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to grab your copy that's tiger tiger tiger book.com [Music] our episodes deal with serious and often
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distressing incidents if you feel at any time you need support please contact your local crisis center for suggested
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phone numbers for confidential support please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our
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website this episode was originally released on Case Files patreon Apple premium and Spotify Premium feeds as an
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early bonus for our paid subscribers these episodes are designed to be slightly shorter allowing us to
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cover a broader range of cases to receive these episodes early and add free you can support case file on your
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preferred [Music] platform at around 300 p.m. on Wednesday September 20 2017 a resident in the
00:02:30
southfields district of Southwest London was disturbed by a foul odor peering outside they noticed a
00:02:38
black smoke emanating from their next door neighbor rear Garden from what appeared to be some kind of weird
00:02:46
barbecue the concerned resident went and knocked on their neighbor door to check
00:02:50
if everything was okay but there was no answer shrugging it off they went about their day as the repugnant smoke
00:02:58
continued to spiral above their neighborhood 3 hours later the resident could no longer ignore it they phoned
00:03:07
emergency services and reported The Strange Fire Burning on Wimbledon Park Road firefighters arrived at the address
00:03:16
at 6:20 p.m. a slim boarding man with olive skin and graying facial hair opened the
00:03:24
door he was 40-Year-Old whis medone known to friends as whome told the firefighters there was
00:03:34
nothing to worry about he was simply having a barbecue but the firefighters wanted to
00:03:39
check it out to make sure it didn't present any fire hazards they walked through whome small
00:03:46
two-bedroom flat and out a set of French doors into the rear Garden just as whome had described
00:03:54
several pieces of chicken were grilling on a small barbecue alongside it blazed an open
00:04:00
bonfire which was the source of the thick Fair smelling smoke the fire was remarkably close to
00:04:09
the door so firefighters deemed it a hazard and extinguished the Flames one of them Thomas Hunt then
00:04:17
turned to wasum and asked what he was burning wasum said it was the carcass of a shape which he'd purchased earlier
00:04:25
from The Wimbledon Market Thomas eyed the charred ROM s among two blackened logs were human
00:04:34
fingers and a nose [Music] [Music] upon realizing that he was looking at the remnants of a human body firefighter
00:05:08
Thomas Hunt wanted to confront whis Medan but he wasn't sure how the man would react and didn't want to put the
00:05:15
rest of his team in danger Thomas paused for a moment in response to wh's claim that he
00:05:24
was burning a sheep carcass Thomas finally said bollocks whum seemed unperturbed he calmly Shrugged off the
00:05:35
comment and went to sit down it was then that Thomas detected a look of resignation on wh's face as
00:05:43
though he knew he'd been caught while waiting for police to arrive the firefighters sifted through
00:05:50
the ashes and found items of clothing jewelry and a pair of badly charred eyeglasses pieces of cooked chicken had
00:05:59
also Al being thrown on The Burning Body in a crash attempt to disguise it there was something else adding to
00:06:07
the disturbing nature of the discovery the body looked particularly small and frail for the fire crew this indicated
00:06:17
one thing that it was the body of a child the police soon arrived and assessed the scene the body was so badly
00:06:27
burned that they couldn't determine the person's age or gender they asked whome who it
00:06:34
was he simply responded it's not a child 36-year-old Sabrina quair was a glamorous woman born in Algeria but
00:06:51
raised in Paris she took great pride in her appearance with long dark hair olive
00:06:56
skin and a keen sense of style she was was often mistaken for reality TV star Kim
00:07:03
Kardashian having established herself as a successful fashion designer and makeup
00:07:08
artist Sabrina was awarded with invites to trendy events where she mingled with the Rich and
00:07:16
Famous Sabrina met whis Medan at a Parisian fun fair in 2001 whome had been immediately struck
00:07:25
by her beauty and it wasn't long before he was completely boded with with her Sabrina eventually moved from Paris
00:07:34
to London and whome also a French Algerian happily followed her they called England Home ever
00:07:43
since the couple had periods of Separation throughout their 17-year long relationship during which Sabrina had
