Was Robert Maxwell murdered? That's what daughter Ghislaine has always believed but Rupert Murdoch is convinced he killed himself

Daily Mail ^ | Jan 23 | By JOHN PRESTON

[RandFan]

More than £1 billion in debt and just hours before a meeting where he would be asked to explain a £38 million hole in his Mirror Newspapers' pension funds, Robert Maxwell's 22st body was found floating in the sea near the Canary Islands.

Last Sunday, in the first part of our serialisation of a gripping new biography of the tycoon, we told of the run-up to his death. Here, in the final extract, we tell how the fall-out from it still reverberates today.

Within hours of Robert Maxwell's death on November 5, 1991, tributes from world leaders began pouring in. An early caller to his widow Betty was US President George H. W. Bush.

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher also rang, as did Lord Goodman, a former adviser to Harold Wilson. He suggested a memorial service for Maxwell in Westminster Abbey might be appropriate.

Prime Minister John Major is believed to have delayed his weekly audience with the Queen so he could write his tribute to the media tycoon. 'No one should doubt his interest in peace and his loyalty to friends,' Major wrote.

'His was an extraordinary life, lived to the full.'

Germany's Chancellor Helmut Kohl was 'very sad', while Russia's President Mikhail Gorbachev was 'deeply grieved'.

Maxwell's Daily Mirror was unstinting in its praise, marking his passing with the newsprint version of a 21-gun salute.

'The body of Robert Maxwell, publishing giant and world statesman, was found in the Atlantic today,' the paper's front page announced. Readers who wanted to know more about this 'Great Big Extraordinary Man' were invited to turn to pages 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 18, 19, 34, 35 and 36.

But the outpouring of adulation would be short-lived.

[BipolarBob]

I’m pretty sure if there’s a death and Maxwell is involved that there’s a silver hammer lying around somewhere.

[Nateman]

...Rupert Murdoch is convinced he killed himself.

Ah! So there is life after death! But why would Murdoch need convincing?

[Nateman]

What I think happened is he wanted to fake his own death. He was going to transfer at one point after doing some damage to the first boat to make it look like he had been taken by the sea .

From there he would live a new life with lots of his stolen money. Problem was he was urinating one night and a wave tossed him overboard. Disparately clinging to the boat for dear life the fat out of shape guy could not manage to climb back onboard.

Finally and in great pain a wave came by and broke his weakened grip from the boat. Desperately swimming to catch up with his boat with all his might be had the heart attack which killed him.

It does explain why he turned on his wife. After 50 years he obviously loved her but to make her less unhappy about his upcoming fake death he wanted to depart with her not missing him as much as he was going to miss her in his new life he had planned.

[RandFan]

Just reading through the article :

‘He was a terrible man,’ said Murdoch many years later. ‘An absolute fraud and a charlatan.’

I have to agree with Murdoch. He looted the pension funds to the tune of over a billion although it seemed he was working for Israel.