These are the last images of British man Andrew Searle who was found dead along with his wife in their idyllic French home.
Mr Searle can be seen entering a tobacconist in the nearby town of Villefranche de Rouergue at just before 6pm on Wednesday evening as the shop was closing.
Appearing happy and relaxed he is seen buying a chocolate bar and two 3 Euro Lottery tickets before thanking the shopkeeper and walking away to his car outside where wife Dawn was waiting.
Around his neck is a tracking device used to keep an eye on the couple’s two hunting dogs and which were found at the scene and taken away for DNA testing by police following what has been described as their ‘violent deaths’.
Isabelle Palazy, 58, who served Mr Searle said: ‘I just couldn’t believe it when I heard the news. He and Dawn were regular customers. He would come in every day and buy Fortuna Blue cigarettes.
‘That day he came in just before I was closing and he seemed perfectly happy, he was relaxed and he chatted and bought some chocolate and two lottery tickets.
‘Thinking that they were to die less than 24 hours later makes me go cold, I just can’t believe it. They were a lovely couple, always happy and chatting and they spoke reasonably good French.
Andrew Searle can be seen entering a tobacconist in the nearby town of Villefranche de Rouergue at just before 6pm on Wednesday evening as the shop was closing
He is seen buying a chocolate bar and two 3 Euro Lottery tickets before thanking the shopkeeper and walking away
Around his neck is a tracking device used to keep an eye on the couple’s two hunting dogs
Mr Searle appears happy and relaxed as he visits the store, which he went to regularly
Andrew and Dawn Searle, who were in their 60s, were found dead Thursday afternoon
Mrs Searle’s son, Scottish actor Callum Kerr, known for his role as PC George Kiss (pictured) in Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks between 2020 and 2021
The house where the couple were discovered on Thursday afternoon in Les Pesquiès, south of Villefranche-de-Rouergue
‘He was working on his house, and he would come and boy chocolate bars here, KitKat and Kinder were his favourite.’
On the CCTV Mr Searle can be seen entering the shop at 17.51 just as a woman with a baby are about to leave.
He is seen waiting patiently behind another man before picking up the chocolate placing it on the counter and asking for two lottery tickets.
He pays with a card before leaving two minute slater at 17.53 and he and his wife were found the next day at just before 12.30pm.
It comes after it emerged he was seen ‘arguing violently’ on the phone just hours before his death.
Retired financial investigator Searle, 65, and Dawn, 56, who only married two years ago were found last Thursday by a horrified friend who was worried he hadn’t seen them out with their dogs.
Mrs Searle’s son is Scottish actor Callum Kerr, known for his role as PC George Kiss in the soap Hollyoaks between 2020 and 2021.
A neighbour who lives close the house in Les Pesquies, two hours north of Toulouse, described how she saw the couple the day before they died and said: ‘The whole village is shocked by what happened. No-one can believe it.
‘They were such a friendly couple and had a barbeque every year at the end of the summer and everyone was invited.
‘I saw them the day before they were found, they were walking the dogs and Andrew was on the phone.
‘He was very agitated, and he was arguing violently in English, he just waved at me and then carried on. I don’t know, maybe it’s relevant but I can’t see burglary as a motive.’
It comes as a shocking new theory is being considered, with police saying they are also looking into whether the couple’s deaths were a murder-suicide.
Prosecutor Nicolas Rigot-Muller said both had died a ‘violent death’ and added: ‘All leads remain under serious consideration,’ and when asked if murder-suicide was a possibility he said: ‘It’s being considered.’
