Sophie was being paid into, but it didn't exist. It didn't appear that Sophie was being paid at all. Sabrina also urged Catherine to encourage her daughter to stay on, explaining she thought of Sophie like a sister and needed her around. It was clear that the feeling wasn't mutual when Sophie suddenly asked her mother for money so she could return to France. Catherine obliged, but Sophie never ended up purchasing a ticket home. Sophie's parents were devastated to learn the truth of what their daughter had endured in London. Had they known she was in any kind of trouble, they would have immediately travelled to help her.

Investigators remained unconvinced that what they were being told was the full truth of what happened to Sophie. They ultimately charged both Wiesem Medunee and Sabrina Quedere with her murder and the obstruction of her body. The couple continued to assert that Wiesem interrogated Sophie alone and that her death was accidental. In the lead up to their trial, Wiesem offered to plead guilty to manslaughter, but the request was denied. Three days later, he turned the case upside down when he retracted his confession, claiming he'd been lying all along to protect Sabrina. Those who knew the couple were aware the relationship between Sabrina and Wiesem wasn't entirely even handed. Some friends thought Wiesem was, quote, punching above his weight, which led him to accept

less than ideal treatment from Sabrina. Over the years when she left him for other men, Wiesem always welcomed her back. The truth according to Wiesem was that on the evening of Monday, September 18, he'd been asleep when Sabrina suddenly woke him up. She kept repeating, what have I done? What have I done? She told him Sophie was in the bath and wasn't breathing. Wiesem got up and found Sophie's lifeless body lying in the tub. He spent over an hour trying to revive her, but it was too late. She was already dead. Sabrina refused to call the police, suggesting they burned Sophie's body instead. Wiesem eventually relented because he wanted to protect Sabrina and keep her family together.

He put Sophie's body in a suitcase and agreed to lie to the police. In his written statement, Wiesem said, I have always loved Sabrina and tried to protect her. This led me to make very regrettable choices. I should have been more assertive with Sabrina. Had I been, Sophie Lyonnais would probably still be alive. Wiesem went on to paint Sabrina as the hard cop when dealing with Sophie. On one occasion, Sabrina had forced Sophie into the bath and held her head under water in the beard of extracting a confession about Mark Walton. On another, she hit Sophie with an electric cable so hard in the legs that she couldn't stand or walk properly.

Wiesem admitted that he'd done nothing to stop the attacks or seek medical help for Sophie. Sabrina had fully convinced him that Sophie was helping Mark Walton sexually abuse Sabrina's sons. He maintained that he had never hurt Sophie himself or been involved with any of the acts on the night she was killed. Investigators viewed Wiesem's confession with skepticism. By this point, they had spoken to Sabrina's youngest son, the one at the centre of the allegations against Sophie and Mark Walton. For the sake of clarity, case file will refer to him as Gareth. On the night of Monday, September 18, Gareth woke up to the sound of noises coming from the

family bedroom. He got up to see what was going on and noticed there was water spilling out from underneath the bathroom door. Inside, Gareth could hear the voices of his mother and stepfather. He also heard the sound of water splashing and Sophie's voice. The next morning, he noticed his mother seemed happy and relaxed. Gareth asked what had happened and Sabrina told him that Sophie was gone and they wouldn't be seeing her again. Gareth's statements placed both Sabrina and Wiesem at the scene of the crime, completely shattering the narrative that one of them acted alone in assaulting Sophie while the other person slept. With the couple refusing to tell the truth, investigators were left to charge

them both with murder and pieced together their own conclusions based on the evidence. They believed that the couple had essentially held Sophie prisoner inside their home for six weeks. During this time, they confiscated her phone so she couldn't contact anyone without Sabrina being present. They withheld food until Sophie would say or agree with whatever they demanded just to eat. They also forced her to sleep in a tiny dark room where she withered away. They interrogated her so intensely and violently that they eventually wore her down enough to extract a false confession, which they dictated to her as she wrote it down. They likely aimed to use the confession to blackmail Mark Walton into giving them more money.

Sophie said and did everything the couple wanted in an effort to survive, even if she knew it wasn't true. Exactly how Sophie died and who had killed her remained a mystery. It also wasn't clear if she had been killed by accident during one of the torture sessions, or if the couple decided she had to die. Either way, police believe Sabrina and Wiesem collectively put Sophie's body in a suitcase and hid it under one of the children's beds while deciding how to dispose of it. They then went about their normal lives for the next two days, with CCTV footage capturing them going grocery shopping and taking the children to school like nothing had happened. So Sabrina and Wiesem's joint trial began in March 2018.

