A bizarre twist was revealed on Tuesday in the case of a wealthy British couple convicted of killing their French nanny before burning her body in a backyard bonfire of their home in southwest London.
Ouissem Medouni and Sabrina Kouider were handed down a life sentence on Tuesday morning by Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC, at the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales (Old Bailey). They’re both required to serve a minimum of 30 years for killing their nanny, Sophie Lionnet, who they reportedly believed conspired with Koulder’s ex, British pop star Mark Walton, to spy on them, The Telegraph reports.
The duo falsely believed they were being spied on by the nanny under Walton’s orders, and subsequently murdered her in 2017, according to testimony given at their trial.
#Breaking Sabrina Kouider and Ouissem Medouni have been jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years at the Old Bailey for the murder of their French nanny Sophie Lionnet pic.twitter.com/ilqzzdSZq8
— Press Association (@PA) June 26, 2018
In a plea to the court on Tuesday, Kouider read an “apology” letter that she wrote to Lionnet, describing her own alleged feelings of despair and suffering after the nanny’s death.
“Dear Sophie, May peace be with you,” Kouider wrote. “First of all I wish everyone especially her parents and family well, all are suffering. How deeply sorry I am for what happened and in fact we shared many good times. Sophie I am shocked and sad that you are not part of this world anymore.
“It feels like a horrible dream to me that I wish I could just wake up from. I am suffering everyday thinking of you and what happened to you and I wish I could turn the clock back on what happened and you could still be alive today. Sophie I wish things could be different and that you rest in peace with God.”
Sophie Lionnet was tortured and starved to death – here she is two days before she died pic.twitter.com/T7DpsslW2X
— CourtNewsUK (@CourtNewsUK) May 24, 2018
“It is plain from all the evidence Sophie was a kind, gentle and good-natured girl,” Hillard stated at sentencing, adding that their belief that the nanny was working with Walton to be “complete fiction,” according to the Daily Star.
“The suffering and torture you put her through before her death was prolonged and without pity,” the judge continued.
The couple was found guilty of the gruesome murder in May, as CrimeOnline previously reported.
[Feature photo: Sophie Lionnet, Facebook]
