- Investigators suspect Eva Rausing, 48, may have died as long as four weeks before the grim discovery a week ago
- Officers forced their way past a Filipino employee shouting ‘out of bounds, out of bounds’ to find her decomposing remains in £70m Chelsea mansion
-
Her husband Hans Kristian Rausing, 49, remains in
a secure hospital, receiving treatment for a mental
breakdown and drugs withdrawal
By
Chris Greenwood
11:06 EST, 15 July 2012
|
21:27 EST, 15 July 2012
The body of Eva Rausing may have lain undiscovered for four weeks as her loyal housemaid prevented anyone from entering her bedroom.
Her body was only found when police forced their way past a Filipino employee shouting ‘out of bounds, out of bounds’ as they searched for drugs.
They were alerted by a strong smell of decomposition after arriving at the sprawling £70million Georgian mansion several hours after arresting her husband.
Grim discovery: Police found the badly decomposed body of Eva Rausing, right, several hours after arresting her husband Hans Kristian Rausing, left
Investigators now suspect Mrs Rausing, 48, may have died as long as four weeks before the grim discovery a week ago.
They are studying CCTV, banking and phone records, as well as statements from friends and neighbours, to try to identify her last movements.
Her sister Be, 47, said she travelled to London from the U.S. at the beginning of June but could not find her, despite banging on her bedroom door.
She said: ‘The housekeeper let me in and I went upstairs to her bedroom and I was knocking on the door and texting her and calling out to her and there was no reply.
‘I think my sister was in there, passed away. I’d been worrying for weeks. I suspected something awful had happened.’
Prelude to a tragedy: Eva and Hans Rausing at a Windsor polo match with her sister Be and her fiance polo player Jack Kidd in 2000
£70 million home: Police outside the Rausing’s London mansion in Cadogan Place where Eva was found dead
Billionaire Hans Kristian Rausing may have lived with his wife Eva’s dead body for up to four days before it was discovered by police
Hans Kristian Rausing, 49, remained in
a secure hospital last night, receiving treatment for a mental
breakdown and drugs withdrawal.
Mr
Rausing, whose fortune came from the £4.5billion Tetra Pak packaging
empire, remains under arrest on suspicion of murdering his wife but
cannot be interviewed until declared fit by medical staff.
The
advanced decomposition of her body has made the task of identifying how
she died more difficult for police and pathology staff.
An initial
post-mortem examination last week failed to find a cause of death and a
second may take place this week on the instructions of her husband’s
legal team.
Smile: Internet pictures from her Myspace page of Eva Rausing who was found dead in her home in Belgravia
Meanwhile
investigators are waiting for the detailed results of a battery of
toxicology tests that could indicate what role was played by drugs and
alcohol.
The sensitive tests will also help pinpoint exactly when she
died by measuring levels of chemicals produced naturally after death.
The news came as unsent emails composed by Mrs Rausing emerged showing her desperate battle with drugs and fear of death.
In
one, written in January 2010 and published in a Sunday newspaper, she
appealed for help to her husband’s father Hans, who built the family
fortune.
Glamour: The couple leave a party thrown by Tatler Magazine and Daimler Chrysler in Portman Square, London in 2003
Life of privilege: The Rausings at a society
ball eight years ago (left) and at The Grosvenor House Arts And Antiques
Fair in London in 2003
She said: ‘I
realise that I will die and there is a part of me that desperately does
not want to die and wants to fight, fight, fight but I am sliding and I
am desperately calling to you for help.
‘If nothing changes I will die,
Hans. I just felt that I did not want to die without trying everything
that I possibly could to reach you and to ask you to please help me.
‘Your son feels very, very hopeless. Although I stick close to him, I am losing my grip because I am weakening.’
Mr
Rausing was found with a small amount of crack cocaine after police
pulled him over in Wandsworth, South West London. A team of murder
squad detectives, led by Detective Inspector Charles King, hope to be
able to speak to him before the end of the week.
-
How different can one man look? Hilarious portraits of…
-
French demand Crown Jewels from the Queen to compensate for…
-
Edwardian street style: Astonishing amateur images which…
-
Olympic security farce: Now MI5 sacks systems experts after…
-
Who are they? Hunt for mystery military man and new fiancée…
-
Women overtake men in IQ tests for the first time in 100…
-
Why the man behind £500m lingerie empire jumped off the…
-
City of the Century that became a ghost town: Tragic…
-
Did Eva’s body lay undiscovered for FOUR weeks? Loyal…
-
Competitors told Olympic Park isn’t ready just TWO WEEKS…
-
Horrific moment Israeli protester sets himself on fire is…
-
Boy, 12, dies three days after ‘doctors fail to spot…
Share this article:
Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons.