Murky claims of Russian involvement have hung over a series of mysterious deaths in the UK

Boris Berezovsky

The oligarch fled to Britain after falling out with Mr Putin and lived under tight security. He was found hanged at his mansion in 2013. A coroner recorded an open verdict.

Scot Young

A property developer and friend of Berezovsky was found impaled on railings below his London flat. Young was in contact with mafia figures.

Alexander Perepilichnyy

Businessman fled Russia after lifting the lid on a $230million (£165million) tax fraud and died of a heart attack while out jogging in Surrey in 2012.

Alexander Litvinenko

The former KGB officer died after being poisoned. A British public inquiry concluded his murder was probably directly ordered by Vladimir Putin.

Dr Matthew Puncher

A scientist who discovered proof Alexander Litvinenko had been poisoned was found dead in 2016. A coroner said his death was suicide.

Igor Ponomarev

A diplomat who died in London 48 hours before Litvinenko was poisoned. He was due to meet investigators looking at Russian state links to organised crime.

Gareth Williams

A former GCHQ codebreaker who was on secondment to MI6. He was found dead locked inside a sports bag at his flat in Pimlico, London, in August 2010.

Badri Patarkatsishvili

A businessman and politician found dead at his Surrey mansion in 2008. He had raised fears of an assassination plot, but no signs of foul play were found.

Johnny Elichaoff

A friend of Scot Young and the former husband of Trinny Woodall, the TV presenter, fell to his death from a West London shopping centre a month after Young died.

Robert Curtis

Another friend of Scot Young who apparently threw himself under a London Tube train in 2012 and was said to be suffering from debts and depression.

Paul Castle

Another of Scot Young’s circle who threw himself under a Tube train. An associate said at the time that he owed “a lot of money to the wrong people”.

Yuri Golubev

The co-founder of the oil giant Yukos was found dead in 2007 shortly after returning from a trip to Moscow.