NetflixNetflix just dropped Con Mum, a new documentary involving the stranger-fiction case of Graham Hornigold and his mother, Dionne.
Ever since the release of Tinder Swindler, the true crime genre has experienced a significant rise in titles about scammers. In the past year alone, Netflix has dropped Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam, Apple Cider Vinegar, and Sweet Bobby, to name a few.
Now, it’s turning focus to Graham Hornigold, a British pastry chef who believed his dreams came true in 2020 when his long lost mother Dionne was brought back into his life. But what began as a dream reunion soon spiraled into an unexpected nightmare.
With Con Mum on the streaming service now, here’s where Dionne Hornigold – formerly known as Theresa Mahamud – is today. Warning: if you’re not familiar with the case, spoilers ahead.
Where Con Mum Dionne Hornigold is now
NetflixAfter Graham and his ex-wife Heather Kaniuk discovered Dionne was a scam artist, she traveled back to Asia. At the end of the Netflix documentary, Dionne reveals she’s in Malaysia, where she was born, but there have been no updates on her whereabouts since.
Text over the screen reads, “Dionne did not respond to requests for comment. She has never faced criminal charges for the allegations made in this documentary.” It’s believed she is approximately 85 years old.
The allegations come from numerous individuals who claim to have been swindled by Dionne. She essentially ran a Ponzi scheme – a form of fraud that pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors.
When Dionne reached out to Graham in 2020, she presented herself as billionaire businesswoman and claimed to be the illegitimate child of the former Sultan of Brunei.
Related
While Graham was delighted to finally have his mom in his life, he was devastated when she announced that she had cancer and had been given just six months to live.
Upon first meeting, she bought Graham and Heather expensive cars, stayed in five-star hotels, and took her son to Switzerland to set up a trust fund. However, what they didn’t realize was that Dionne had been using funds she’d allegedly conned from others.
Soon enough, she started asking Graham to cover huge bills she’d racked up, eventually leaving him in £300,000 debt. Dionne left others facing a similar dilemma, with several victims appearing in Con Mum to share their story.
Although she hasn’t faced criminal charges for these allegations, she has been arrested in the past.
After doing some digging, Graham and Heather uncovered a report stating that Dionne was arrested in 1982 – at 42 years of age – and pleaded guilty to four counts of obtaining cash and jewelry by deception.
Another article states that she was fined for three shoplifting offences in 1980, and in September that year was given an 18-month prison sentence suspended for two years after admitting offences of obtaining property by deception.
They also discovered Dionne had been married three times, including to Graham’s father. On each of the marriage certificates, her name, date of birth, and fathers are all different.
As Graham says, “I wanted to know who my mom was. This is who she is, and who she has been all of her life. I’ve been side-swiped by a seasoned pro. Just happens to be my mother.”
Among the many lies he was told, Graham discovered Dionne wasn’t dying of cancer after all when he found red food dye in her belongings – which she used to feign having blood in her urine. So, did she lie about being his mom?
Is Dionne Graham’s biological mother?
NetflixA twist unfolds near the end of Con Mum when Graham’s DNA test results reveal a 99.9% chance that Dionne is indeed his biological mother.
Given Dionne’s past, it wouldn’t have been surprising if she’d been lying about being Graham’s mom. What’s more, Dionne refused a DNA test when they first met, which raised further suspicion about whether they’re really related.
Graham was born in Germany, fostered for two years, and then raised by his stepmother and abusive father in the UK.
“I didn’t know my mom. My father never really spoke about her,” he says in the Netflix documentary. “I fantasized about who she might be.” Meanwhile, Heather says Graham just “longed to be loved.”
This missing piece of the puzzle fell into place when, just as the pandemic struck, he got an unexpected message from Dionne asking for a reunion. Ultimately, Dionne knew his vulnerability and used it to manipulate him.
When Heather went to the police, they told her it wouldn’t be seen as fraud because Dionne is Graham’s mother. Graham tried again for a DNA test, and finally she agreed.
No one expected that it would come back as a match. “This is the hardest thing to understand,” Graham says. “Why’d you do it to your son?”
Around the time of the DNA test was one of the last times Graham saw Dionne. A year later, he had a final FaceTime call with her, where Dionne claimed she still loves him and that she’s in Malaysia.
“I’m really sorry for what happened,” she says, to which Graham replies, “Yeah, it was kind of life-changing, mom.”
NetflixDionne continues, “That’s alright. But sorry. From the bottom of my heart, sorry. I done what I done. I cannot change, son. I cannot change.”
When considering why she decided to come into his life at that particular time, Graham came to the realization that it was a question of circumstance.
“When I first met mom, she had a first-class return ticket. It had been used prior to lockdown to come into the UK via Bangkok,” he explains.
“I didn’t realize at the time, but she was due to go back two weeks after the start of lockdown. So the only thing I can draw from there is, if lockdown hadn’t have happened, I probably would never have met her.
“She was a scammer but there’s no transient tourists coming in and out. High-net-worth families, whatever. There’s no way to make a living. So what do you do? You go on the internet, you find your son.”
Is Graham Hornigold still in debt?
NetflixAs is revealed in Con Mum, Dionne left Graham in around £300,000 in debt. Although he’s still in debt, he has his business as a chef and a home.
In an interview with The Guardian, Graham says he’s determined to not let the situation impact his son. The outlet states, “He is still heavily in debt, but has his business, and a home.”
“I won’t let it affect him, in the sense that he won’t see his dad. I’m going to be a big part of his life,” Graham says about his son.
When Dionne first reached out to Graham, he was in a happy relationship with Heather, and the pair fell pregnant. All was going well, until Dionne sunk her claws deeper into her son.
After giving birth, Dionne took Graham to Switzerland and ended up finding ways to keep him there for months. Eventually, he was able to get home for Christmas, but during this time Dionne sent messages claiming to be getting sicker, leaving him feeling torn.
Heather wanted to go to New Zealand as a family so her parents could meet their son, but Dionne told Graham not to go and so she went alone. After everything that unfolded, Heather decided to stay in New Zealand with their child, leaving Graham alone in the UK.
The Guardian said he now “video chats with his son and plans to visit as soon as he can afford to.”
Con Mum is streaming on Netflix now. For more true crime, check out our Good American Family Episode 3 recap, the shocking details of A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read, and the most underrated true crime podcasts.