I became a honeytrap to avenge my aunt’s murder
She’s a retired surveyor from Kent. Yet for six months she posed as a flirty twentysomething air hostess – to lure a suspected killer out of hiding. Now, thanks to her extraordinary courage and tenacity, he’s facing justice...
THE breakthrough Lehanne sergison had been waiting for came as she meandered around her local lavender farm in kent on a sunny afternoon last month.
For six years she had been doggedly on the trail of the man who was the prime suspect in the brutal killing of her aunt. and now, at last, the news came that, thanks to her efforts, he had been apprehended by police — and on the anniversary of her aunt’s death, too.
Lehanne’s amateur sleuthing, not to mention the retired chartered surveyor’s respectable Home Counties lifestyle, might put one in mind of agatha Christie’s tenacious Miss Marple, the lady amateur detective who was always more successful
than the police in solving the crime. the fact that she learned the news as she picked up a bag of cut lavender to take home only adds to the picture.
yet Miss Marple never learned of a breakthrough through Facebook Messenger. Nor did she ever turn herself into a honeytrap to catch a suspected killer.
yet that is exactly what Lehanne did. After tracking down suspect Andrew Ndlovu where the efforts of police had failed, Lehanne posed as a glamorous air hostess and exchanged increasingly flirtatious Facebook messages in an attempt to draw him out of hiding.
‘I hated what I had to do,’ Lehanne says. ‘Befriending and flirting with the man I was convinced had murdered Auntie Chrissie was sickening. But I adored her and wasn’t prepared to see her murder unavenged.’
on July 30, 2014, the battered body of Christine robinson was found at the South African lodge she had run with her husband until his death in 2012.
For Lehanne, 16 years Christine’s junior and very close to her aunt, it was devastating.
‘the killer took everything from her — her dignity, her life and all her hopes and dreams,’ she says. ‘She was only 59 with so much to live for.’
talking in the garden of her comfortable home in Bickley, Kent, it is clear Lehanne — who has had to take early retirement because of poor health — is shocked that she succeeded where the authorities failed.
on the surface, there is absolutely nothing that marks her out as a detective. She isn’t even a fan of mystery stories. Setting up a honeytrap couldn’t have been further from her normal peaceful life. that she persevered is testament to the love between aunt and niece.
‘Auntie Chrissie was a life force,’ says Lehanne, 49. ‘She’s one of those people who makes the world a better place. She was my favourite aunt and I knew I was very special to her — particularly as she had no children of her own.
‘When I was born, Chrissie was at teacher training college in Carmarthen. I spent weekends and holidays at my grandparents’ in Liverpool and Chrissie was always there. I was entranced by this exciting teenager.
‘We would snuggle up in bed together and she would read me enid Blyton stories. on hot summer days we went blackberry picking.’
After qualifying as a junior school teacher, the intrepid Chrissie started globetrotting. As well as holidays to far-flung places such as the Galapagos Islands, she taught all over the world — Germany, russia, China and Kuwait.
Wherever Chrissie went, drama seemed to follow. the family had a motto: ‘It could only happen to Chrissie.’
‘Aged 30, Chrissie announced she was going skiing for the first time,’ Lehanne recalls. ‘She got off the ski lift on the first day and fell over. Skiers piled on top of her and she broke her hip so badly, she had to convalesce for three months. Being Chrissie, she was soon back skiing.’
this can-do attitude proved intoxicating to Lehanne, particularly because, aged three, she was diagnosed with severe asthma. the condition has dominated her life, necessitating monthly visits to hospital. It is so debilitating she was advised not to have children.
In 2005 Chrissie married 57year-old Daniel robinson, known as robbie. they met in Kuwait where they were both working and he proved exactly the adventurous sort of man Chrissie needed.
‘We all adored him — he was kind, generous and huge fun,’ recalls Lehanne.
It was robbie’s idea to settle in South Africa in 2002 after falling in love with the countryside. their business — a ranch and conference centre near the renowned Marakele Game Park in the north-east of the country — proved a success.
‘I can’t fly because of my condition, so sadly I never visited. But she bought a little house near Perpignan, France, where I visited her,’ recalls Lehanne.
then in 2012 robbie was diagnosed with terminal cancer. the couple flew back to Britain, but barely two months later robbie was dead.
Grief-stricken, Chrissie couldn’t bear the thought of running the ranch alone. however, with many loose ends to tie up, she made the fateful decision to return to sell it.
‘We all tried to dissuade her but we didn’t really appreciate the risks,’ recalls Lehanne. ‘If only we’d known just how dangerous South Africa is for a lone woman.’
on July 30, 2014, as Lehanne enjoyed lunch with a friend, her mobile rang. Seeing a South African number she expected to hear her aunt on the other end.
Instead it was the ranch manager, with devastating news. Chrissie had failed to attend a meeting that morning. Worried, staff had broken into her home. In the bedroom they found Chrissie’s body, bundled into her bloodstained duvet.
Later investigation was to show that, after a violent struggle, the killer had raped Chrissie, then attempted to strangle her before finally stabbing her to death.
on the table was Chrissie’s dirty dinner plate from the night before. She hadn’t had time to wash it up. And missing was a portion of the £3,500 in cash which Chrissie had drawn out to pay staff.
Also missing was the lodge’s 24-year-old gardener Andrew Ndlovu. CCtV cameras in the nearby town caught him getting into a friend’s car at 6am and driving away. When police rang his mobile, he admitted he was returning to his native Zimbabwe, but promised to meet them at the border the next day to help with their inquiries. he never appeared.
And that was the last contact crime agencies had with him — until Lehanne stepped in.
‘For months we were in complete shock,’ recalls Lehanne. Like most of us, she trusted in authority and believed the Foreign office would do all in its power to assist the South African police in bringing the killer to justice. But, as it
‘I used the name Missy Falcao after my greyhounds ’