00:07:51
two children to two different men but she and whome always wound up back together they'd been living in the
00:07:58
rented Wimbledon Park Road flat since 2013 following the discovery of the burnt human remains at the couple's home
00:08:09
whis Medan was placed in handcuffs and escorted to the police station police attempted to interview
00:08:16
him but whis remained silent when questioned when Sabrina quair returned home with her two young Sons there was a
00:08:25
collective sense of relief that her and her children were safe but the question remained whose body was
00:08:33
found in the P Sabrina was stunned by the police presence and asked what was going on an
00:08:42
officer told her that whome was found burning a body in the backyard this came as a huge shock to
00:08:51
Sabrina she said she'd been out all day and that things at home seemed completely normal when she left in the
00:08:59
afternoon she picked up her children from school and took them to an after school club at which time whome
00:09:06
endeavored to burn the unidentified body in their back Garden Sabrina couldn't believe what she
00:09:13
was hearing meanwhile police questioned the couple's neighbors to see if they'd noticed anything out of the
00:09:23
ordinary southfields was an affluent family oriented suburb labeled as one of the best plac to live in London and
00:09:31
crimes of this nature were unheard of neighbors were in disbelief they knew the residence of the
00:09:39
house to be a relatively normal family that mostly kept to themselves they weren't very involved with the community
00:09:46
and didn't attend Street parties but there was nothing much else to note no one had seen or heard anything
00:09:54
untoward in the days leading up to the fire when they thought about it however they realized they hadn't seen the
00:10:03
couple's young nanny in weeks she was often cited out and about running errands for her host family and
00:10:10
picking up Sabrina's children from school but not lately what's more neighbors had
00:10:17
described her as wearing eyeglasses similar to those found in the fire when asked about her nanny Sabrina
00:10:25
quadir claimed she had resigned 2 days earlier and returned turned home to France police asked for the nanny's name
00:10:33
but Sabrina could only remember her first name Sophie she had hired Sophie 18 months
00:10:41
prior to help with the children while whim was away for work this immediately struck the police
00:10:48
as odd after employing and living with Sophie for such a long time it seemed absurd that Sabrina didn't know her last
00:10:58
name they suspected that Sabrina knew more than she was letting on and took her to the station for further
00:11:09
questioning given the level of Destruction DNA testing would be required to confirm the identity of the
00:11:16
body whome was attempting to destroy but police was certain it was the couple's Liv in Nanny 21-year-old
00:11:24
Sophie Leon when faced with this revelation Sabrina caved she revealed that Sophie was
00:11:33
incompetent at her job and didn't do any of the tasks she was hired to do instead
00:11:39
she lzed around on the couch glued to her smartphone Sabrina said she was waiting for us to serve her
00:11:49
it was as if we were working for her and not her for us she said that Sophie had fallen in
00:11:57
with the wrong crowd and had been drinking ing heavily Sabrina also suspected that she
00:12:03
had been stealing from her as a diamond pendant had gone missing from the house Sophie's Behavior soon took a
00:12:11
Sinister turn Sabrina discovered she had begun a relationship with Sabrina's ex-boyfriend
00:12:18
a man named Mark Walton who was the biological father of Sabrina's youngest son Sabrina revealed that Mark had
00:12:27
sexually abused their son and that Sophie had been allowing it to happen not only allowing it but facilitating
00:12:35
the meetings by bringing the young boy to Mark without Sabrina's knowledge when whome found out what was
00:12:42
happening it was the final straw days earlier at around midnight on Monday September 18 Sabrina was sleeping
00:12:51
when whum came into the room and woke her up he told her he had confronted Sophie
00:12:57
about the meetings with Mark and the abuse against Sabrina's son he lost his temper and hit Sophie
00:13:05
causing her to fly back and hit her head against the bathroom wall her body stopped
00:13:12
moving it was obvious that she was dead whome and Sabrina panicked they were scared of what it might mean for
00:13:22
their family if they told the truth they couldn't risk it they decided to keep Sophie's death a secret and burn her
00:13:31
body so no one would ever find out if anyone asked where she was they'd simply say she had decided to return
00:13:39
home to France they stashed her belongings in her suitcase which they hid inside their
00:13:45
