Grieving family of Hollyoaks star's mum killed ‘in horror murder-suicide' in France ban joint funeral from taking place

The Irish Sun

5 hours ago

Police initially probed whether it was a gangland hit linked to his former job but are now treating the tragedy as a murder-suicide
MURDERED MUM Grieving family of Hollyoaks star's mum killed 'in horror murder-suicide' in France ban joint funeral from taking place
GRIEVING family of a Hollyoaks star's mum has banned a joint funeral with their stepfather as cops believe he murdered her before taking his own life.
Brit expats Andrew and Dawn Searle both died in February at their remote home in Les Pesquiès, north of Toulouse, France.
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Hollyoaks star Callum Kerr with his mum Dawn
Credit: Instagram
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Callum walked his mother down the aisle in 2023 when she married Andrew
Credit: Instagram
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Andrew was found hanging inside the houe in France
Credit: Facebook
Financial crime buster Andrew, 62, was found hanging from a radiator while wife Dawn, 56, suffered multiple blows to the head.
Police initially probed whether it was a gangland hit linked to his former job, but are now treating the tragedy as a murder-suicide.
Dawn's heartbroken son Callum Kerr, an actor and singer, and his grieving sister Amanda want their mum left out of her husband's funeral.
They have 'firmly' requested Andrew's family not to include her in their service and urged Dawn's friends not to go or post pictures of the couple together.
Callum and Amanda wrote in a family statement posted on their social media today: 'It would be inappropriate for her memory to be associated with a service honouring the man who, based on all available evidence, may have been responsible for her death.'
The siblings claim murder-suicide is the 'prevailing hypothesis', adding: 'There is also no evidence whatsoever of any third party's involvement at this stage'.
They will be climbing Sicily's Mount Etna to mark what would have been their mum's 58th birthday on May 18 next year.
A GoFundMe page in their mum's previous name Dawn Kerr has raised more than £3,400 for domestic violence charity Women's Aid.
It reads: 'In February, our mum was taken from us. There's no way to put into words how that feels.
'But we're hoping this challenge brings some good into the world in her name.
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'We want to create something that reflects who she truly was, and to change what comes up when people search her name.
'This is for Dawn Kerr. Always.'
Dawn's son, Callum, is best known for playing PC George Kiss in the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks between 2020 and 2021.
Callum also starred in Netflix's Virgin River - playing young Everett, Mel's father, in the most recent series.
The 30-year-old has over 135,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and released his new track Cold Beer Cold just hours after his mum's death.
Dawn was found lying in front of her house, partly undressed, while Andrew was found hanged from a radiator.
It remains unclear when exactly the pair died.
A post-mortem found Dawn died from a "significant head wound" but it remains unclear how long she had received that before the shocking discovery of their bodies.
Police said she suffered "multiple blows to the head with a blunt and sharp-edged object."
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Andrew was last seen on CCTV at a tobacconist