Photo credit: Metropolitan Police

From Cosmopolitan

Warning: contains graphic descriptions of violence.

A couple has been found guilty of murdering their French nanny at their home in Southfields, south-west London. The body of 21-year-old Sophie Lionnet was discovered in September last year after having been burned in the garden of her employers, Sabrina Kouider and Ouissem Medouni.

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Both Kouider, 35, and Medouni, 40, admitted to burning Sophie's body, but both denied murder, each blaming the other for the au pair's death. Today, however, following a trial which took place at London's Old Bailey, a jury of seven women and five men found both defendants guilty of murder.

Upon hearing the verdict, The Sun reports Kouider burst into tears, while her former partner Medouni lowered his head.

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The court heard throughout the trial how the reserved 21-year-old had been starved and tortured by Kouider and Medouni in the weeks leading up to her death. The motive behind their actions was so off-the-wall it's almost unbelievable. The BBC reports the couple became obsessed with the theory that Sophie had been having an affair with founding Boyzone member and Sabrina Kouider's ex-boyfriend, Mark Walton.

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More bizarre, however, was the defendants' fixation on Sophie apparently being part of a plot with Walton to drug and sexually assault young girls in the couple's family home. In reality, Sophie had never met Mark Walton, but the court heard how the defendants applied "pressure and relentless intimidation" to force the au pair to admit she had helped Walton in his quest.

Footage gathered as evidence in the case showed Sophie being accused of being a paedophile and a spy by Kouider and Medouni.

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Sophie Lionnet, from Troyes in north-eastern France, had been living in London for 14 months prior to her death, learning English and working as a nanny for the couple, who have a six-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter. According to her friends, in the weeks and months leading up to her death, she had become noticeably withdrawn and said she wanted to return home to France. She was murdered before she could escape.



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The young woman's body was discovered when neighbours reported witnessing a large fire emitting a "weird-smelling" smoke. When firefighters arrived to investigate, they found the body burnt so badly it was initially impossible to establish the age or gender of the deceased.



Sabrina Kouider and Ouissem Medouni will be sentenced for the murder next month.

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