small garden shed when pressed whis meduni backed Sabrina's claims he said that in an effort to
00:13:57
extract information about Mark Walton and the child abuse he had Sophie sit in a full bath and would periodically hold
00:14:05
her head under the water to compel her to answer his questions he was eventually so overcome
00:14:12
with anger he punched Sophie in the face causing her head to strike the tiles she lost Consciousness and her
00:14:20
body then slipped under the water whim tried to revive Sophie explaining that he had never intended to
00:14:28
kill her or cause her Serious injury he had simply lost control when it was clear she was
00:14:36
deceased he agreed to burning her body to protect his family police were baffled by the story
00:14:45
but Sabrina had evidence to back up her claims she produced a confession allegedly penned by
00:14:53
Sophie one part read Mark Walton asked me to come and see him he started to touch my breasts
00:15:01
and he kissed my neck Mark offered me some money and he asked me to come back with Sabrina's youngest
00:15:10
child experts confirmed the handwriting was indeed Sophie's Sophie's body had been so badly
00:15:23
burnt that the exact cause of her death couldn't be established her lower jaw bone four of
00:15:29
her ribs and her sternum were all found to have been fractured the timing of these injuries
00:15:36
were particularly noteworthy forensic experts concluded that the Jawbone fracture happened hours
00:15:44
before Sophie was killed hinting that there was more to her bathtub interrogation than whome just holding
00:15:50
her head underwater the chest injuries were even more suspicious they were found to have
00:15:58
occurred days before she died investigators examined whum and Sabrina's mobile phones and what they
00:16:08
found was shocking over a 12-day period the couple had recorded over 8 hours of audio and
00:16:16
video footage in which they subjected Sophie to harrowing interrogations using violence and
00:16:24
coercion they relentlessly tried to get her to confess to a range of offenses they accused her of being a spy a thief
00:16:33
a heavy drug user and a pedophile but at the heart of the interrogations lay one person Mark
00:16:44
Walton Sabrina and whome applied immense pressure and intimidation trying to make
00:16:49
Sophie admit that she was having a sexual relationship with Mark and that the two were in cahoots to sexually
00:16:56
exploit Sabrina's Sons the couple claimed they had evidence that Sophie had brought Mark to their
00:17:04
flat so he could drug and sexually abuse the family they compared Sophie to a Nazi
00:17:11
collaborator and told her she was worse than a murderer Sabrina said you made a huge mistake you
00:17:20
delivered a 4-year-old into the hands of a pedophile Mark paid you Sophie I have
00:17:27
evidence you canot go home without telling us everything Sabrina told Sophie that she
00:17:35
had friends in high places including then US president Donald Trump and that she could easily have her locked up she
00:17:43
threatened Sophie with 40 years in prison saying close your eyes for one minute and imagine yourself every day in a cage
00:17:53
like an animal with other people inside that's not a laughing matter from the recordings it was clear that
00:18:02
Sabrina was the main instigator during one interrogation she said on my mother's life I am not going
00:18:11
to leave you alone I will not touch you but I will not leave you alone until you tell me
00:18:17
the truth is this clear do you understand you will not go back to France until you've told me the truth I
00:18:26
am going to spoil your life as you have spoiled mine have you understood that but whome also played a significant
00:18:37
role in one recording he called Sophia a liar and told her she wasn't allowed to
00:18:43
return back to France until she'd revealed the whole truth and nothing but the truth it was clear that Sophie was
00:18:54
terrified she rarely responded to the couple's hounding but when she did her voice was Meek and barely
00:19:02
audible at first and for a long while she denied everything and seemed genuinely confused about what the couple
00:19:09
were accusing her of the extent of the physical violence wasn't clear but loud thumping sounds
00:19:18
indicated that Sabrina hit Sophie multiple times the final video was filmed shortly
00:19:25
before midnight on Monday September 18 20 2017 investigators couldn't believe what
00:19:33
they were watching in stark contrast to the healthy happy young woman who had left
00:19:40
France 18 months earlier Sophie Leon was a shadow of her former self her body was gaunt and sceletal as
00:19:49
though she hadn't eaten in weeks she looked frail and broken her once thick and wavy brown
00:19:57
hair had become thin and flat this explained why the remains in the fire looked childlike it was heartwrenching to
00:20:09
watch the emaciated Sophie sat in front of a fireplace in The Wimbledon Park Road flat a knitted blanket draped
