It would have been one 3 core + earth to the programmer, and another on to the thermostat.
I'm guessing the friend attempted to keep the old stat connected in series (given the suggestion to keep it turned up to 30), linking the two black wires and mistakingly connecting the brown to the Non-Connected terminal 4.
But, who knows what they were really thinking!
...and I would never leave without testing - probably many, many times!
Well done @RandomGrinch I am worried when with CH only controls are changed, as the old mechanical thermostat will work with ELV so I always want to test first.