A Ukrainian tycoon who was found hanged in the garage of his Surrey mansion had been ‘worried for two years’ after being told he was on Vladimir Putin‘s hit list, a close friend has claimed.
A female neighbour of Mikhail Watford, 66, said the property mogul – who made his fortune in oil and gas – feared he was a prime target for the warring Russian president in the months leading up to his death.
The body of Mr Watford was found Monday at his home in the luxury Wentworth Estate in Virginia Water, where properties sell for up to £20million.
Mikhail Watford with his wife.
Well it’s possible the guy was just nuts, and committed suicide.
The neighbour also told the Sun that Mr Watford, known as Misha, had been a friend of Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky, who was found hanged at his home in Ascot, Berkshire, in 2013.
But then again, what are the odds that two billionaires who were, let’s say, not on speaking terms with Vladimir Putin, were found dead in the exact same way.
But then again, it’s possible the guy simply committed suicide in the way that would lead us to believe that he was murdered. It could also be that some other intelligence operation had him killed to frame on Russia. Then again, if there’s anything that’s likely to increase Putin’s popularity, it’s him killing billionaires.
According to The Sun, a family friend previously said that Watford’s state of mind could have been rattled over the war in Ukraine, launched by Russia last week.
‘The timing of his death and the invasion of Ukraine was surely not coincidental,’ the source told the newspaper.
God it’s just so hard to decide. Was he murdered by Putin, someone else, or was he just kind of fucked in the head, and committed suicide. I think it’s 50-50, but I personally would like to believe that Putin had him offed.
Born Mikhail Tolstosheya in 1955 in Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union, Mr Watford made his fortune in oil and gas before building a property empire in Britain.
He changed his name to Watford when he moved to the UK, where he snapped up homes in Eaton Square in Belgravia, central London, an £18 million mansion in Virginia Water, Surrey, and, most recently, a series of properties on the Wentworth estate.
In 2015, he complained about how difficult it was to find a ‘superyacht-perfect’ mansion outside of London.
Unable to find a house to meet his exacting standards, Mr Watford commissioned his own 9,640 sq ft sprawling property, boasting that the wrought-iron gates were made by the company that supplied Kensington Palace, and the £56,000 driveway was modelled on the circular stone piazzas outside King’s College, Cambridge.
‘I want perfection, nothing less,’ he said.
‘In London – Mayfair, Knightsbridge, Belgravia – it’s possible to find top quality.
‘But outside London, no. Not even near. It wouldn’t be right for me to say the houses are cheap.
‘I don’t want to be rude, but they’re wrong style, wrong finishes, not high-end quality. Not for us.’
Guy sound kind of like a pompous ass. Let me see if he has any redeeming features.
Mr Watford claimed his weakness for ‘top, top quality’ came from building superyachts.
I mean I think we can stop there. Some rich garbage person is dead, and if Putin knows what’s best, he’ll rush to take credit even if he didn’t do it.
This was the perfect obituary!
Nigga looks like David Duke with downsyndrome