A Scottish couple, Dawn and Andrew Searle are confirmed to have died in France. Detectives are investigating the case.
Detectives think murder by a UK crime group is possible. This is what we know so far about it. Dawn Searle and her husband, Andrew, were in their 60s. Dawn, also called Dawn Kerr, was a project manager from near Edinburgh.
Andrew Searle was from West Sussex originally. He spent years working in Scotland, in Edinburgh, with the Serious Fraud Office and police. This lasted at least 20 years and involved investigating financial crimes.
Searle investigated money laundering and checked people for sanctions. This meant finding people banned from UK dealings involving drugs, rogue nations, or terror. His job likely made him known to criminals globally.
He studied at Liverpool John Moores University and worked for Standard Life in Edinburgh. Later, he worked for Barclay’s Bank there in financial crime assurance. He retired and moved to France in 2015. Searle’s LinkedIn described improving anti-financial crime and developing operating models, sanction screening, and anti-bribery and corruption work.
Their home has a pool and a rental flat. They called it ‘Andrew and Dawn at home’ in French. It was near thick woods and away from the hamlet center. Les Pesquiès is near Villefranche-de-Rouergue, southern France. Les Pesquiès has around 100 residents living there now and sits over 350 miles south of Paris and 150 miles north of Andorra’s border.
French detectives are looking at UK criminals. A source says a murder probe began, fearing the couple were murdered. The Searles were fit and well-liked. One theory is criminals pursued them from the UK previously.
Searle once fought organised crime and terrorism. Police have not officially named the victims but three neighbors confirmed the Searles died. Other motives include a robbery gone wrong, terrorism, or rogue state links.
One neighbor said Andy and Dawn were lovely people and hearing the news is deeply upsetting. They were friendly and often out, and the situation stirred a great bit of fear.
