British conwoman who claimed to be royalty hit with new charges in Singapore
Dionne Marie Hanna, 85, is accused of duping more than two dozen people - including her own son.
BBC News - Asia
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British conwoman who claimed to be royalty hit with new charges in Singapore
22 hours ago
Gavin Butler,Singaporeand
Kelly Ng,Singapore
Netflix
Hanna (whose face has been scratched out in this image) was arrested after the release of the Netflix documentary Con Mum
A British woman who was charged with fraud after allegedly conning multiple people, including her son, to fund her lavish lifestyle will face further charges in Singapore.
Dionne Marie Hanna's alleged victims accuse the Singapore resident of taking their money with the promise they would be reimbursed through her inheritance from Brunei's royal family.
The 85-year-old, who was arrested and charged last year after being featured in the Netflix documentary Con Mum, was handed an additional 34 charges on Thursday, bringing the total against her to 39.
The number of alleged victims has now increased to 14, who were collectively deceived of more than S$800,000 ($626,000; £464,400) in cash and goods.
Among her victims is London-based pastry chef Graham Hornigold, her long-estranged son, although his case is not before the Singapore courts.
The new charge sheets include allegations that Hanna tricked one man into paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenditure on her behalf, telling him she would repay him and make him her stepson.
Another accuses Hanna of telling a woman that she would buy things for her – including Lexus and Aston Martin cars and a property in Singapore's prestigious Sentosa Cove – if the woman gave her money for "processing fees".
In many of the charges, Hanna claimed she was part of the Bruneian royal family and sought her victims' sympathy by saying she was terminally ill with cancer. She would then ask them to help her with outstanding payments and vouched to reimburse them through her inheritance, which she never did.
This was the same modus operandi Hanna was accused in the first tranche of charges handed down last year.
Prosecutors earlier accused her ofdeceiving three men in Singapore and France into transferring money to her accounts, claiming the funds were needed as legal fees and for the opening of new bank accounts.
In exchange for their money, she also made promises to donate millions of dollars to a mosque and a Muslim non-profit organisation in Singapore, the court heard last year.
Hanna faces a raft of charges including cheating and fraud by false representation – the latter of which carries potential fines and jail terms of up to 20 years.
The charges detail offences that took place between August 2024 and end of March last year. All of them allegedly took place in Singapore, although several happened "partly outside Singapore", according to the charge sheets.
Con Mum, which was released on Netflix on 25 March, follows Hornigold's reunion with Hanna in the UK, after she contacts him claiming to be his long-lost mother.
A DNA test later proves this to be true. But in the documentary, Hornigold disputes her claims to royalty.
Hanna presented herself as a wealthy, illegitimate daughter of the sultan of Brunei, initially showering Hornigold, his then-partner Heather Kaniuk and his friends with lavish gifts, from cars to homes.
Despite being initially sceptical, Hornigold, who has worked in Michelin-starred restaurants, quickly developed a close relationship with his mother.
But over time, Hanna began to leave Hornigold and his friends to foot her escalating bills. Hornigold said in the documentary that he lost £300,000 in the process.
The film suggests that Hanna had previously been convicted in the UK for shoplifting and fraud.
Netflix
