An 85-year-old British woman already facing fraud charges connected to a high-profile Netflix documentary has received dozens of additional accusations as investigators expand their probe into her alleged decades-long scam. Dionne Marie Hanna, a Singapore resident who became a household name after the streaming platform released *Con Mum* in March 2025, now stands accused of defrauding 14 people out of large sums of money to finance her opulent public persona.
Hanna’s alleged scheme relies on one consistent, elaborate lie: she claims to be an illegitimate, wealthy member of Brunei’s royal family, set to receive a massive multi-million dollar inheritance that has been tied up in legal red tape. To access that inheritance, she tells her targets, she needs small upfront sums to cover legal fees, administrative costs, and bank processing charges — promising 10-fold repayment as soon as her assets are released. She has also leveraged sympathy by claiming she is terminally ill, and even told some victims she would donate large portions of her inheritance to local Singaporean Muslim charities and a mosque once it became available, court documents show.
Prior to Thursday’s announcement, Hanna already faced five charges connected to allegations that she deceived three men across Singapore and France into transferring funds to her accounts. The 34 new charges bring her total count to 39, and expand the roster of alleged victims to include her own biological son, London-based Michelin-starred pastry chef Graham Hornigold. According to local Singaporean broadcaster Channel NewsAsia, the new accusations lay out a pattern of bold deception: in one case, Hanna convinced a man to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal expenses for her, after promising to name him her stepson and repay him in full from her inheritance. In another, she persuaded a woman to give her money for supposed processing fees, with a guarantee that Hanna would purchase high-end vehicles including a Lexus and an Aston Martin, plus a luxury property in Singapore’s exclusive Sentosa Cove neighborhood, for her after the inheritance cleared.
Hanna was first arrested and charged last year, after the production of *Con Mum* brought her alleged activities to public attention. The documentary follows Hornigold’s emotional journey reconnecting with Hanna, who reached out to him out of the blue claiming to be his long-lost mother. A DNA test confirmed her biological relation, and she quickly won over the chef and his inner circle by presenting herself as a wealthy, loving parent eager to make up for lost time. She initially lavished Hornigold, his former partner, and their friends with expensive gifts ranging from cars to property, but soon began asking for increasing sums of money to cover supposed inheritance-related costs. By the end of the ordeal, Hornigold told the documentary he had lost roughly £300,000 to her schemes. The film also notes that Hanna has prior convictions for fraud and shoplifting in the United Kingdom.
Hanna currently faces charges of cheating and fraud by false representation, the latter of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if she is convicted. Her case is scheduled for a pre-trial conference in May 2025, as prosecutors continue to build their case against the 85-year-old.