Boris Berezovsky death: tycoon 'found with ligature around his neck'

Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky was found by paramedics lying dead in his bathroom with a ligature around his neck, an inquest heard today.

A second piece of material was found tied to a shower rail above him, suggesting the 67-year-old had hanged himself.

His body was discovered at his £20million Ascot mansion on Saturday after a bodyguard became concerned and smashed the door open.

At the opening of the inquest into his death, Detective Inspector Mark Bissell of Thames Valley Police told the coroner the pathologist who carried out the post mortem examination “found nothing to indicate a violent struggle or involvement of a third party”.

He told Berkshire Coroner’s Court paramedics “discovered Mr Berezovsky lying in his bathroom with a ligature around his neck and a piece of a similar material tied around the shower rail above him”.

He added: “The post mortem results found the cause of death is consistent with hanging.”

But he told the court that police that the possibility someone else was involved in Mr Berezovsky’s death “could not be completely eliminated” as results of further tests on his body had not yet come back.

It will be several weeks before the results of the tests, including toxicology and histology examinations, are known.

Officers have said they are speaking to his close friends and family to build up a picture of his state of mind in the last days of his life.

It emerged today that the Russian had changed his name by Deed Poll in 2003 to Platon Elenin.

His body was identified by his daughter Elizaveta Berezovskaya, coroner Peter Bedford was told.

But close friends and supporters of Berezovsky do not believe he killed himself. They doubt reports that Berezovsky, a staunch critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, had written a grovelling letter to the Russian leader begging to be allowed back to his home country.

There is speculation among those close to the former billionaire that he was the victim of a professional hit for speaking out against Putin’s regime, saying suicide was “not in his DNA”.