Russian exile in death mystery spent his last night ill after prawn meal, says mistress
AN exiled Russian whistleblower who may have been poisoned spent the night before he died throwing up in a five-star Paris hotel, his mistress said yesterday.
Elmira Medynska, 28, stayed in the Bristol Hotel with married Alexander Perepilichnyy, 44, a wealthy businessman, on their third date after meeting via a dating agency.
But she told an inquest into his death that he fell ill after eating an oriental seafood dinner during the romantic break.
The following day he flew back to Britain, but collapsed and died after eating soup made by his wife and then jogging near his £3million mansion in Weybridge, Surrey.
The inquest at the Old Bailey had heard how Mr Perepilichnyy helped Swiss prosecutors in a £150million money-laundering case involving fraudsters with links to the Kremlin. A month before he died, he fought off a legal challenge by a debt-recovery firm allegedly led by the prime suspect in the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.
Appearing as a witness at the inquest by videolink from Paris, Ukrainian former model Miss Medynska said Mr Perepilichnyy seemed unusually ‘nervous about his work’ and ‘very stressed’ on their trip to the French capital in November 2012.
At lunch, she said his hands shook so much he spilled his wine. The next day, he was on ‘another planet’.
On their last evening in Paris, they had an oriental dinner, but he sent some of his back, she said, adding: ‘He was very mad about the quality of the food.’ Back in their suite, he vomited three times in an hour.
The next day, they went to the airport for him to fly to London and her to Ukraine.
She said she was later told in a phone call that he had been in a car crash, which she thought was a joke. She found about his death online on New Year’s Eve 2012.
She said a message from his email address then warned her she would die from Aids. The inquest continues.