A man and woman have been charged with the murder of a French au pair whose burnt body was found in the garden of a house in south London. Police raced to the Edwardian end-of-terrace home in Wandsworth after parents walking their children home from school reported a large blaze and “weird-smelling” smoke coming from the home in south London on Wednesday evening. A neighbour’s child scaled the back-garden gate and saw a bonfire with a man throwing sticks on the flames. When firefighters arrived at 6.30pm at the property in Wimbledon Park Road, the body was so badly burned they could not establish the age or gender.
The victim has been named locally as Sophie Lionnet, 21, a nanny from Troyes, in north-eastern France. Police today charged Ouissem Medouni, 40, and Sabrina Kouider, 34, of Pulborough Road, SW18 with her murder. Ms Lionnet looked after Ms Quider’s three-year-old daughter and son aged six at the flat. Neighbours said Ms Lionnet had been living in London for 14 months in order to learn English. A shocked neighbour who lived upstairs told the Standard: “We complained to our landlord the day before about a bad smell. It was like a gas leak. He came in and had a look around but didn’t see anything. “That family kept to themselves mostly, I remember once they came in complaining about our washing machine leaking into their flat.
“They seemed quite normal but they always do. We would hear them having really loud arguments below there would be a woman’s screams.” A mother-of-two, 51, whose home backs on to the garden where the charred remains were found said her children saw a man poking what they thought were “sticks” on to a fire. She told the Standard: “We saw the bonfire smoking up. “My little boys looked over and saw this man sweeping some wood into the burning stuff. He told me it was just a ‘big pile of black’. “I didn’t think much of it they did odd things at odd times anyway. I only ever really saw the French nanny and the kids.” A friend told the Daily Mail: “She came here to learn English, but found it very difficult here. “Sophie had been unhappy for a long time – so unhappy she left to stay with one of her few friends for two nights last month.
“She had finally decided to go home though, and had just asked her mum to send her £40 so she could afford the fare. “She was supposed to have gone back on Monday. She never arrived.” Ouissem Medouni and Sabrina Kouider will appear at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court today.
Source: Evening Standards
