Murdered Dordogne Briton seen dancing with lover months before killing

Telegraph

05-05-2025

A British woman killed outside her gîte in the Dordogne was filmed dancing with her secret French lover months before her death.
Karen Carter, 65, was found dead near the front porch of the home she rented to holidaymakers in the village of Trémolat, east of Bordeaux.
The mother-of-four was discovered sprawled on the ground next to her car on Tuesday evening, with eight stab wounds on her 'chest, groin, arm and leg' by Jean-Francois Guerrier, a 74-year-old retired Fujitsu executive, with whom she had attended a wine-tasting earlier.
French prosecutors leading the murder investigation said the pair were in a relationship at the time of her death. Her death has been described as a ' crime of passion '.
'Feeling of betrayal'
Mrs Carter's husband, Alan Carter, who is in South Africa, said he was unaware of the relationship until it was publicly announced by French authorities and has described 'a feeling of complete betrayal'.
Police are pursuing the theory that the killer may have harboured a grudge against either the couple or Mrs Carter individually.
The Telegraph has found footage of Mrs Carter and Mr Guerrier dancing with each other at a party hosted outside the Café Village, an eatery and community hub in Trémolat where they regularly volunteered.
In a video, posted on December 13, 2024, onto the Cafe Village Facebook page, Mrs Carter, wearing a black top and cream trousers can be seen bumping hips and singing along to Gloria Gaynor's 'I Will Survive' with Mr Guerrier, wearing a green jumper and dark trousers, next to a dozen or so locals.
The video suggests their relationship may have been publicly known among locals despite Mrs Carter's husband being unaware.
The Telegraph cannot show the video due to French privacy laws.
Mrs Carter was of dual South African and British nationality.
Speaking from his home in East London on South Africa's south-eastern coast, Mr Carter told the Times: 'What has come out of this investigation has confirmed a relationship I did not want to believe and that had been denied to me repeatedly by my wife.'
Mr Carter, who has three children with Mrs Carter, said he had recently challenged her about the amount of time she was spending with Mr Guerrier, who had hosted both of them several times at his farmhouse on the edge of the village.
'I told her that the gossip was tarnishing her reputation but she batted it away and said there was nothing in it,' he told the newspaper.
The Telegraph understands that Mr Carter will be arriving in Tremolat with her four children on Tuesday.