00:20:17
across her lap there the months of abuse and violent interrogations came to her head Sophie finally
00:20:27
broke she she confessed to having an affair with Mark Walton in an even more shocking
00:20:35
Revelation she admitted that she drugged whome so that Mark could come over to the flat and sexually assault him as
00:20:44
well Sabrina and whum intended to hand the footage they had taken of Sophie's confession to police as evidence of her
00:20:52
crimes however just hours after Sophie admitted to knowing and abetting Mark Walton
00:20:59
she was dead case File will be back shortly thank you for supporting us by listening
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month that's better hp.com casefile Mark Walton was going about his morning in his new home of Los Angeles
00:24:30
when he received a phone call from the police in London he was shocked to hear that
00:24:35
Sabrina quair had just accused him of child molestation in collaboration with her nanny who had just been
00:24:43
killed Mark couldn't believe what he was hearing although he'd come to expect extreme behavior from Sabrina this was
00:24:52
beyond anything he had so far endured he vehemently denied the lur claims telling police he'd never even
00:25:00
met Sophie Leon or communicated with her he wasn't even in the country during the dates Sabrina claimed the child
00:25:09
abuse took place Mark insisted he had nothing to hide he offered to provide his passport
00:25:17
phone and anything else the police required to prove his innocence for Mark Walton his life
00:25:25
changed forever in 2011 when he walked in into a bank in London Mark was a well-known figure in
00:25:32
the music industry having been one of the founding members of the wildly popular Irish boy band
00:25:39
boyzone he eventually Left Boy Zone to pursue a career in music production and had gone on to work with such artists as
00:25:47
Jennifer Lopez and Enrique eaus it was in the bank in London when he first laid eyes on Sabrina quidere
00:25:58
he was immediately attracted to her and they struck up a conversation with good looks style and a
00:26:05
common interest in the High Life the two quickly became a piter perfect couple it wasn't long before they moved
00:26:14
in together and Sabrina eventually became pregnant the early days of their relationship were happy but once Mark's
00:26:23
love goggles wore off he saw Sabrina for who she really was she had a wild temper
00:26:30
and her mood could dramatically switch over the most trivial of things she often acted irrationally without
00:26:39
explanation during some rough patches in their relationship she called the police
00:26:43
to report that Mark was hiring male sex workers which was untrue she also took to firing any Nanny
00:26:51
the pair hired to assist them accusing them of stealing from her and of being romantically interested in mark
00:26:59
she'd gone as far as installing hidden cameras throughout their home which Mark was unaware of until he stumbled upon
00:27:06
them himself the couple split for good in 2014 after which Sabrina rekindled her
00:27:14
relationship with whs meduni Mark moved to Los Angeles and continued to help support Sabrina
00:27:21
financially even paying the rent of her new southfields flat regardless she seemed determined to
00:27:29
make his life difficult over the years Sabrina reported Mark to the police over 30
00:27:36
times for a range of bizarre and baseless offenses including that he'd once tried to kill her had hacked her
00:27:44
phone and emails and was trying to control her using black magic things only escalated when Mark
00:27:53
completely cut Sabrina off financially amongst than many other outlandish accusations she accused him
00:28:01
and his friends of hiring a helicopter to spy on her some of Sabrina's claims were plain
00:28:08
ludicrous like the time she reported Mark for sexually mistreating her cat when she never even owned a cat in the
00:28:15
first place the most outrageous was when Sabrina created a fake Facebook profile
00:28:22
to publicly spread lies alleging Mark was a pedophile Mark had been putting up with this issue
00:28:30
privately for some time after Sabrina falsely complained to Social Services that Mark had sexually abused their
00:28:38
son but this was the first time she had accused him publicly Sabrina was arrested as a
00:28:45
result and she reluctantly accepted a caution for sending malicious Communications the most recent incident
00:28:55
had occurred just 1 month prior to Sophie Leon 's death in August 2017 Sabrina had called police to report
00:29:04
that Sophie had taken her son to meet with Mark against her wishes there mark threatened to kill the
00:29:12
boy's family given Sabrina's previous history of false reports police didn't believe
00:29:19
her and therefore no action was taken the following month Sabrina recorded a dejected and exhaust Ed
00:29:28
