Netflix’s ‘Con Mum’: How Finding Lost Family Cost Him A Marriage And First-Time Fatherhood

Con Mum tells the story of renowned British pastry chef, and celebrity guest judge from Junior Bake-off, Top Chef, and MasterChef: The Professionals, Graham Hornigold, who found adult success after a childhood that involved adoption, foster care, abuse at the hands of his biological father, and growing up without any information about his biological mother.

So when a stranger named Dionne reached out to Hornigold in 2020, claiming to be that missing mother looking to reconnect with her estranged son, he thought he had found the missing piece to his family tree. The emotional stakes of their reunion are heightened by Dionne’s alleged terminal illness, immense fortune, and claims to royal lineage as the illegitimate daughter of the former Sultan of Brunei.

Dionne promises Hornigold an extravagant inheritance, buys him and his wife luxurious cars, and whisks him off to Switzerland to meet with private bankers, all while the family is expecting, and then welcoming their first-born child. Dionne managed to swindle Hornigold out of £100,000, and combined with her possessive and accusatory nature, put a strain on the couple’s marriage, leading Heather to eventually relocate to New Zealand with their child.

The biggest gut punch of the film is when Hornigold finally completes a DNA test to verify once and for all whether this manipulative grifter is in fact his biological mother. I won’t spoil the results here, but either possibility would be devastating for a man who simply wanted to make up for lost time by establishing a relationship with his parent later in life.

Directed by BAFTA-nominated filmmaker Nick Green, Con Mum delves into the psychological and financial impact endured by the many people Dionne preyed upon, featuring interviews with Hornigold, family, friends, and other victims of this manipulative mastermind.