A woman from Scotland has been found dead in France alongside her husband amidst fears they were killed by an organised crime gang.
Dawn Searle, also known as Dawn Kerr, was a project manager originally from Musselburgh near Edinburgh.
Dawn was discovered dead alongside her husband Andrew in Les Pesquiès, south of Villefranche-de-Rouergue on Thursday afternoon.
Andrew was originally from West Sussex but spent years working in Edinburgh at a major bank. It’s understood the pair, who were both in their 60s, retired to France around 10 years ago.
Andrew spent at least 20 years working with police and the Serious Fraud Office against organised crime groups involved in financial crimes such as money laundering.
This included work in ‘sanctions screening’, which is the process of checking individuals and groups who might be barred from dealing in the UK because of their links with rogue nations, terrorist groups or drugs traffickers.
It’s understood this would have brought Andrew to the notice of underworld networks working across the globe. He retired to France in 2015 from his professional life in Scotland, after working in the financial crime assurance arm of Barclays Bank in Edinburgh.
Prior to this, the Liverpool John Moores University graduate was at Standard Life, which is also based in the Scots capital.
He maintained a LinkedIn account, on which he wrote: “Responsible for the delivery of significant improvements in AFC [Anti-Financial Crime] capability, developing effective operating models within a Group structure.” This included “sanction screening and monitoring, AFC Intelligence and Anti-bribery & Corruption”.
Detectives in France fear the couple could have been murdered by “criminals from the United Kingdom”. The disturbing theory was suggested on Friday, after Andrew and Dawn’s lifeless bodies were discovered on Thursday afternoon. The Searle’s property and surrounding land in the hamlet had been turned into an extensive crime scene on Friday.
An investigating source said: “A criminal enquiry has been launched and the fear is that the couple were murdered. They were very fit, and very popular locally, but there is a theory that they were being pursued by criminals from the United Kingdom. This is currently the prioritised line of enquiry, because Mr Searle was once involved in the fight against organised crime and terrorism.”
Police and prosecutors have not officially released the name of the Searles, but at least three neighbours confirmed they were the victims. One said: “Andy and Dawn were lovely – hearing about this is extremely distressing. They were extremely friendly, and always out and about. What has happened has caused a lot of fear.”
It is thought that the Searles were killed inside their detached property, which includes a two-bedroom flat that was regularly occupied by paying visitors. The Searles advertised it extensively online, saying it was an ‘Andrew and Dawn at home’ (Chez Andrew and Dawn) gite – the French word for a furnished holiday home.
There is a swimming pool outside, and then thick woods which put the house in an isolated position, away from the centre of the hamlet. While investigators originally feared ‘a burglary gone wrong’, local officials on Friday suggested there could be other motives.
Jean-Sebastien Orcibal, the Mayor of Villefranche, said: “We do not really have burglaries in our town, and especially not violent burglaries.”
Local prosecutors have launched a criminal enquiry, with judicial police and gendarmes supporting them. The house and its grounds remained cordoned off on Friday, with forensics officers examining the entire property.
Drones could also be seen circling overhead, while house-to-house enquiries were being carried out by gendarmes. Nobody has yet been arrested in connection with the deaths.
Villefranche-de-Rouergue is in the Aveyron department – the French version of a county. It is popular with British expats, and holiday home owners from the UK.
Reports suggested the couple “had numerous friends locally and further afield including in Britain, and often organised dinner parties.”
One local said: “They both loved the countryside, and were very happily settled. They were very proud of their house, which is situated well away from other buildings in the hamlet”.
A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: “We are supporting the family of a British couple who died in France and are liaising with the Local Authorities.”