Sophie at 11:32 a.m. mere hours before she died she pressed Sophie to admit that
00:29:37
Mark Walton had been at their house despite Sophie telling her time and again that she had never met
00:29:44
him Sabrina then told her I hate lies I hate I hate I hate lies so stop telling lies and tell me
00:29:55
the truth for locals of southfields it was common to see Sophie Leon out and about with
00:30:06
Sabrina's children often holding hands it was clear that she was a hard worker and the children seemed to adore
00:30:15
her contrary to what Sabrina told police about Sophie being lazy and useless she
00:30:21
had been doing a standout job with the children a kind and gentle soul with unlimited patience Sophie put enormous
00:30:29
effort into her work which took its toll on her it wasn't in her nature to hurt anyone especially not the very children
00:30:38
she had been employed to look after at one point she even helped the kids set up a Min stand on the street to
00:30:45
sell sweets and biscuits but in the weeks leading up to Sophie's death neighbors had seen less
00:30:52
and less of her during one visit to the local fish and chip shop owner Michael could tell
00:31:00
by Sophie's body language that something wasn't right he' suspected The Nanny wasn't
00:31:06
doing well as he noticed she often had tears in her eyes Michael asked Sophie what was wrong
00:31:14
and she confided that Sabrina had beat her Michael was shocked he was friendly with Sabrina
00:31:23
quair and Weis meduni as the trio were in talks of doing business business together he asked Sophie what happened
00:31:32
to cause the baiting the reason was Preposterous she had dropped the butter Michael's heart went out to
00:31:42
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
00:31:50
saying Michael offered to help Sophie find a new job and place to live but he never saw her again
00:32:00
Sabrina was also wrong in telling police that Sophie had been mingling with a rough
00:32:06
crowd truth was she had barely socialized with anyone outside of Sabrina's Home South builds was full of other
00:32:14
foreign nannies many of whom bonded together but Sophie mostly kept to herself some noticed that Sabrina took
00:32:24
advantage of Sophie's soft Nature by making her work long hours and take on additional duties like cooking and
00:32:31
cleaning Sophie was particularly shy and quiet which made her vulnerable to exploitation a family friend named
00:32:42
Steven witnessed Sabrina screaming at Sophie in French on several occasions Sophie looked scared and
00:32:49
hungry as though she was in some kind of Trance Steven was so concerned that Sophie wasn't eating enough that he once
00:32:58
brought food over for her he confronted Sabrina about her aggressive behavior but Sabrina said
00:33:05
that Sophie was lazy and didn't do enough cooking a former friend of sabrinas named Nicole once visited the home to
00:33:14
find Sophie on the floor and Sabrina attacking her Nicole had to intervene as Sabrina
00:33:21
tried to kick Sophie and hit her with a chair afterwards Nicole was so worried about Sophie that she took her into her
00:33:30
own home with the intention of helping her get back to France Sabrina found out about it and
00:33:37
turned up on Nicole's doorstep quote screaming like a mad woman she stormed in and demanded Sophie
00:33:46
get her stuff and return to the flat Nicole asked Sabrina to calm down but she was so lied that even Nicole was
00:33:54
terrified of her the extent of what Sophie Leon was enduring in London was a secret she
00:34:04
never revealed to her family in any of her correspondence to them back home Sophie was from a modest family in
00:34:12
tuah a small provintial town in Northeast France it was the lack of employment opportunities in tuah that had brought
00:34:20
her to London in the first place a qualified child care worker she believed that a temporary move would
00:34:28
Kickstart her career and give her the chance to improve her English the prospect of life in the big
00:34:36
city excited Sophie she loved the Arts and sought a life surrounded by Cinema dance and
00:34:43
theater she responded to an ad to work as a living Nanny and was thrilled to be hired by Sabrina
00:34:50
quair the Glamorous woman and her celebrity stuttered lifestyle played perfectly into Sophie's dream image of
00:34:57
what life in London would be like in 2016 just days after her 20th birthday Sophie left France and moved into
00:35:08
Sabrina's flat on Wimbledon Park Road case File will be back shortly thank you for supporting us by listening
00:35:24
to this episode sponsors in Bakersfield California in 1991 two boys stumbled upon a Grizzly Discovery
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the murdered body of a young woman in the shadows is the new podcast from wondery plus and casefile presents which
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the end of today's episode thank you for listening to this episode's ads by supporting our sponsors
