CCTV shows ‘murdered’ Brit buying Lottery ticket hours before he died

A former financial crime investigator found dead alongside his wife at their idyllic home in France bought chocolate and lottery tickets at his local newsagent hours before.

Andrew Searle, 62, was filmed smiling and chatting with the shopkeeper, part of his usual routine after relocating from Scotland to rural France with his wife Dawn, 56.

Both were found dead in the hamlet of Les Pesquiès on Thursday afternoon.

Andrew, a retired financial crime investigator, is said to have been hanged and had a gag in his mouth, while Dawn’s body was reportedly found by the front door, with a head wound and jewellery scattered around her.

Police initially thought a burglary had gone wrong, as well as considering the possibility of a murder suicide.

But one key theory under investigation is that they could have been hunted down by gangsters with a grudge, due to Andrew’s career fighting money laundering by organised crime and terrorism.

Shopkeeper Isabelle Palazy, who served him in the CCTV footage, told the Daily Mail: ‘He and Dawn were regular customers. He would come in every day and buy Fortuna Blue cigarettes.

Andrew Searle smiled and chatted while buying his usual order of chocolate and lottery tickets

‘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.’

She told how he was such a regular customer she got to know his favourite chocolates were KitKat and Kinder, and that he was doing work on his house near Villefranche-de-Rouergue in the south of the country, which the couple also rented out to holidaymakers.

Andrew and Dawn Searle got married in 2023

The couple had a home in Les Pesquies, south of Villefranche-de-Rouergue

Others in the village said they had noticed something seemed to be wrong in the hours before his death.

One neighbour who lives nearby said they saw the couple walking the dogs the day before they were found, while Andrew was on the phone to someone: ‘He was very agitated, and he was arguing violently in English, he just waved at me and then carried on. I don’t know, maybe it’s relevant but I can’t see burglary as a motive.’

A family friend also told how Andrew had been concerned at finding his garage door open, even though he was sure he had closed it.

Andrew was previously employed by Standard Life Bank, and is believed to have spent decades working with British police and the UK government’s Serious Fraud Office.

His roles included ‘anti-bribery and corruption’ and ‘sanctions screening’, where authorities make sure business activities don’t involve individuals or groups deemed to be involved in things like terrorism and drug trafficking.

Dawn, who he married in 2023, is the mum of Hollyoaks and Virgin River actor Callum Kerr, who said in a statement that he is ‘grieving the tragic loss’ along with his sister Amanda Kerr, and Andrew’s children Tom Searle and Ella Searle.

In 2023, Kerr donned a tartan kilt as he walked his mother down the aisle for her wedding to Mr Searle.

Alongside a photo of them walking arm-in-arm posted to Instagram, he wrote: ‘Not many people can say they walked their own mother down the aisle. What a pleasure! I love you mum.

‘Congrats to Dawn and Andy on their wonderful wedding day and here’s to a tremendous life together for the happy couple.’

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