Kriti Mehrotra
As a documentary film living up to its title in every way conceivable, Netflix’s Nick Green-directed ‘Con Mum’ can only be described as equal parts baffling, harrowing, and intriguing. That’s because it delves deep into how renowned pastry chef Graham Hornigold’s life was upended after the mother he never knew came into his life after 45 long years. But alas, little did he know that Dionne Marie Hanna was an alleged con artist and had seemingly only approached him for the sole purpose of taking advantage of his vulnerable emotionality.
Dionne Hanna is Reportedly a Career Con Artist
While nothing about Dionne Hanna’s background, early years, or experiences is clear, considering her nomadic lifestyle, it has been reported that she was born in Malaysia and immigrated to the UK in 1971. It has also been difficult to track her over the years because of the various name combinations she has allegedly used. She was definitely an adult by this point since her November 28, 1970, marriage certificate has her birth year as 1940, but her second marriage record on March 21, 1984, has her birth year as 1950. She reportedly got married again in 1994, but the exact date of her marriage or with whom she tied the knot is unclear as of writing.
Moreover, it is imperative to note that there was another discrepancy in Dionne’s official records — the name of her father. Her 1970 certificate has her father’s name as just Mahumad, whereas her 1984 record has him as the late Antonio Lerres and her 1994 document has him as the late violinist Ising William. Yet, when Dionne met Graham (born on November 26, 1974) as his missing mother in 2020, she claimed she was the 85-year-old illegitimate child of the former Sultan of Brunei, Omar Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien. As if that’s not enough, according to the aforementioned documentary, Dionne also indicated to the pastry chef that she was a very successful and wealthy businesswoman.
Dionne claimed to speak 18 languages, do a lot of philanthropic work, and have different types of fruit farms all over Asia, along with a palm oil business in Indonesia as well as Malaysia. However, as time passed, it came to light that before the COVID-19 lockdown resulted in her being stuck in England, she was in Indonesia, reportedly conning the huge Muslim population, alleging she would help them make the Hajj pilgrimage but never actually financially backing them. Furthermore, Dionne does have a criminal record as she was sentenced for three shoplifting charges in 1980 and 4 charges of obtaining cash and jewelry by deception in 1982. As per reports, she had pled guilty to the latter and had even admitted to having obtained property by deception.
Dionne Hanna’s Alleged Cons Have Been More Than Just Financial
While Dionne did primarily benefit financially from everyone she has allegedly lied to or swindled, there has been an emotional aspect behind it, too, especially in the past few years. In her alleged Indonesian scams, she played with people’s religious sentimentalities by claiming she would pay for their Hajj pilgrimage if they helped her, but she never repaid anyone. In fact, one man, Agik, ended up losing at least 627 million local rupiahs, or $41,000, to her. As for others, she made things personal by calling them her grandchildren, promising to invest in their future/businesses, spending time with them, and sharing her troubles as an elderly woman who allegedly uses a wheelchair and is living with terminal cancer.
However, this went to another level when it came to Graham Hornigold. She emailed him out of the blue in 2020, claiming she could be the mother he never knew as her own son named Graham was taken away from her. He was initially skeptical, but all the questions he asked her about his birth, from what he knew from his family or his birth certificate, received the correct response. She knew that he was born in a British Army Hospital in Germany and that his mother’s name on his birth certificate was Haton Mahamud, claiming she previously used to go by Teressa Haton Mahamud.
So, Dionne invited him and his then-pregnant partner to where she was staying in Liverpool, where they connected to such an extent that he 100% believed she was his mother. The fact she claimed he was taken away from her forcibly and that she now only has 6 months to live because of an alleged terminal brain tumor and bone marrow cancer also pulled him in further. But alas, little did he know that she would soon have him pay for her lavish meals, set up credit cards for her, and even drive a wedge between him and his partner by ensuring they never got to spend any quality time together. In the end, he lost over €300,000 to her, and while he is a part of his son’s life, he and his son’s mother are no longer together.
Dionne Hanna Can Admittedly Never Change Her Ways
While Graham’s partner Heather Kaniuk became suspicious of Dionne rather early on because of her cold, nasty behavior towards her as a new mother, it took Graham over a year to get on the same page. By this point, he had made some extreme decisions, thinking he wouldn’t have his mother in his life for a long while, and even introduced her to some friends of his, just for one of them to get through to them. That’s when he realized that while Dionne made big promises of going through the proceedings of giving him generational inheritance through her many businesses and backgrounds, there wasn’t any proof of the same. The expensive cars she had “gifted” him to remove “45 years of pain” were also in his name under a monthly payment plan, which she didn’t pay for after a few months.
Graham asked her about it, and when he didn’t receive any solid confirmation, he decided to snoop through her luxurious hotel room, where he found her medicines and red food coloring. All her medicines were for hypertension, diabetes, flu, etc., meaning nothing pointed towards cancer, and while she claimed the coloring was a Chinese homemade remedy for her ailments, he knew it was a show – she had once claimed to have bloody urine to have him rush by her side, and that was when Heather had just given birth a day prior. The fact one of Dionne’s other alleged victims had contacted him to say she actually had no connections to the Royal family of Brunei further shattered him.
Therefore, Graham decided to do a DNA test to really figure out who she was, unaware that it was one of the last times he would ever see her in person – she disappeared from his life shortly after. The test proved with no uncertainty that he was indeed Dionne’s biological son, which hurt him even more because he couldn’t fathom what kind of a mother would take such advantage of her own son and then leave him all alone to pick up the pieces. He doesn’t call her “mum” anymore, but as per the documentary, she did reach out to him a year after vanishing to say she was sorry.
Dionne said she was in Malaysia now but that she was sorry for what she did and that she really does love him. “I’m sorry for what happened,” she told Graham over a video call, per the documentary film. “…From the bottom of my heart, I am sorry. I done what I done. I can not change, son. I can not change.” Therefore, with Dionne preferring to stay away from the limelight, we can only assume she still resides somewhere in Asia and continues to live a champagne-sipping, hotel-hopping, and jet-setting lifestyle through any means necessary.
