Husband, 27, quizzed over tycoon ‘choked with dog lead’

THE secret husband of a murdered Russian businessman was being questioned by Scotland Yard detectives last night.

Nikolay Glushkov, 68, was in a civil partnership with Denis Trushin, a luxury goods entrepreneur 41 years his junior.

The pair met when Mr Trushin, 27, was studying fashion at the University of Westminster with Mr Glushkov’s daughter Natalia, 34.

Police last night appealed for help to identify anyone who may have visited Mr Glushkov’s home in New Malden, South-West London, in the 48 hours before his body was found. Investigators suspect the exiled Russian was strangled, possibly with the lead of his dog Ridge.

The discovery of his body raised fears he might have been killed on the orders of the Kremlin. Mr Glushkov was the last survivor of the inner circle around billionaire Boris Berezovsky, once Vladimir Putin’s fiercest rival.

Mr Berezovsky was found hanged in the bathroom of his Surrey mansion in 2013. A coroner recorded an open verdict and Mr Glushkov believed he was murdered. Detectives do not think Mr Glushkov, a former Aeroflot director sentenced to eight years in jail in his homeland last year for fraud, was the target of a wider conspiracy.

A friend of Mr Glushkov said

last night: ‘One theory I think the police are looking at is whether he may have died during a sex game that went terribly wrong.’

Mr Trushin, who speaks fluent English and Russian, is said to be part of the international jet set and works as a marketing and brand consultant. He set up a luxury goods business in Azerbaijan with Natalia.