Picture: Netflix
Over the years, Netflix has released a number of documentaries that could be classified as “live stories”—docuseries that bring us right up to the present day but often leave viewers with lingering questions. Unsolved Mysteries is perhaps the most well-known example, but Con Mum, a recent British documentary, also left plenty unanswered. Since its release, however, major new developments have come to light, with Dionne Hornigold now caught and arrested in Singapore.
As a quick refresher, Con Mum is a feature-length documentary centered on London pastry chef Graham Hornigold. Out of the blue, he received an email from someone claiming to be his long-lost mother. While that claim turned out to be true—and was initially met with joy—it would later unravel into a devastating scam. Dionne, his biological mother, conned him out of over £300,000 by claiming she was terminally ill and unable to access her supposed fortune. After draining him financially, she vanished without a trace and left him broke and with a broken family. As it turns out, Graham wasn’t her only victim either, with his mother, Dionne Hornigold, having a long criminal past.
Another victim of Dionne’s scams, Peng, received a reply Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brunei in the movie, and got the following reply: “To the Embassy’s knowledge, there is no person named Dionne Marie Hanna or Theresa Haton Mahamud, as stated in your email, who is related to Brunei royal family.”
The documentary concludes with a phone call between Graham and his mother, who appears to be apologetic about the entire situation.
Along with the documentary, a follow-up interview with The Guardian was released to coincide with the Netflix release. The newspaper concluded the article with Graham speculating that Dionne could be living in Malaysia, Singapore, or Indonesia, and that while Netflix approached her for comment, she didn’t respond. That, it seemed, was the end of it, until this weekend.
Picture: Netflix
Channel News Asia broke the news with the headline: “Woman at the centre of Netflix documentary Con Mum charged in Singapore with fraud.”
Dionne Marie Hanna was arrested in Singapore on March 28th and subsequently charged on April 5th, following the release of the Netflix doc. She was charged with five counts of fraud involving three victims, appearing in court via videolink from a hospital bed. Hanna, who was unrepresented, is accused of deceiving victims in both France and Singapore with false claims of investment opportunities, inheritance entitlements, and terminal illness. She allegedly tricked individuals into transferring money for legal fees and overseas accounts, with promises of large donations and reimbursements through her supposed Brunei royal heritage and wealth.
Per the report, “Singapore police said on Friday that Hanna is believed to be involved in at least five cases of cheating with losses amounting to more than S$200,000.”
The victims began reporting the scams after recognising Hanna in the documentary. Authorities are now investigating her in connection with at least five cheating cases, involving losses exceeding S$200,000. Her case is scheduled for “mention again” (a follow-up session) on April 11th.
Following the Netflix documentary release, it featured in 54 individual countries’ weekly top 10 and has picked up 9.4M watch hours, equating to around 6.3M views. As we wrote in our Netflix top 10 report, it had a fairly weak opening compared to other documentaries after six days of release.
Con Mum is now streaming on Netflix globally.
Rating: TV-MA
