Mother held over nanny murder
THE ex-girlfriend of a pop star was under arrest last night on suspicion of killing her French nanny and burning her body in the garden of her £900,000 flat.
Sabrina Quider, 34, whose former partner was a one-time member of a well-known boy band, was held after concerned parents walking their children home from school reported a large blaze and ‘foul-smelling smoke’.
Police raced to mother- of-two Miss Quider’s Victorian end-of-terrace home in Southfields, an affluent south London suburb, after a curious boy of eight scaled the back garden gate and saw a huge bonfire with a man throwing what he thought were ‘sticks’ on the flames.
When officers arrived at 6.30pm on Wednesday, the body was so badly burned they could not establish her age or even gender. But yesterday the victim was named locally as Sophie Lionnet, 21, a nanny from Troyes, a town in north-eastern France.
The Frenchwoman, who came to London to learn English, is thought to have been living with Miss Quider at her flat for 14 months caring for her three-yearold daughter and son aged six.
Miss Quider is separated from the father of one of her children, an Irish singer who is now an internationally successful music mogul living in Los Angeles.
Neighbours said the French-Algerian mother, who claims to work as a stylist, make-up artist, fashion designer and songwriter, ‘had a lot of money’ and a busy social life, relying on her nanny to work long hours for £50 a month.
On social media, Miss Quider posed for glamorous pictures on nights out at various restaurants. One friend of the victim said: ‘She came here to learn English, but found it very difficult here. Sab- rina liked her social life and liked going out with her friends.
There always seemed to be plenty of money. She has had Sophie, who is from a poor French family, living in her little home for 14 months.
‘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. Sabrina was always a real party girl, out smiling with friends. She was very different with Sophie at home.’
The friend added: ‘The father of [Miss Quider’s] son left some time ago and she has a new boyfriend, who is also French Algerian. It was him who introduced Sabrina to Sophie.’
Neighbours told of their horror. One woman, who did not want to be named, said: ‘I was walking past on the way home from school and we could see flames through the fence posts. My young son called out, “If you are having a barbecue, are we allowed to come?”. I told him, “no, that’s not a barbecue, that’s a bad smell”. I thought they may be burning leaves.’
Another resident said: ‘We saw smoke and there was a foul smell. My son was being a bit cheeky and he climbed up the fence to look over and he saw a man sweeping up what we thought were sticks and putting them on the bonfire.’
A woman living opposite said: ‘It definitely did not smell like a barbecue so I could not think what they were burning.’
A man living in the top-floor flat of the converted property said he had complained to the landlord about a ‘gassy smell’ on Tuesday. He said: ‘The couple who lived in the flat were not the friendliest pair – we would hear them having really loud arguments below.’
Miss Quider was arrested at the scene with a 40-year-old man. Last night police were still questioning them on suspicion of murder.
A body bag was yesterday driven from the scene in a private ambulance, while forensics officers continued their work.
Detective Inspector Richard Leonard said: ‘I would like to appeal to those in and around the area to come forward with information.’
‘We saw flames through fence’