Husband ‘likely killed wife in France in staged home burglary gone wrong’

The bodies of Andrew Searle and his wife Dawn were discovered at their home in France back in February – now detectives believe the man likely killed his spouse

Police have claimed that a British man found dead with his wife in their French home might have killed her and then faked a break-in gone wrong before taking his own life.

Andrew and Dawn Searle moved from the UK to picturesque town Les Pesquies, near Toulouse, France, a decade ago before being found dead earlier this month. Locals became concerned after they had not seen the couple and their dogs for a few days. On 6 February, a friend went to check in and found the “violent” scene.

Dawn’s body was discovered outside their home, with a head injury and jewellery scattered around her. Andrew, a former financial investigator, was found dead inside the house.

At first, it looked like she had tried to escape from a robbery when an attacker battered her to death. This was supported initially by police as the house had been turned over.

But now, detectives have claimed that if Dawn was killed in the garden, the neighbours would have heard what was happening.

An investigator told The Sunday Post: “The Searle house is extremely close to other houses, and the noise of screams would have carried. In fact, nobody heard anything.

“What is very likely is that the victim was killed inside the house, with doors and windows shut on a winter’s night, and then her body dumped in the garden”, reports the Mirror.

Post-mortem results revealed no defensive wounds on Andrew and forensic evidence found no signs of another person in the home or having contact with the man or his wife.

This led to the theory of a “staged burglary gone wrong”, fitting the “murder-suicide” line of inquiry previously suggested.

Nicolas Rigot-Muller, the prosecutor leading the investigation, believes “a marital crime followed by a suicide” was probable. He argued that if an outsider had attacked the couple, they would have likely screamed, alerting their neighbours. The prosecutor suggested that Andrew might have planned to justify the crime as a staged burglary before deciding to end his own life.

Despite public appeals by the police, no arrests have been made in relation to the couple’s deaths and no one has come forward.

Local resident Bénédicte described the couple as “absolutely adorable, we would often meet like this simply walking our dogs around the village.”

Speaking to the BBC, she expressed her shock: “We are very shocked, of course we are.”

Meanwhile, a local who was acquainted with Dawn revealed to The Mirror that the project manager seemed upbeat just days before their deaths, even though she had been battling the flu. “Her mood was very good, [and she was] smiley,” said the woman from a nearby fireplace shop.