A British man found dead along with his wife in France had money troubles and was seen crying over a pension, it is reported. The bodies of Andrew, 62, and Dawn Searle, 56, were found in the small hamlet of Les Pesquies, near the town of Villefranche-de-Rouergue last Thursday. Questions about the couple's possible financial difficulties have emerged with local sources alleging it had taken Mr Searle over a year to settle a bill of several thousands euros, and he was spotted looking tearful in December amid issues with his UK pension.
French police are investigating the deaths of the couple with Dawn found in her pyjamas with a head injury while there are reports that Andrew was found hanging inside their home. Prosecutor Nicolas Rigot-Muller previously said both had died a "violent death. When asked if this could be a murder-suicide case Rigot-Muller said: "It's being considered." Investigators also revealed no weapons were found at the scene and no bullet or knife wounds were found in an initial examination of the bodies, according to a source close to the investigation.
It has been suggested they could have been murdered by hitmen due to Andrew's career combatting financial crime. But former colleagues yesterday dismissed the possibility, saying Andrew's work for banks would largely be anonymous. The couple moved to France around 10 years ago and it is now understood that Mr Searle had financial difficulties with his rental business he set up in Les Pesquies which folded in December, 2023, with no accounts filed, according to publicly available documents, reported the Mail.
CCTV footage captured Mr Searle buying a chocolate bar and two Euro Lottery tickets from a tobacconist the day before the couple's bodies were discovered. Two neighbours said they saw Andrew having a heated phone call on Wednesday. Antoine Da Silva, a retired council worker, told how he saw the dad-of-two hurrying through the village and looking "very worried" while on the phone to his dad Fred. But best friends of the pair have also said they had been living a "happy" and "comfortable" life in the rural countryside north of Toulouse. Two British couples, close friends of the Searles, were last night keen to put down the suggestion of suicide.
The Brit expats, who are in their late 60s and live in a nearby village, said: "Us Brits, who knew Dawn and Andy very well, are certain this is not a murder-suicide. We saw them last at Christmas, they were absolutely normal. Life was good, why would they want to kill themselves?". They also said it did not appear as though they had financial problems. They added: "They weren't flashy by any means, but they were definitely comfortable and had it good out here. They were always travelling - they recently went to a family wedding in Goa, they went to South America for their honeymoon.
"Dawn's son Callum had a baby and Dawn went over there for that. And [she] had just come back from Scotland because her dad’s funeral was at the end of January. They were also still working - Dawn was a project manager and Andy still did some freelance work. “[And] they have a gite [holiday home] connected to the main house which they rented out and it was occupied most of the time which gave them a good income on the side." The couple married in 2023, with Dawn's son Callum, a former Hollyoaks star, walking her down the aisle.
