Frenchman on trial over death of Elton’s Aussie friend
A French “fantasist” will face court over the 2008 death of his Australian music industry titan husband, Peter Ikin.
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A French fantasist will go on trial for the panadol poisoning death of an Australian music industry icon 12 years ago.
Alexandre Despallieres has been charged with allegedly killing his husband, Sydney music executive Peter Ikin, to claim his $20 million fortune with a fake photocopied will.
Ikin rubbed shoulders with Fleetwood Mac and Billy Joel back in the day and considered the likes of Elton John, Madonna and Rod Stewart dear friends.
Aussie music legend, Molly Meldrum, with whom he was especially tight, told News Corp Australia of the breakthrough: “That’s incredible, that’s amazing, that is good news.”
Ikin was the best, Meldrum added.
“He was one of the best, one of the best, it was horrible what happened to him.
Meldrum said he met Despallieres when he was with Ikin.
“I wasn’t sure what was going on there,” he said.
Jimmy Barnes paid tribute to Ikin, who he described as “a dear friend”.
“I first met Peter when Cold Chisel signed our first record deal and he was second in charge at Warner Music here,” he told News Corp Australia.
“He took us under his wing and guided us through the trappings of the industry. He was very instrumental in Cold Chisel’s success.
“We remained friends long after he left Warners — he was a dear friend of ours right up until the day he died.”
John’s former manager John Reid funded a legal fight to follow the case against Despallieres.
Police will allege the Frenchman fed Ikin 40 panadol tablets and forged a will to claim Ikin’s estate, which included a $4 million flat in Cheyne Place in London’s up-market Chelsea district.
Ikin was an executive at Warner Music International and a major force in the Australian music industry, helping set up the Aria Awards.
Ikin’s longtime friend, event producer and Marcia Hines’ manager Peter Rix said the indictment was a “joyous moment” for family and friends of the larger-than-life label boss.
“Finally, justice is being done,” Mr Rix said. “I cannot oversell what John Reid did, constantly to get this to come to some sort of conclusion. He smelled a rat from day one, as I did and most of the momentum that was built privately came from John.
“I have always found it incredibly sad that this happened because P.I. was such a wonderful man.”
Former Warner music executive and Ikin friend Philip Mortlock said friends of the music man around the world had welcomed news Despallieres would now face a murder trial.
“We’re all relieved to know that justice is finally taking its course. It is still a sad tragedy that Peter’s life was cut short due seemingly to nothing but greed,” Mr Mortlock said.
“What became clear to all of his friends and family after his death was how much he was loved and how many people he had in his wide world of friendships.
“He was truly a larger than life connector both in his work and his personal life. A great loss.”
Ikin, who had a taste for the high life, was 62 when he died in a dingy Paris hotel on November 12, 2008.
He had married Despallieres, who had claimed he was a tech billionaire battling a brain tumour, a month earlier in a civil ceremony in London.
A new will had been drawn up that year, handing Ikin’s fortune to Despallieres, who was 20 years his junior.
The second will, of which only a photocopy was presented to solicitors, contradicted a 2002 will that left Ikin’s money to charity and to his only surviving relative, Catholic priest Father Gary Perritt.
Fr Perritt’s lawyer Marion Gregoire said: “This indictment is a relief,” adding it had been “a long-term case”.
Despallieres, who was HIV Positive, was first arrested in June 2010 but released on bail in March 2011.
He was again arrested for breaching bail in September 2011, however his lawyer successfully argued for his release again in February 2012.
Jeremy Bilien and Vincent Bray have been charged with forgery for their alleged involvement with the will.
A case against Despallieres’ ex-wife Laetitia Nail was dropped.
The matter was the subject of books and a documentary in France.
Ikin’s death was initially recorded as natural causes and Despallieres was granted probate on the will.
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He went on a spending spree, buying three Porsches even though he didn’t drive.
Despallieres also held dinner parties at the London flat, where guests were shown Ikin’s bedroom where his ashes were kept in an urn, according to reports in the UK.
However Reid, and Billy Gaff, who was Rod Stewart’s manager, began to have suspicions.
Ikin had been cremated but French authorities kept organs for a year.
Tests were ordered and they found high levels of paracetamol, with a dose of up to 40 tablets.
The 2008 will was successfully challenged out of court and Fr Perritt, and several charities received their shares, while Despallieres received almost $1 million AUD (500,000 GBP).
Despallieres denied the will was fake when approached in London in 2009 as he was taking delivery of a new Porsche.
“Now they say the probate in the UK is a fake one. No, it is not a fake one,” Despallieres told The Daily Telegraph at the time.
“My solicitors say let them make me look stupid. They can say I am an a … hole and I don’t care.
“I am mystified, I really am. I’m just trying to grieve. For me at the end of the day, I don’t care because I will be with him soon.”
Despallieres had first met Ikin in 1998, then reunited with him in Sydney in 2008.
It has been claimed that he turned up on Ikin’s door saying that he was a billionaire who only had months to live but wanted the music boss to inherit his cash.
However, Despallieres denied that writing to the London Evening Standard newspaper in 2012: “I don’t know why my beloved Peter told everybody I was fabulously wealthy.
“It was probably so that they would not think I was after him for his money, which I was not.”
– Additional reporting Rory Mulholland, Kathy McCabe
Originally published as Frenchman on trial over death of Elton’s Aussie friend
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