Boyzone founder: My ‘turbulent’ affair with accused nanny killer
FOUNDER of pop band Boyzone has told a jury of his “turbulent” affair with a woman charged with murdering her French nanny.
Mark Walton said he was smitten with Sabrina Kouider from the moment he spotted her in a bank in Notting Hill, London.
The attraction was mutual and the couple dated for a year before moving in together in 2012.
“I was in love – she was my life,” he said.
But the relationship foundered as 34-year-old Kouider’s behaviour became increasingly bizarre, the Old Bailey jury was told.
French-Algerian Kouider flew into rages, frequently called the police and accused him of attacking her, Mr Walton said.
“She would change from a really gentle, sweet, loving person into quite a scary person in seconds,” he added.
“It was the most turbulent relationship I had ever been in but when you’ve got the love eye, you just hope to look past these things.”
During their time together Kouider also hired three or four au pairs.
But each of them was fired after she accused them of stealing and being “interested” in him, Mr Walton alleged.
They split up in 2013 but he continued to pay her rent when she moved to Wimbledon in south-west London. It cost him £12,800 until he stopped the payments in 2014 “when family and friends told me to wake up,” he said.
Kouider, 35, and her partner Ouissem Medouni, 40, are charged with the murder of 21-year-old nanny Sophie Lionnet last September.
Drug
They both deny the charge but admit perverting the course of justice by burning her body in their back garden, the jury was told.
Dublin-born Mr Walton, who is based in Los Angeles, is embroiled in the murder case of Miss Lionnet, who he has denied ever meeting.
The Old Bailey heard Kouider and Medouni had accused her of helping Mr Walton and another man get into their flat, drug the couple and sexually abuse them. There was no suggestion in court that the incident took place and Mr Walton firmly denied taking part, the jury was told.
Hours later, Miss Lionnet was killed and her body thrown on to a bonfire in their garden in Wimbledon.
Questioned by Richard Horwell, QC, prosecuting, Mr Walton said he had never met Miss Lionnet or communicated with her in any way.
He had never heard of her until after she died, the jury was told.
Mr Walton founded Boyzone in Dublin in 1993.
He stayed for a year before going on to other projects.
After splitting up with Kouider, he moved to Los Angeles and also became a judge on the successful Pop Idol show in Vietnam.
The trial continues.