Earl’s ex-wife faces murder probe

THE estranged wife of the missing Earl of Shaftesbury is receiving treatment for depression in hospital after allegedly admitting she played a part in her husband’s disappearance, it was revealed last night.

The flamboyant aristocrat’s third wife, Djamilia M’Barek, 37, was arrested on Friday in Cannes. She appeared before a judge in Grasse on Saturday and was placed under investigation for murder. Judicial sources said that the move is a step short of formal charges.

Her brother, Mohamed M’Barek, 40, was questioned on Saturday at his home near Munich and is currently being transferred to France to face questioning for murder.

He is expected to appear before a judge in Grasse later this week.

Lawyer Philippe Soussi said yesterday that the earl’s family were grief-stricken by the news.

“They have taken this very badly,” he said. “This has been a murder investigation for some time, but to know he has been killed is a different thing all together.

“The earl was a likeable and generous man but he was weak and fragile and it is this weakness that has been taken advantage of, to the point of murder.”

Mr Soussi said Ms M’Barek had admitted to investigators she played a part in his disappearance but has not admitted to murder.

The 66-year-old earl, whose full name is Anthony Ashley-Cooper, vanished from a hotel in Nice on November 6.

The Eton and Oxford-educated earl, who had a reputation as an international playboy, had been due to return to Britain on November 10.

Detectives launched an inquiry after his family in England and his then girlfriend, a 33-year-old hostess from Cannes, raised concerns about his welfare.

French officers said that the earl had been in the process of divorcing his third wife and the couple met on November 5.

He checked into the €187-a-night four-star Noga Hilton on the seafront of Cannes the following day and has not been seen since. Unconfirmed reports suggested he was short of cash and had been taking legal action following a theft.