PARIS (AFP) - A French star lawyer whose clients ranged from Panama's ex-dictator Manuel Noriega to former prime minister Dominique de Villepin was on Sunday found dead near his private island home in Brittany.

Sources and officials told AFP that the body of Mr Olivier Metzner was found floating in the Gulf of Morbihan, a natural harbour on France's western coast, on Sunday morning. A suicide letter was also found in his home, they said.

The gendarmerie confirmed the death but declined to give any details surrounding it.

During his career, Mr Metzner, 63, succeeded in getting Mr De Villepin acquitted in a case where he was accused of plotting to smear political rival Nicolas Sarkozy.

In 2010, Mr Metzner also defended Panama's Noriega. Noriega was eventually found guilty of money laundering, however, and was sentenced to seven years in prison.