WARNING GRAPHIC DETAILS: French investigators are considering whether gangsters “with a score to settle” were responsible for the brutal killings of Andrew and Dawn Searle
A Brit corruption investigator who was killed alongside his wife at their property in France may have been tortured and killed by a gangster “with a score to settle”.
Andrew and Dawn Searle’s lifeless bodies were found by French police at a property in Les Pesquiès, south of Villefranche-de-Rouergue, on Thursday afternoon. Mr Searle, a former organised crime investigator from the UK, had been hanged in a room inside, and had a gag in his mouth.
His wife was lying naked outside by the front door, with a wound to the head, and jewellery scattered around her. Detectives fear gangsters with “a score to settle” may have tortured and then murdered the Brit couple, aged in their 60s, at the detached property a decade after they moved from Scotland to France.
Mr Searle was once involved in the “fight against organised crime and terrorism”, and faced off with major money-laundering syndicates in countries where sanctions have been imposed, such as Russia, during his career. On Friday, the couple’s property and surrounding land in the hamlet had been turned into an extensive crime scene, with investigating sources saying they are actively considering the potential role of gangsters in the horror crime.
A source said: “A criminal enquiry has been launched and the fear is that the couple were murdered. They were very fit, and very popular locally, but there is a theory that they were being pursued by criminals from the United Kingdom. This is currently the prioritised line of enquiry, because Mr Searle was once involved in the fight against organised crime and terrorism.”
The source added: “It may well be that gangsters with a score to settle are behind these killings.” Jean-Sébastien Orcibal, the mayor of Villefranche-de-Rouergue, said the deaths “were clearly a homicide”, and not a “burglary gone wrong”, as investigators had previously speculated.
He said a neighbour found the bodies at around 12.20pm on Thursday, after they did not arrive to walk their dogs together as planned. Mr Orcibal said he had officiated at the wedding of the couple in the summer of 2023, and both had been married before. Mr Searle spent more than 20 years working with the the police and Serious Fraud Office against organised crime groups.
This included work in “sanctions screening”, which is the process of checking individuals and groups who might be barred from dealing in the UK because of their links with rogue nations, terrorist groups and drugs traffickers. This would have brought Mr Searle to the notice of networks working across the globe.
Mr Searle retired to France in 2015 from his professional life in Scotland, after working in the financial crime assurance arm of Barclay’s Bank in Edinburgh. Before this, the Liverpool John Moores University graduate was at Standard Life, which is also based in the Scottish capital.
He was originally from West Sussex, while his wife was Scottish. Mr Searle maintained a LinkedIn account, in which he wrote: “Responsible for the delivery of significant improvements in AFC (Anti-Financial Crime) capability, developing effective operating models within a Group structure.”
Police and prosecutors have not officially released the Searles names, but at least three neighbours confirmed they were the victims. One neighbour said: “The couple were lovely – hearing about this is extremely distressing. They were extremely friendly, and always out and about. What has happened has caused a lot of fear.”
There was no gun or knife nearby, suggesting the Searles may have suffered horrifying deaths by torture. An enquiry source told La Dépêche: “The wife’s body was first discovered, completely naked, in front of the door of the house. Around the unfortunate woman, jewellery was found scattered, testifying to a great disorder.
“In the house, the husband’s body was discovered hanging with a gag stuck in his mouth.” A forensic doctor working for the judicial authorities in Montpellier arrived at the site by helicopter on Thursday. He carried out an initial examination of the bodies, but is not thought to have found bullet or knife wounds. Autopsies are being carried out on both bodies.
The Searle’s house included a two-bedroom flat that was regularly occupied by paying visitors. There is a swimming pool outside, and then thick woods which put the house in an isolated position, away from the centre of the hamlet, where around 100 people live. Nicolas Rigot-Muller, the Rodez prosecutor, is in charge of the investigation, with judicial police and gendarmes supporting him.
The house and its grounds remained cordoned off on Friday, with forensics officers examining the entire property. Drones could also be seen circling overhead, while house-to-house enquiries were being carried out by gendarmes. Nobody has yet been arrested in connection with the deaths.
Villefranche-de-Rouergue is in the Aveyron department – the French version of a county. It is full of British expat, and holiday home owners from the UK. Another local source said the couple ‘had numerous friends locally and further afield including in Britain, and often organised dinner parties.’
He added: “They both loved the countryside, and were very happily settled. They were very proud of their house, which is situated well away from other buildings in the hamlet.” A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: “We are supporting the family of a British couple who died in France and are liaising with the Local Authorities.”