00:36:34
you support case File to continue to deliver quality content the job started off well Sophie
00:36:52
got along with Sabrina's sons and looked forward to earning a decent wage Sabrina even gave her a glamorous
00:37:00
makeover which Sophie proudly showed off on social media but after about a year Sophie told
00:37:08
her parents she was bored and wanted to come home she said there were tensions in the
00:37:14
family and it was getting harder to take care of the children she was made to sleep in the
00:37:20
same bedroom as Sabrina's Sons which meant she had little time to herself she also told her mother Cath
00:37:27
Catherine that she was not being paid Catherine voiced these concerns to Sabrina who reassured her that Sophie
00:37:36
was being paid into an English bank account police tried to find the English bank account that Sabrina claimed Sophie
00:37:44
was being paid into but it didn't exist it didn't appear that Sophie was being paid at
00:37:53
all Sabrina also urged Catherine to encourage her daughter to stay on explaining she thought of Sophie like a
00:38:00
sister and needed her around it was clear that the feeling wasn't Mutual when Sophie suddenly asked
00:38:08
her mother for money so she could return to France Catherine obliged but Sophie never ended up purchasing a ticket
00:38:18
home Sophie's parents were devastated to learn the truth of what their daughter had endured in
00:38:24
London had they known she was in any kind of trouble they would have immediately traveled to help
00:38:33
her investigators remained unconvinced that what they were being told was the full truth of what happened to
00:38:42
Sophie they ultimately charged both wh meduni and Sabrina quair with her murder and the obstruction of her
00:38:51
body the couple continued to assert that whome interrogated Sophie alone and that
00:38:57
her death was accidental in the late up to their trial whome offered to plead guilty to
00:39:04
manslaughter but the request was denied 3 days later he turned the case upside down when he retracted his
00:39:13
confession claiming he'd been lying all along to protect Sabrina those who knew the couple were
00:39:22
aware the relationship between Sabrina and whome wasn't entirely evenhanded some friends thought whome was quote
00:39:31
punching above his weight which led him to accept less than ideal treatment from
00:39:37
Sabrina over the years when she left him for other men whome always welcomed her
00:39:45
back the truth according to whome was that on the evening of Monday September 18 he'd been asleep when Sabrina
00:39:53
suddenly woke him up she kept repeating what have I done what have I done she told him Sophie was in the bath
00:40:03
and wasn't breathing whome got up and found Sophie's lifeless body lying in the tub he spent over an hour trying to
00:40:14
revive her but it was too late she was already dead Sabrina refused to call the police
00:40:22
suggesting they burn Sophie's body instead whis eventually relented because he wanted to protect Sabrina and to keep
00:40:31
her family together he put Sophie's body in a suitcase and agreed to lie to the police in his written statement whome
00:40:43
said I have always loved Sabrina and tried to protect her this led me to make a very regrettable
00:40:51
choices I should have been more assertive with Sabrina had I been Sophie Leon would probably still be
00:41:01
alive wh went on to paint Sabrina as the hard cop when dealing with Sophie on one occasion Sabrina had
00:41:10
forced Sophie into the bath and held her head underwater in the beard of extracting a confession about Mark
00:41:18
Walton on another she hit Sophie with an electric cable so hard in the legs that
00:41:23
she couldn't stand or walk properly whome admitted that he'd done nothing to stop the attacks or seek medical help
00:41:32
for Sophie Sabrina had fully convinced him that Sophie was helping Mark Walton sexually abuse Sabrina's
00:41:41
Sons he maintained that he had never hurt Sophie himself or been involved with any of the AXS on the night she was
00:41:50
[Music] killed investigators viewed wh's confession with skepticism by this point they had spoken
00:42:02
to Sabrina's youngest son the one at the center of the allegations against Sophie
00:42:07
and Mark Walton for the sake of clarity case File will refer to him as Gareth on the night of Monday September
00:42:17
18 Gareth woke up to the sound of noises coming from the family bedroom he got up to see what was going
00:42:25
on and noticed there was water spilling out from underneath the bathroom door inside Gareth could hear the voices
00:42:34
of his mother and stepfather he also heard the sound of water splashing and Sophie
00:42:42
crying the next morning he noticed his mother seemed happy and relaxed Gareth asked what had happened
00:42:50
and Sabrina told him that Sophie was gone and they wouldn't be seeing her again gareth's statements placed both Sabrina
