Earl ‘was set to leave wife’

THE Earl of Shaftesbury was about to leave his wife Jamila when he was strangled to death by her brother on the French Riviera, his mistress Nadia Orch testified yesterday.

Taking the stand on the second day of the trial, Orch said Anthony Ashley-Cooper, whose decomposing body was found in April 2005 in a ravine, wanted to start a new life with her.

‘‘Anthony was very, very naive,’’ Orch told the court. ‘‘He had a big heart and always wanted to give everything he had to others.’’