Billionaire Hans Rausing Sentenced for Delaying Wife’s Burial
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Alan Davidson/WireImage(LONDON) — Hans Rausing, a billionaire heir to a food packaging fortune, was given a 10 month suspended sentence in a London court today after he pleaded guilty to living with his wife’s dead body for two months.
“I do not know what caused her death. I did not feel able to confront the reality of her death,” Rausing said in a statement he read in Isleworth Crown Court in West London. An initial post-mortem was inconclusive, however the BBC reported toxicology results showed drugs were in Eva Rausing’s system at the time of her death.
Rausing acknowledged that in hindsight, he did not feel he acted rationally and said he was “very traumatized” by the death of his American wife, Eva Rausing.
A judge ordered Rausing to undergo intensive drug rehabilitation in order to avoid jail time. He also received a two-month suspended sentence for driving under the influence, stemming from the July 9 incident that prompted police to stop Rausing and ultimately discover his wife’s body.
The decomposing body of Eva Rausing was found at the couple’s Belgravia home by authorities on July 9. The body of the American heiress, who like her husband had long battled an addiction to drugs, was found wrapped in trash bags that were sealed with tape.
Together, Hans and Eva Rausing were well-known as a billionaire power couple who donated generously to addiction-related charities but also secretly battled the same demons that brought them together 25 years ago in an American rehab clinic, where they first met.
The couple have four children.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio