Trial over poisoning and forged will of former Warner Music boss opens

PARIS (AFP) - The trial over the 2008 murder of an Australian music executive friendly with Elton John and Madonna opened in Paris on Monday, in a bizarre case that has riveted the entertainment world.

Alexandre Despallieres was suspected of poisoning his ex-partner, the former Warner Music boss Peter Ikin, to inherit his fortune using a forged will, but died aged 53 this year in Paris before the case reached trial.

Two suspected accomplices of the French man - known as "handsome Alex" - are being prosecuted 14 years later for their role in forging the will that sent millions of euros to Despallieres' account.

Mr Ikin, who reportedly was once Madonna's producer and friends with Elton John - who called him "a fabulous person" - according to the Daily Mail, was found dead in a Paris hotel in November 2008 aged 62.

The autopsy determined that he died of natural causes, but the multimillionaire's nephew Gary Perritt suspected foul play.

Mr Perritt pressed charges for murder in December 2009, prompting new analyses that found a mortal dose of paracetamol in Ikin's blood that investigators believe was administered by Despallieres.

Mr Ikin and Despallieres had first met in 1988 and had a brief affair before going separate ways, but crossed paths again in Sydney seven months before Mr Ikin's death.

Despallieres is believed to have told Mr Ikin that he had become extremely wealthy and that he wanted to bestow his fortune on him as he was dying of a brain tumour, two assertions that were in fact lies.

The pair signed a civil partnership in Britain in October 2008, making Despallieres the sole heir of Mr Ikin's wealth estimated at 20 million euros.

To seal the union, the couple exchanged cheques of 50,000 pounds and each promised the other not to cash them.

Despallieres promptly broke his word, and when Mr Ikin tried to cash the cheque in his possession, the bank refused due to a lack of funds in the French man's account.

When Australian courts refused to recognise him as Mr Ikin's heir based on the British civil union, Despallieres produced a fake will - allegedly with the help of the two men, aged 40 and 37, on trial in Paris.

One of the men told investigators that Despallieres tried to make the document seem authentic by putting it on a radiator and leaving it out in the sun.

The men said that they were manipulated by Despallieres. One of them, a former partner of his known as Vincent, said he did not know what the document was and does not understand English.

"(Despallieres) was sinister and malicious," the other suspect Jeremy, who was also briefly Despallieres' lover, told the court Monday.

In December 2009, the High Court of Justice in London said the only valid will was one drawn up by Mr Ikin in 2002.

The court ordered Despallieres to return the money and assets, which included a flat in the plush Chelsea district of London and several Porsche cars.

Despallieres was charged with murder in 2010, but left jail in 2012 for medical reasons, as he was HIV positive. He was under judicial supervision, but a judge decided in May 2020 that he should stand trial.

The proceedings are set to last two days.