A London couple’s shared delusions led to the torture and death of French au pair
However as the months went on, it became apparent to those who knew her that Sophie had been inveigled into a uniquely freakish and oppressive household ruled by Kouider's violent mood swings, police said.
The court heard how the couple had interrogated and tortured Lionnet over their belief she was conspiring with one of Kouider's former boyfriends - Mark Walton, a former member of Boyzone.
Walton had shouldered the ludicrous slurs and responded with "integrity and honesty", the prosecution said, willingly travelling from LA to give evidence.
The court heard how fashion designer Kouider was fixated with her ex-boyfriend Mr Walton.
Born in Algeria, Kouider grew up in Paris, where aged 18, she met Medouni, a fellow French Algerian five years her senior, at a fun fair. In them, Miss Lionnet was likened to a Nazi collaborator by her tormentors. "She would go from softly spoken French accent, then she would flip, get very angry, very loud and just not care where we were", he testified.
After creating a fake Facebook profile to falsely claim Walton was a pedophile, she was cautioned by police to stay away from Walton.
The two are expected to be sentenced on June 26.
Kouider collapsed in tears and Medouni hung his head as the jury foreman returned the verdicts at the Old Bailey following a lengthy trial and nearly 30 hours of deliberations.
The defendants later admitted disposing of Ms Lionnet's body but denied murdering her, blaming each other for the death.
But for five years, her obsession continued, even while moving into the Wimbledon Park Road house with Medouni.
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"Her body language showed there was something wrong", the owner of a local restaurant where Lionnet occasionally ate alone told the BBC. Medouni, a former banker, became an ardent believer of Kouider's twisted reality, the jury heard.
"She was obsessed with this guy. she said "have you seen this person", and she showed me this photo of a blond-haired man on her phone". A shy 21-year-old with pale green eyes, the French woman had hoped the time in London would sharpen her English.
"We will never know the full extent of the horrors Sophie had to endure.", said Detective Inspector Domenica Catino, after the verdict. "Kind, gentle. She loved everyone, she loved making people happy", Lionnet's aunt said.
She told jurors: "He was putting her head under the water and sometimes he would put water on the towel in her mouth".
"I said 'why didn't your nanny say anything about it?', and she said the nanny was complicit". "I asked why, and she said she had dropped the butter".
Kouider and Medouni are believed to have starved and tortured Lionnet in the weeks leading up to her death in September, subjecting her to violent "interrogations".
In court, Medouni and Kouider each blamed the other for taking Lionnet's life.
The murder bore the hallmarks of a psychosis known as "folie a deux" - or a "madness of two" - which is defined as a delusion shared from one individual to another, with Kouider the driving force and Medouni the willing party.
After leaving it for two days, the couple chose to throw the piece of luggage onto a bonfire at the back of their property and barbecued chicken to mask the scent of burning flesh.
The victim's mother called the guilty pair "monsters" in a statement read to court. "No god will ever forgive you both for what you have done to our daughter".
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