Pair to stand trial next year after burned body found in London garden

A man and a woman charged with murder after a badly burned body was found in the garden of their home in London are to stand trial next year.

Sabrina Kouider and Ouissem Medouni are alleged to have killed the victim on or before 20 September at the address in Wandsworth, south-west London.

Police have been unable to tell the age or gender of the dead person because of the extent of the burns, but the victim has been named in local reports as Sophie Lionnet, a nanny from Troyes, north-east France, who is said to have worked for Kouider.

The judge, Nicholas Hilliard, fixed a trial date for 19 March.

Kouider, 34, a makeup artist and designer, is a former girlfriend of Mark Walton, who was part of the initial lineup of Boyzone.

Appearing at the Old Bailey via videolink from Bronzefield prison in Surrey, she wept throughout the hearing and interrupted proceedings to say “je n’ai rien fait” (“I haven’t done anything”). She later shouted: “Tell them I didn’t kill anybody.”

Kouider and Medouni, 40, who appeared via videolink from Wandsworth prison, were remanded in custody. There was no application for bail.

The Metropolitan police’s homicide and major crime command is leading the investigation.