Murder suspect claims torched nanny betrayed her to win Tom Cruise film role

A woman accused of murdering her 21-year-old nanny claimed the au pair betrayed her over a chance to star in a Tom Cruise movie.

Sabrina Kouider, 35, described Sophie Lionnet as "evil" in a police interview, a court heard on Thursday.

She alleged Miss Lionnet had been recruited to spy on her by Kouider's former boyfriend Mark Walton, a founding member of boy band Boyzone, in exchange for £18,000 and the promise of "fame".

The nanny's remains were found by firefighters on a bonfire at the home she worked at in Southfields, southwest London, in September last year.

On Wednesday, the Old Bailey heard that Kouider and her partner Ouissem Medouni, 40, allegedly tortured Miss Lionnet in the bath and then threw her body on the bonfire in the garden as they barbecued chicken nearby.

Kouider told the court she was shocked when Miss Lionnet allegedly confessed to helping Mr Walton, telling her she was a monster.

She said: "I was like 'you played this game. You being such an innocent girl. You are not innocent. You are bad. You are evil. You are a monster'.

"'You did this because of money?' He said 'I'm going to make you a star? You going to do a movie with Tom Cruise?'

"That's for fame? I was really surprised. I was really shocked."

The mother-of-two said the nanny met Mr Walton in the toilets of a shopping centre where he asked her to bring him documents about her employer's company and to find out "everything about her".

Kouider claimed that Mr Walton would ask Miss Lionnet to open the door so he could give the nanny "some stuff to drug us".

Kouider went on to claim Miss Lionnet told her Mr Walton injected the defendant and started "touching me and he did things to me".

The couple were alleged to have forced Miss Lionnet to confess to the claims about Mr Walton.

The court has previously been told Kouider's claims against Mr Walton and "shy" Miss Lionnet were outlandish and wholly untrue.

Mr Walton has also categorically denied the allegations against him, the court has heard.

Kouider and Medouni, who are both French nationals, deny murder but have admitted perverting the course of justice by burning the body.

The court also heard Kouider met her partner Ouissem Medouni, 40, at a French funfair when she was 18 and they had an on-off relationship.

The trial continues.