Post-mortem of ‘murdered’ Brit couple in France to be held today as cops scour phones amid mystery over ‘violent’ deaths

POST-MORTEMS into the “violent” deaths of a Brit couple in rural France were set to be carried out on Monday to confirm how they died.

The bodies of retired financial crime investigator Andrew, 62, and Dawn Searle, 56, were discovered after failing to turn up for a dog walk on Thursday.

He was found hanged at their home in Les Pesquiès, near Villefranche-de-Rouergue, after his wife was seemingly beaten to death just outside in her pyjamas.

Nicolas Rigot-Muller, the Rodez prosecutor in charge of the investigation, confirmed the autopsies were set to be held in Montpellier - but details won’t be released until a press conference at 5pm on Tuesday.

He said Monday: “Today, the autopsies are taking place. It's very open.

“It's far too early for me to say anything, we have to keep our eyes peeled.

“We're not favouring any direction at the moment. I cannot say if we’re looking for someone.”

Confirming no arrests have been made, he said: “Both died violent deaths, but I cannot yet firmly establish homicide.”

It came as detectives were uncovering “vital clues” about the couple’s final hours from trawling through their mobile phones.

Andrew’s mobile device is proving “particularly helpful”, according to one detective, after he was spotted making animated calls in previous days.

An investigating source said: “There is a mine of information, and recent calls made by Mr Searle which are providing vital clues.”

One line of inquiry is whether it was a possible murder-suicide.

Others include a botched burglary or a hitman linked to Andrew’s anti-fraud work with British banks Standard Life and Barclays.

Jean-Sébastien Orcibal, mayor of Villefranche-de-Rouergue, said: “The inquiry is ongoing. We're waiting for the results. The process took its normal course.

“On site, I assisted the police, who collected and sealed the evidence they needed and which will be analyzed to try and reconstruct the course of events that led to this tragedy.

“On the first day, access was cordoned off. The house was visited by police to see if any perpetrator was still on site, then fingerprints were collected.

“We don't know anything yet about the post mortem. We are all waiting for information from the prosecutor's statement.”

Speaking from the room in which he married Andrew and Dawn in September 2023, Mr Orcibal added: “I knew them as well because we were neighbors as I live in Pesquies as well.

“We got to socialize. They were very well integrated in the area.”

Heartbroken relatives have flown over to France and are speaking to local gendarmerie officers while being supported by the UK Foreign Office.

Dawn was found with a head wound near the front door while surrounded by scattered jewellery.

No weapons were found at the scene and no bullet or knife wounds were found in an initial examination of the bodies, a source close to the investigation told La Depeche du Midi.

CCTV footage from a local news agents caught Andrew's last sighting, the day before the couple were found dead.

He was seen buying two lottery tickets and a bar of chocolate on Wednesday, shortly before 6pm.

Andrew's heartbroken father, Fred Searle, 88, said he has been left with "thousands of questions" following the shock news.

Fred flew to Toulouse on Saturday, near his son's home, as he wanted to bring the whole family together.

Andrew and Dawn been labelled by local friends as being a "popular" and "happy couple".

Family friend, Odile Marian said: "They never talked about threats. They were not hiding. They were not feeling threatened.

"I don’t know anyone who didn’t like the couple - it would be impossible not to appreciate them."

CCTV from a newsagents in Villefranche-de-Rouergue shows Andrew wearing a hoodie and green hat as he purchased a lottery ticket and a KitKat on Wednesday - a mere few hours before being found dead.

The shopkeeper who served Andrew, Isabelle Palazy, 58, shared details about her interaction with the Brit.

She said: "I just couldn't believe it when I heard the news. He and Dawn were regular customers. He would come in every day and buy Fortuna Blue cigarettes.

"That day he came in just before I was closing and he seemed perfectly happy, he was relaxed and he chatted and bought some chocolate and two lottery tickets.

"Thinking that they were to die less than 24 hours later makes me go cold, I just can't believe it. They were a lovely couple, always happy and chatting and they spoke reasonably good French.

"He was working on his house, and he would come and boy chocolate bars here, KitKat and Kinder were his favourite."