Both pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice by burning Sophie's body, but not guilty to her murder. It was an exhaustive trial that lasted 43 days, during which both defendants continued to blame one another for her death. On the stand, Sabrina said that Wiesem tortured Sophie in the bath by putting her head under water and by covering her mouth with a water-soaked towel. Sabrina shocked the court by claiming Wiesem demanded they have sex near Sophie's body to, quote, mark the occasion and she had obliged. Wiesem testified that Sabrina had killed Sophie and then asked for his help to cover up the crime. He said he didn't want to burn Sophie's body, but went along with the plan because Sabrina asked him

to. He said it felt disgusting and horrible. One of Sabrina's ex-boyfriends said unpredictable, unstable and obsessive behavior was typical of Sabrina. He described her as a, quote, fickle lunatic and said she took advantage of people weaker than her, quote. She would lie. Her behavior was strange. She was aggressive. Sometimes she was violent and pulled the hair of girls on the street just because of a look. She had a dual face, a dual personality. She was manipulative. She could charm and tell lies. She could be as lovable as she could be detestable. The prosecution pointed out that Sabrina had a track record of calling the police for a range of minor complaints. Once she had reported that Wiesem was working too hard and

another time she reported that a wooden toy was being used in their bathroom. It was revealed that in May of 2017 Sabrina had been diagnosed with depression and borderline personality disorder. The latter is characterized by emotional and mood instability, insecurity and impulsivity that can result in impaired social relationships. Sabrina's lawyer argued that his client's mental illness caused the rational delusions that led her to genuinely believe that Sophie Leone had been recruited by Mark Walton to facilitate the abuse of her family. He said Sabrina's behavior towards Sophie was, quote, entirely driven by illness in her desperation to obtain evidence of Mr Walton's abuse.

The prosecution described Sabrina and Wiesem as a truly toxic combination. Their unhealthy, myopic, all-consuming and groundless obsession with Mark Walton had deprived them of reason and turned Sophie into something less than human. They argued that Sophie was killed out of revenge and punishment for Mark Walton refusing to financially support Sabrina. While only the two defendants would ever know who killed Sophie, the prosecution stated that they were both equally responsible for coming up with the plan to destroy her body and escape responsibility for the horrendous crime. The presiding judge accepted that Sabrina had significant influence over Wiesem, but that didn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

Wiesem was an intelligent and well-educated man who knew Sophie was in danger and did nothing to help her or put a stop to the abuse. Despite Sabrina's bizarre behavior, Wiesem also actively went along with the interrogation sessions without coercion. While understanding that Sabrina's mental illness played a role, the judge concluded that her behavior was ultimately driven by cruelty and a desire for revenge against Mark Walton. He was convinced that Sabrina intended to use Sophie's audio and written confession to blackmail Mark for financial gain. While Sabrina's mental illness could be blamed for her delusions, it couldn't explain the violent and brutal treatment of Sophie.

The suffering and the torture you put her through before her death was prolonged and without pity. Sabrina Quedé and Wiesem Meduné were found guilty of the murder of Sophie Lionet. They were sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 30 years. Nine months after Sophie's murder, her body was finally returned to France. Her mother, Catherine, would later remark, they took away my daughter's dignity and finally her life painfully ebbed away until she struggled to take her last breath in that bath. The case haunts Mark Walton, who was inadvertently pulled into the nightmare Sabrina created. In an emotional interview with Good Morning Britain,

Mark said, The hardest thing for me going to bed at night was knowing that Sophie was telling the truth every time that she was answering those questions and interrogations. She never met me. Many have questioned how Wiesem Meduné accepted Sabrina Quedé's implausible lies about Sophie, given he was an intelligent and sane man. The couple's case has since been labeled an example of folly adieu, a rare psychiatric syndrome where two individuals share an identical delusion. The delusion is typically shared from one person to another. In this case, Sabrina created the delusions regarding Sophie and Mark and then transmitted them on to Wiesem. His love for Sabrina prevented him from viewing her behavior critically and honestly. Instead,

he let himself believe in her twisted reality and by doing so enabled and emboldened her. Another example of the folly adieu phenomenon is the Ericsson twins, covered in episode 17 of Case File. As for why Sophie didn't leave or otherwise seek help, it's likely that she didn't feel able to. Sabrina and Wiesem intimidated and bullied her to the point that she felt completely powerless, physically, mentally, and financially. Police never found her passport or the money her mother had given her for a return ticket to France. It's suspected the couple took them away to prevent Sophie from escaping. While Sophie's exact reasonings for staying would never be known, investigators did find a short note that she had written shortly before her murder.

It read, why me, I need help to stop them. you