Where is Graham Hornigold now? Details about the Con Mum subject, explored
Netflix's new true crime documentary titled Con Mum tells the shocking story of how Graham Hornigold, a renowned chef, was scammed by a woman claiming to be his birth mother. Hornigold always wanted to find out about his biological mother after being raised by his father and by a foster family. His prayers were answered when Dionne entered his life, claiming to be his mother.
However, little did he know how Dionne would deceive him and devastate his life. Now, Graham Hornigold has finally come forward to share his story with Netflix's Con Mum, detailing how Dionne took advantage of him. Hornigold now lives in London and runs his gourmet finger doughnut brand, Longboys, as well as a patisserie wholesale business and a consultancy firm called Smart Patisserie.
Who is Graham Hornigold, and where is he now?
Graham Hornigold is one of Britain’s top pastry chefs. He is also the co-founder of the patisserie firm Longboys and was a judge on Junior Bake Off. Hornigold was born in Germany in 1974 and was fostered from the age of two for a couple of years. He then went on to live with his father and his stepmother in Hertfordshire.
Hornigold had a difficult childhood with his father, who had violent tendencies, and he had always wanted to know who his biological mother was.
Graham Hornigold started his career in the catering service with a job at Ushers Bakery in St Albans from where he discovered his passion for baking. Following his passion, he took courses at Thames Valley University in Slough before he began working under the tutelage of Lisa Crowe at The Lygon Arms in Broadway, Worcestershire. He also worked at The Park Lane Hotel and Mandarin Oriental, Hyde Park, London.
By the age of 28, he became an executive pastry chef at The Lanesborough Hotel, and the outlet won the Tea Guild’s Award of Excellence for two years running under his guidance. Graham was even named the UK Pastry Chef of the Year in 2007. Owing to his talent and success, he was invited to be a judge on Junior Bake Off and appeared on Masterchef: The Professionals.
In 2019, Graham Hornigold launched Longboys with his partner and fellow pastry chef Heather Kaniuk. The outlet is a small-batch bakery specializing in finger doughnuts. A year after the Longboys business had taken off, during the Covid lockdown, Hornigold received an email from a woman called Dionne, and this changed his life. It read:
“Hi Graham, I’m not sure if this is going to reach you as I’ve been searching for a way to contact you and found this email.”
Dionne sent the email claiming to be Hornigold’s birth mother.
What happened to Hornigold, and where is he now?
After questioning her to check the details, Hornigold arranged to meet her in a hotel in Liverpool. Dionne appeared to be an Asian woman in her 80s, and she revealed she was a wealthy business owner who lived in Singapore and ran fruit farms and palm oil plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia. She also claimed that she was finally making contact with her son because she had a brain tumor and bone marrow cancer and was given just six months to live.
Dionne's arrival coincided with the birth of Hornigold’s son, and she showered expensive gifts on them. However, her health soon took a turn for the worse, and Hornigold moved her into the family home in Kent. A few months later, they even traveled to Zurich to meet with Dionne's bankers and lawyers to arrange for Hornigold to inherit her fortune.
However, while they were away, Graham's partner with whom he had his son, Ms Kaniuk, discovered Dionne’s hotel stays and gifts had been bankrolled by Hornigold, and he was using his savings and credit cards to pay for her.
Hornigold had by then run into debts of hundreds of thousands. This raised concern in her mind, and even Hornigold’s friend Juan was suspicious of Dionne’s intentions. It was only when the chef found red food dye in her hotel suite, that he suspected that she was trying to scam him.
Following this, Dionne returned to Malaysia, and any attempts that Hornigold made to involve the police in the case were unsuccessful. He has admitted in the documentary that his belief in his mother was his downfall.
Graham Hornigold now lives in London and runs the Longboys. He also runs a patisserie wholesale business and the consultancy firm, Smart Patisserie. The chef faced a tough challenge trying to recover from the financial ruin that he was left with after Dionne. He has also revealed that he had to go to therapy to recover mentally from the trauma of the event.
Featuring interviews with the chef himself, his friends, and others who were affected by the scam, the Netflix documentary premiered today, March 25, 2025.
