Tetra Pak heiress found dead in drugs raid

ONE of Britain’s richest women has been found dead at her ­London home during a police drugs search at the property.

The body of Eva Rausing, a member of the family behind the Tetra Pak drinks carton empire, was found in her house in Belgravia on Monday.

A 49-year-old man, who has been arrested in connection with her death, was last night moved from a police station to a “medical facility”.

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He had initially been arrested on suspicion of possession of drugs leading police to carry out a search of the Georgian five-­storey townhouse.

Scotland Yard yesterday confirmed the identity of the body as that of the 48-year-old American billionairess but said further tests were being carried out after an autopsy failed to establish a formal cause of death.

In a statement they said officers from the Homicide and Serious Crime division were investigating and “the death continues to be treated at this time as unexplained.”

Earlier, police officers guarded the front door of the Cadogan Place home, which is in one of London’s most expensive areas just off Sloane Street, between Knightsbridge and Chelsea.

Mrs Rausing was married to Hans Kristian Rausing, the heir to the £5.4bn TetraPak fortune.

Hans Kristian, is the son of Hans Rausing, a UK-based Swedish businessman who made his fortune from his co-inheritance of Tetra Pak, a company founded by his father Ruben Rausing.

The Tetra Laval milk carton, patented by Ruben in the 1960s, allows milk to be kept fresh without refrigeration.

Hans Rausing senior sold his stake in the firm to his brother Gad in 1995, with his current investments including a stake in Ecoclean, an environmentally friendly packaging material.

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In 2008 Hans Kristian and Eva Rausing, daughter of former Pepsi executive Tom Kemeny, were charged with drugs offences after police found crack cocaine, cocaine and heroin during a search of their home.

Following lengthy discussions between Mr Rausing’s legal team and prosecutors, he accepted a conditional police caution instead.

The couple had been arrested in the April after Mrs Rausing, then 44, was caught with drugs as she tried to enter the American Embassy in London.

Court documents revealed she was carrying about 10g of crack cocaine, 2.5g of heroin and 2.35g of diethylpropion, a banned stimulant and appetite suppressant.

A further 220mg of diazepam, used to treat anxiety, was found in her Renault Clio car.

A search of their house revealed a further 5.63g of crack cocaine, 2.9g of heroin and ­almost 52g of cocaine. The conditional cautions, administered by a senior local officer, meant the couple admitted possessing the drugs. Mr Rausing’s parents and siblings said then they were supporting the couple as they fought to overcome addiction.

Hans Rausing senior also has two daughters, Lisbet and Sigrid.

Sigrid, a philanthropist, anthropologist and publisher, owns the Coignafearn estate in the Monadhliaths, Inverness-shire, and Lisbet, an academic, owns the Corrour Estate, covering some 48,000 acres in a remote and unspoilt part of the Grampians.

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In 2005, Sigrid was involved in a battle to prevent neighbour Sir Jack Hayward, a Bahamas-based multi-millionaire, building 36 wind turbines on Dunmaglass Estate.

Two years earlier her sister Lisbet faced her own battle with Trentham Construction over the escalating costs of a new lodge being built for Ms Rausing on her estate.

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