With the mystery surrounding the death of 69-year-old hedge fund tycoon Michael Treichl and the fire at his Grade I-listed family home still unsolved, a further enigma has now emerged – the whereabouts of his multi-million-pound fortune.
Lawyers for Treichl last week gained a grant of probate, and revealed he left less than £325,000, despite years of deal-making.
Treichl, who comes from one of the wealthiest families in Austria, was found drowned in Lake Geneva, Switzerland, in June – weeks after being arrested and questioned by police over the blaze which destroyed 500-year-old Parnham House.
He had spent a rumoured £10 million restoring the Dorset mansion, which he had bought for £4 million in 2001.
There have been suggestions that he dramatically burned down the house and then took his own life.
It was never properly explained why some treasures appeared to have been rescued from the house, or who had let thoroughbred horses belonging to his wife Emma, a former Vogue model, out of their stables, allowing them to escape the blaze.
Emma and their four children had been on holiday in France.
It is believed that Treichl was the man caught on CCTV buying a rucksack that was subsequently discovered close to the burned-out house.
The City was awash with rumours that the Harvard-educated financier had suffered a series of damaging losses after betting on the Brexit vote.
However, others point out that it was unlikely Treichl committed suicide because he was clearly preparing for the future.
He had submitted plans for the redevelopment of his beloved house, and even planned shooting parties and a trip to Paris with Emma.
Now comes a grant of probate showing such a small estate – but with a highly significant sum of money. For inheritance tax is levied by the Inland Revenue on estates worth more than the £325,000 threshold.
Does this mean that Treichl’s true wealth is hidden offshore, beyond the reach of Inland Revenue? Is this merely the sort of careful tax planning used by most wealthy individuals?
Or is it evidence that, as a well-placed source told this newspaper, Mr Treichl had ‘put his affairs in order’ not long before his death. The questions remain.
Sir Mick Jagger currently has two much younger girlfriends, but that doesn’t stop people gossiping about the 74-year-old’s love life.
Comedian David Baddiel says he saw the singer romancing a young blonde at an Election party in June. Baddiel told how Mick approached the woman and was quickly ‘canoodling’ and ‘whispering in her ear’.
‘She was so young I’m not sure she’d have known who the Rolling Stones were,’ Baddiel joked. I wonder what Melanie Hamrick, 30, the mother of his eighth child, and new squeeze Noor Alfallah, 23, will make of the tale.
Another week, another blunder by the Beirut Beefcake! Hunky James Longman – who got his nickname by flaunting his body on Instagram during his stint as a BBC Middle East reporter – suffered a new calamity when he dropped a bottle of water all over his trousers while driving to meet the Pope in Rome.
Luckily James was just about able to dry off before boarding a flight to Burma to cover Pope Francis’s tour for ABC News.
You won't believe what they tell me...
'I have spent £24 million on two wives. I feel like Rod Stewart, who said, “I am not going to get married again. I am just going to find a woman I don’t like and buy her a house.”
Is John Cleese a little bit bitter?
'I rescued three leopards from a zoo in Cyprus and took them to South Africa. They might associate my smell with freedom.'
Ruth Wilson tells me at the Born Free Foundation gala dinner that she isn’t just an actress – she’s a leopard freedom fighter!
'When I go past Battersea Power Station I always check the sky for pigs.'
Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason admits to me that his band’s iconic album cover still haunts him after 40 years.
'I love paying bills. It gives me so much joy. I feel like a grown-up and I get really excited.'
If that’s Scarlett Moffatt’s idea of fun, I’m sending the Gogglebox star, above, my gas bill today...
'Oh don’t bother calling me Dame.'
Vivienne Westwood keeps it real when we meet at the 50th birthday party of her son Joe Corre, founder of Agent Provocateur, at the Institute of Contemporary Arts.
'Would I accept a knighthood? I just couldn’t be bothered with the day out. I would if they sent it through the post or if it was delivered by a drone into the back garden.'
Noel Gallagher shouldn’t worry – I don’t think honouring him is the Queen’s top priority.
'I have no interest in a man. Been there done that. Over that. I am trying to save the planet.'
Heather Mills, once married to Sir Paul McCartney, is now trying to rescue us all, she told me at the Brilliant Is Beautiful charity gala. You have to admire her ambition.
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