New Netflix True Crime Doc Exposes Shocking ‘Fake Mom’ Scam Targeting Chef

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.

While Dionne promised Hornigold an extravagant inheritance, she simultaneously managed to swindle him out of £100,000, straining his relationships with his wife, Heather, who eventually relocated to New Zealand with their child.

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.