No evidence that Boris Berezovsky was killed, say police

Detectives investigating the death of exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky have said there is no evidence of any outside involvement after he was found dead at his Berkshire mansion, reportedly with a scarf next to his body.

Berezovsky was discovered by a member of his staff who had not seen his boss for 11 hours until he forced open a bathroom door which was locked from the inside to find the 67-year-old lying dead on the floor.

Thames Valley police said officers were now "building a picture of the last days of Mr Berezovsky's life, speaking to close friends and family to gain a better understanding of his state of mind". Berezovsky had been suffering from depression for several months after a shattering high court defeat last year to his former business partner, Roman Abramovich, and amid mounting debts.

Berezovsky's former wife, Galina, who owns the house and had allowed him to live there, arrived while a paramedic was on the scene and has told friends that a scarf was found next to his body. Nikolai Glushkov, one of Berezovsky's oldest friends, spoke to her afterwards and said last night: "Boris was strangled. Either he did it himself or with the help of someone. [But] I don't believe it was suicide. This was not just a normal death."

Glushkov, a former deputy director of Aeroflot, who like Berezovsky fled from Russia to Britain, said Galina emerged from the scene believing Berezovsky may have been murdered. Other friends were also sceptical about suicide, Kazinform has learnt from the Guardian.

DCI Kevin Brown, of Thames Valley, police said: "It would be wrong to speculate on the cause of death until the postmortem has been carried out. We do not have any evidence at this stage to suggest third-party involvement."

He added: "We are at the early stages of the investigation and we are retaining an open mind as we progress."

The staff member who discovered the body and called the emergency services is understood to have been the only other person in the house at the time.

Fears that Berezovsky was poisoned were raised late on Saturday when police officers trained in handling chemical, biological and radioactive material were called in. Lanes around the gated lakeside property were sealed off to vehicles and pedestrians after a personal electronic dosimeter, a device worn by the paramedic that typically picks up abnormal levels of radiation, was triggered. After specialists gave the property the all-clear on Sunday morning, scene-of-crime officers went in to continue the investigation around Berezovsky's body, which remained in situ. A Home Office pathologist is expected to carry out a postmortem early this week. Berezovsky had reportedly also suffered from heart problems.