Deaths of British couple in France being treated as murder-suicide

The deaths of a British couple who were found in their renovated rural home in Aveyron, south-west France, are being treated as a murder followed by a suicide.

The bodies of Andrew Searle, 62, a retired fraud investigator, Dawn Kerr, 56, a project manager, were discovered on 6 February at their home in the village of Les Pesquiès, south of Villefranche-de-Rouergue.

Kerr was found lying dead in front of her house partly undressed and with a significant head injury, and Searle was found hanged inside.

The prosecutor in charge of the case said a police investigation had ruled out any third party involvement in their deaths. They told the BBC that there was no evidence that another person was involved.

Postmortem examinations confirmed Searle died from hanging and Kerr suffered “multiple blows to the head with a blunt and sharp-edged object”.

The couple married in 2023 and had two children each from previous relationships. They had lived in Aveyron for five years.

Kerr was the mother of the Scottish actor and musician Callum Kerr, who played PC George Kiss in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, and appeared in Netflix’s Virgin River.

A statement on Kerr’s Instagram confirmed he and his sister were grieving the loss of their mother, and that their step-brother and step-sister were mourning the loss of their father. The post also asked for the family’s privacy to be respected.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Andrew Searle retired in 2015 after a career in financial crime prevention.

After quitting as a consultant in financial crime assurance at Barclays in Glasgow, Searle posted that he was “enjoying life in rural France – renovating!”. He previously worked for 21 years at Standard Life, in Edinburgh, where he was responsible for the bank’s anti-crime initiative.

Kerr’s Facebook profile said she grew up in the Scottish borders and went to school in the port town of Eyemouth. Before moving to France she had lived with Searle in Musselburgh, east of Edinburgh.

A statement issued by French prosecutors in February said: “The two deceased persons, a man and a woman, were the owners of the house in which their bodies were discovered. They were British expatriates, retired, and had been living in Aveyron for five years.

“The first victim, Ms Kerr, has a significant head injury. A box containing jewellery was found near to her, but no item or weapon which could have caused the injuries were located.

“Mr Searle, who was found hanged … did not show any visible defensive injuries.”