00:43:01
and whome at the scene of the crime completely shattering The Narrative that one of them acted alone in assaulting
00:43:07
Sophie while the other person slept with the couple refusing to tell the truth investigators were left to
00:43:15
charge them both with murder and piece together their own conclusions based on the
00:43:21
evidence they believed that the couple had essentially held Sophie prisoner inside their home home for 6
00:43:28
weeks during this time they confiscated her phone so she couldn't contact anyone
00:43:34
without Sabrina being present they withheld food until Sophie would say or agree with whatever they
00:43:41
demanded just to eat they also forced her to sleep in a tiny dark room where she withered
00:43:50
away they interrogated her so intensely and violently that they eventually wore her down enough to extract a false
00:43:58
confession which they dictated to her as she wrote it down they likely aimed to use the
00:44:05
confession to Blackmail Mark Walton into giving them more money Sophie said and did everything the
00:44:13
couple wanted in an effort to survive even if she knew it wasn't true exactly how Sophie died and who had
00:44:23
killed her remained a mystery it also wasn't clear if she had been killed by accident during one of
00:44:30
the torture sessions or if the couple decided she had to die either way police believe Sabrina
00:44:38
and whome collectively put Sophie's body in a suitcase and hid it under one of the children's beds while deciding how
00:44:46
to dispose of it they then went about their normal lives for the next 2 days with CCTV
00:44:54
footage capturing them going grocery shopping and taking the children to school like nothing had
00:45:04
[Music] happened Sabrina and whis's Joint trial began in March 2018 both pleaded guilty to perverting
00:45:14
the course of Justice by burning Sophie's body but not guilty to her murder it was an exhaustive trial that
00:45:23
lasted 43 days during which both defendants continued to blame one another for her
00:45:30
death on the stand Sabrina said that whome tortured Sophie in the bath by putting her head underwater and by
00:45:38
covering her mouth with a water soaked towel Sabrina shocked the court by claiming whim demanded they have sex
00:45:47
near Sophie's body to quote Mark the occasion and she had obliged whome tested ified that Sabrina
00:45:58
had killed Sophie and then asked for his help to cover up the crime he said he didn't want to burn sop's body but went
00:46:06
along with the plan because Sabrina asked him to he said It felt disgusting and horrible one of Sabrina's ex-boyfriend
00:46:16
said unpredictable unstable and obsessive Behavior was typical of Sabrina he described her as a quote
00:46:25
fickle lunatic and said she took advantage of people weaker than her quote she would lie her behavior was
00:46:35
strange she was aggressive sometimes she was violent and pulled the hair of girls
00:46:40
on the street just because of a look she had a jewel face a jewel personality she
00:46:46
was manipulative she could charm and tell lies she could be as lovable as she could be detestable
00:46:57
the prosecution pointed out that Sabrina had a track record of calling the police
00:47:02
for a range of minor complaints once she had reported that whome was working too hard and another
00:47:10
time she reported that a wooden toy was being used in their bathroom it was revealed that in May of
00:47:18
2017 Sabrina had been diagnosed with depression and borderline personality disorder the L is characterized by
00:47:28
emotional and mood instability insecurity and impulsivity that can result in impaired Social
00:47:37
relationships Sabrina's lawyer argued that his client's mental illness caused the rational delusions that led her to
00:47:45
genuinely believe that Sophie Leon had been recruited by Mark Walton to facilitate the abuse of her
00:47:53
family he said Sabrina's Behavior towards Sophie was quote entirely driven by Sabrina's mental illness in her
00:48:02
desperation to obtain evidence of Mr Walton's abuse the prosecution described Sabrina
00:48:10
and whome as a truly toxic combination their unhealthy myopic all consuming and a groundless obsession
00:48:19
with Mark Walton had deprived them of reason and turned Sophie into something less than human
00:48:27
they argued that Sophie was killed out of Revenge and punishment for Mark Walton refusing to financially support
00:48:36
Sabrina while only the two defendants would ever know who killed Sophie the prosecution stated that were both
00:48:44
equally responsible for coming up with the plan to destroy her body and Escape responsibility for the horrendous
00:48:51
crime the presiding judge accepted that Sabrina had significant influence over whome but that didn't matter in the
00:48:58
grand scheme of things whome was an intelligent and well educated man who knew Sophie was in
