Con Mum: Is it a true story? Is Dionne really Graham's mum?

Con Mum has arrived on Netflix, telling the heartbreaking story of British chef Graham Hornigold, who lost everything after reconnecting with his long-lost mum.

The story of Con Mum is told by Graham himself as well as other people involved.

It uses videos and photographs taken during the months Graham spent with his mum, as well as voicemail messages and voice notes

But how much of the shocking tale told in the documentary is true? Actually, pretty much all of it! Here's the lowdown on Graham's sad story.

What is Con Mum about?

The show features acclaimed pastry chef Graham Hornigold, whose career was going well in the lead-up to meeting his mum in 2020.

He'd appeared on television shows including Junior Bake Off and Masterchef: The Professionals, had launched a chain of doughnut shops and was running a consultancy with his partner Heather Kaniuk.

When Heather found out she was pregnant, just a few weeks before lockdown, the pair explain in the documentary that they were delighted.

Graham says he hadn't known his mum. He had grown up firstly in foster care, then with his estranged father, so he and Heather decided to try to track down his mum but didn't have any luck.

So when they got an email from someone called Dionne, claiming to be his mother, Graham says he was both cautious and delighted. They asked questions that only his mother could know and satisfied that she was the real deal, they met up.

However, no one could have predicted what would happen next.

Is the meeting between Graham and Dionne on Con Mum a reconstruction?

The real-life emotional meeting between Graham and his mum was filmed by Heather — and that's what viewers can see in Con Mum.

Graham appears overwhelmed to finally get the chance to get to know his mum after 45 years without her, but there was bad news in store. The documentary sees Dionne tell her son that she has a brain tumor and cancer of her bone marrow and that she only has six months to live, leading to Graham and Heather deciding to make the most of the time they had left together with Dionne.

What did story Dionne tell Graham?

The documentary sees Dionne tell Graham she is an international businesswoman with interests in fruit farms and palm oil plantations in Malaysia and Singapore.

In the show she is always on the phone, talking in many different languages, and appears used to living the good life becasue she is staying in five-star hotels in London where everyone knows her.

In Con Mum, there is footage of Graham and his mum in hotels, being given top-class service.

Did Dionne really have a royal background?

In the show, Dionne tells Graham — and everyone else — that she is the illegitimate daughter of the former Sultan of Brunei.

When they go to the Dorchester Hotel in London in the documentary, they are treated so well that Graham takes that as evidence she is telling the truth, especially because the hotel is owned by the Brunei royal family.

But, later in the show, it's revealed that there is no proof that Dionne has any links to Brunei.

How does Dionne make Graham think she is rich?

The documentary sees Dionne tell Graham that while she is in London she wants to make up for 45 years of not being with him by buying him a top-of-the-range car.

She takes him to fancy showrooms, where once again she is known by the salespeople — and she even buys Heather a car too so she doesn't feel left out.

When did the cracks in Dionne's story begin to show?

The documentary reveals that shortly after the birth of Heather and Graham's son, Dionne moved in with them. She said her health had worsened, that she had blood in her urine, and Graham says he was understandably worried about her.

But Dionne's relationship with Heather began to show cracks. In Con Mum Heather shares messages left for her by Dionne, criticising her for not letting her spend enough time with the baby.

The series then sees Dionne tell Graham she wants to sign over some money to him before she dies. Her bank accounts, she claims, are in Switzerland, and so he needs to accompany her to Zurich.

Pleased at the chance to secure a stable financial future for his family, Graham left Heather and their new baby behind — with Heather's blessing — and went for a few days.

But the trip was extended and though Dionne was often on the phone with her lawyer and banker, Graham never signed the paperwork. He did catch up with an old friend called Juan, however, who also features in the documentary.

How did Dionne get her hands on Heather and Graham's money?

Heather explains in the documentary that while she was back in England she discovered some big payments out of their bank account to Dionne.

She says it turned out Graham had been paying his mum's hotel bills when she was in London, with her blaming Covid and lockdown for her problems with cashflow.

Graham didn't mind forking out, he says, because he knew she was going to pay him back several times over — but Heather wasn't so pleased.

And over in Zurich, Dionne also made huge promises to Juan, offering him money and a house. But when Graham was elsewhere, the show reveals she asked Juan for a loan — one that Juan couldn't afford.

Who else was conned by Dionne the Con Mum?

The documentary features business partners Junyan and Markus who were thrilled when Dionne offered to invest in their company.

And another businessman called Peng, who was also taken in by her claims of wealth.

How much money did Dionne scam from Graham?

When Dionne came back to London she rented a swanky flat on the banks of the Thames. But eventually Graham discovered that she'd paid for that property with money she borrowed from Peng. He also found red food colouring that she'd used to fake the blood in the toilet.

And then to his horror, Graham says he discovered the cars Dionne had bought him and Heather hadn't been paid for and they owed thousands of pounds.

In Con Mum, Graham tells how he began to realise his mother wasn't who she claimed to be after Juan — encouraged by Heather — told him of their suspicions, and by the time he understood the enormity of his mother's scam, he had lost hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Is Dionne really Graham's mum?

In Con Mum, Graham explains that when he met Dionne she said she didn't want to bother with a DNA test.

Heather says the mother and son looked alike and had similar mannerisms, so they didn't doubt her, but when the extent of her scam was revealed, Graham asked his mother to do a DNA test. The test proved that she was his biological mother. Which, Graham says in Con Mum, makes it worse. "It's the hardest thing to understand," he says in the show.

Where is Dionne from Con Mum now?

Graham doesn't know where Dionne is now and when Netflix contacted her for a comment, she reportedly didn't respond.

Graham says that one thing he does know is that she also lied about having a terminal illness.

Netflix also makes clear in the documentary that Dionne has "never faced criminal charges for the allegations made in this documentary".

Where are Graham and Heather from Con Mum now?

When Dionne was still in their lives, Heather took her son to New Zealand to introduce him to her family, but she never returned.

Though she features in the documentary, Heather lives in New Zealand now and Graham keeps in contact with his little boy and plans to visit soon. Heather says she thinks they'd still be together if it wasn't for Dionne.

"She destroyed her child's life," she says in Con Mum. "With no remorse."

Where can you watch Con Mum?

Con Mum is streaming worldwide on Netflix now.