Tycoon 'not sorry' over rival's death

Published on Friday 9 January 2004 00:00

NOTORIOUS property tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten suggested today he was no longer sorry about the death of his former business rival Mohammed Raja, the man he was cleared of killing.

Mr Hoogstraten, 58, walked free from the Old Bailey last month following the death in July 1999 of Mr Raja, who was suing him.

Mr Raja’s family pursued his civil case after his death and, in December 2002, won a 5 million claim for alleged property fraud against Mr Hoogstraten, who is appealing.

In a television interview to be shown tonight, Mr Hoogstraten was asked if he was "sorry" Mr Raja was dead.

He replied: "I was at the time, yes - but subsequently, as a result of the action by his family and that, I’m beginning to see things in a different light."

Pressed as to whether he was not sorry any longer, he said: "I was sorry at the time, no matter what he’s done and what he’s involved in. He didn’t exactly deserve that, no."

Father-of-six Mr Raja was shot and stabbed at his home in Sutton, south London, by two men - Robert Knapp, 59, and David Croke, 54 - who are now serving life sentences.

Mr Hoogstraten, from Uckfield, East Sussex, had also been accused of murdering Mr Raja. He was cleared in 2002 but found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for ten years.

Last July he won a retrial, where his lawyers successfully argued that the manslaughter case against him could not stand up in law and he was cleared.