00:49:06
danger and did nothing to help her or put a stop to the abuse despite Sabrina's bizarre behavior
00:49:14
whum also actively went along with the interrogation sessions without coercion while understanding that
00:49:24
Sabrina's mental illness played a role the judge concluded that her behavior was ultimately driven by cruelty and a
00:49:30
desire for revenge against Mark Walton he was convinced that Sabrina intended to use Sophie's audio and
00:49:39
written confession to Blackmail Mark for financial gain while Sabrina's mental illness
00:49:46
could be blamed for her delusions it couldn't explain the violent and brutal treatment of
00:49:52
Sophie quote the suffering in the the torture you put her through before her death was
00:49:59
prolonged and Without Pity Sabrina quad and wh meduni were found guilty of the murder of Sophie
00:50:10
Leon they were sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 30 years 9 months after sop's murder her
00:50:21
body was finally returned to France her mother Catherine would later remark they took away my daughter's
00:50:31
dignity and finally her life painfully ebed away until she struggled to take her last breath in that
00:50:40
bath the case haunts Mark Walton who was inadvertently pulled into the nightmare
00:50:46
Sabrina created in an emotional interview with Good Morning Britain Mark said the hardest thing for me going to
00:50:56
bed at 9 night was knowing that Sophie was telling the truth every time that she was answering those questions and
00:51:03
interrogations she never met me many have questioned how wh meduni accepted Sabrina quad's implausible lies
00:51:14
about Sophie given he was an intelligent and sane man the couple's case has since been
00:51:21
labeled an example of folly ad do a rare psychiatric syndrome where two individuals share an identical
00:51:29
delusion the delusion is typically shared from one person to another in this case Sabrina created the
00:51:37
delusions regarding Sophie and Mark and then transmitted them onto whome his love for Sabrina prevented him
00:51:46
from viewing her behavior critically and honestly instead he let himself believe
00:51:52
in her Twisted reality and by doing so enabled and emboldened her another example of the Folly ad do
00:52:01
phenomenon is the Ericson twins covered in episode 17 of case File as for why Sophie didn't leave or
00:52:11
otherwise seek help it's likely that she didn't feel able to Sabrina and whome intimidated and
00:52:19
bullied her to the point that she felt completely powerless physically mentally and financially
00:52:27
police never found her passport or the money her mother had given her for a return ticket to
00:52:34
France it's suspected the couple took them away to prevent Sophie from escaping while Sophie's exact reasonings
00:52:43
for staying would never be known investigators did find a short note that she had written shortly before her
00:52:51
murder it read why me I need help to stop them [Music] [Music] [Music] on a chilly night in 1991 a group of
00:53:31
teenagers gathered in their usual hangout a Barren stretch of desert next to a busy highway near Bakersfield
00:53:38
California a dismal spot littered with trash and shell casings by Nightfall it turned into a sort of Lovers Lane where
00:53:45
high school kids drank and smoked when two boys left their group and headed into the darkness They Came
00:53:52
Upon a horrific scene the body of a young woman murdered just hours before she had no enemies besides girls at
00:54:01
school teenage stuff not any kind of trouble that somebody would murder her this 1991 murder made news headlines for
00:54:08
years as it shocked and divided a quiet workingclass community of course I knew about Maria's case everyone in
00:54:16
Bakersfield knows about Maria's case people were just they were glued to their TV sets they read the paper every
00:54:22
day there was a lot of speculation in wasow that maybe he was not the all-around athlete that people thought
00:54:29
he might be when he lied about being her boyfriend I feel like he had something to do with it justice took its course in
00:54:37
a twisted and controversial case that captivated many but what if the real killer were yet to be discovered cuz he
00:54:44
warned me that he told me that I would tell the detective that he was here when he wasn't really here if you ask the
00:54:50
sheriff's department and if you asked the prosecutor's office they would say yeah we solved it it's just unfortunate
00:54:56
how things ended up in this series we will hear brand new Clues interview people that have never spoken publicly
00:55:03
before and discover family secrets that shed light on who may have killed Maria Rodriguez and why I kind of want all of
00:55:13
our families hidden secrets and all of the dark past I want it to come out to light I'm Octavia McKenry for casile
00:55:21
presents and this is in the shadows the story of Maria Rodriguez