New twist in the Peter Ikin affair, and what a twist… Tuesday, February 15, 2022, The Parisian reported the death of her ex-lover Alexandre Despallières. The latter was to be tried next June before the Paris Assize Court for the assassination of his former companion, the Australian Peter Ikin, former director of Warner Music. According to our colleagues, the one who was nicknamed the “beautiful Alex” died on January 26 at the Bichat hospital in Paris, where he had been transported by the Samu after feeling unwell. He was 53 years old.
“Her husband gave me a death certificate today (Tuesday)“, said his lawyer Laure Heinich to AFP. The former companion of the boss of the record company in Australia, close to Elton John, Rod Stewart and Madonna, was accused of having poisoned the producer to make his hand low on his fortune, estimated at 22 million euros. He was also prosecuted for forgery and use of forgery. He was to appear before the Paris Assize Court from June 7 to 17. Alexandre Despallières has always denied being involved in the death of her ex-lover.”I have plenty of flaws, but I’ve never hurt anyone. I didn’t sleep for the money. And I never killed nobody“, he had proclaimed to the Parisian in 2012.
As AFP recalls, on November 12, 2008, Peter Ikin, a 62-year-old Australian millionaire, was found dead in a Paris hotel. The autopsy concludes a natural death and his body is cremated at the request of his companion… but against the wishes of his family. Doubts emerged and Gary Perritt, nephew and beneficiary of the deceased, lodged a complaint in December 2009. A toxicological analysis on preserved organs then revealed a lethal dose of paracetamol in the blood, the equivalent of 40 tablets. “The police tell me he died of heart failure. And I would have put 40 tablets in his mouth? Everyone knew he was taking coke. Peter spent his time taking meds.“, replied the main suspect, still with the Parisian.
He certainly died innocent but the damage is done
An investigation for assassination had revealed that Alexandre Despallières, accustomed to the world of the night and show business, had reconnected with the producer, met twenty years earlier in the United States, a few months before his death. Alexandre Despallières would then have made him believe that he had become extremely rich and that he wanted to bequeath his fortune to him when he was dying of a brain tumor. Except that the “beautiful Alex” had neither become rich nor suffered from this pathology.
The two lovers had entered into a “civil partnership” in the United Kingdom, designating Alexandre Despallières as universal legatee, but this document is not recognized by Australian law. The investigators suspected Mr. Despallières of having produced, in order to remove this obstacle, a false will after the death of Ikin. Indicted in June 2010, Alexandre Despallières was released in February 2012 for medical reasons and placed under judicial control. An investigating judge had decided to send him back to the assizes in May 2020.
“Justice destroyed Alexander’s life and ruined his reputationcommented her husband, Guillaume Despallières, with the Parisian. He certainly died innocently, but the damage is done. It’s a human drama.” The trial will take place but with only two co-defendants prosecuted for forgery and complicity in the use of forgery in writing.