Couple accused of killing French nanny admit attempting to dispose of body by burning

Sabrina Kouider and Ouissem Medouni deny murdering 21-year-old Sophie Lionnet

Court artist sketch of Ouissem Medouni 40, and his partner Sabrina Kouider, 34, appearing at the Old Bailey in London at an earlier hearing (PA)

A couple accused of killing their French nanny have admitted to perverting the course of justice by attempting to burn her body to dispose of it.

Sophie Lionnet's charred remains were discovered last September, in the garden of a house in Southfields, south-west London.

The 21-year-old’s body had been so badly burnt that that investigators initially struggled to identify her.

But they later confirmed it was the nanny who had been living in Wandsworth but was originally from Troyes in north-east France.

Designer Sabrina Kouider, 34, and her partner Ouissem Medouni, 40, deny murdering Ms Lionnet on or before 20 September last year.

But the pair, who also lived in Wandsworth, pleaded guilty at London's Old Bailey to a second charge of perverting the course of justice by attempting to "dispose of the body of Sophie Lionnet by burning".

Wearin>g a white shirt and black blazer Kouider appeared tearful as she sat in the dock. The Algerian national was helped to follow the hearing by a French interpreter.

Her partner, dressed in a burgundy sweatshirt, paused for a short time before entering a guilty plea to perverting the course of justice.

The case attracted international attention when the pair were first arrested when it emerged Kouider was the former girlfriend of an original member of the Irish boyband, Boyzone, who later went onto become a music mogul.

The defendants face a five-week trial starting on 19 March this year.

Additional reporting by PA