Riddle as Petra’s brother-in-law, is found dead in £3.5m mansion
THE brother-in-law of Formula 1 heiress Petra Stunt, who was found dead at his parents’ £3.5 million home, did not take his own life, his family insisted last night.
Lee Stunt, 37, was discovered by his father at the mansion on the exclusive Wentworth Estate in Surrey on Wednesday afternoon.
Although paramedics tried to revive him, the married businessman was declared dead at the scene. Police said last night that they were treating his death as ‘unexplained’ pending a postmortem examination tomorrow.
His brother James – who is married to the youngest daughter of Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone – said last night: ‘He was the happiest, nicest man I could ever have hoped to have had as a brother. I will never get over losing him.’
In a video posted online from Los Angeles, James dismissed claims his brother suffered from depression. ‘My brother was not depressed,’ he said. ‘My brother did not commit suicide. You could not have met a more positive man. He suffered from a simple anxiety condition, many people do. I do and my great father-in-law does.’
And last night he added: ‘ My brother died in his sleep. He took a prescription drug sometimes for occasional anxiety attacks. He did not take illegal drugs. We just don’t know what caused his death.’
Lee’s wife Elizabeth, 34, an equestrian eventer, was yesterday being comforted by family and friends at the couple’s £1 million home in Binfield, Berkshire.
Lee was the CEO of Stunt & Co, a precious metals company owned by younger brother James.
Their publishing director father Geoffrey and mother Lorraine have lived on the Wentworth Estate in Virginia Water, Surrey, for more than 15 years.
A Surrey Police spokesman said yesterday: ‘The death is being treated as unexplained.
‘Formal identification and a postmortem examination will take place in due course.’
James, a 34-year-old art collector, married Petra, 27 – who is set to inherit half of a £2.5billion fortune with her sister, Tamara – in a lavish £12 million wedding in 2011. His older brother’s death comes after he and Petra were allegedly targeted in a petrol bomb attack at their £66million West London home. The bomb reportedly landed next to the heiress’s Range Rover.
Last month, Bernie Ecclestone’s mother-in-law Aparecida Schunck, 67, was rescued by police after being abducted from her home in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
She was released after being held for nine days by kidnappers, who had demanded a £28million ransom from the Formula 1 boss.
The plot was alleged to have been masterminded by a disgruntled former employee of the motor racing supremo.