Maxwell's body found in sea

Robert Maxwell, the flamboyant head of one of the world's biggest media empires, was discovered dead in the sea yesterday after disappearing from his yacht off the Canary Islands.

As London business analysts were predicting the break-up of his business empire under the pressure of £3bn debts, his widow Elizabeth and their son Philip flew to Gran Canaria and identified his body at the Gando air base. They later flew to Tenerife, where the inquiry into the death will be held.

The body of the Daily Mirror publisher was winched from the Atlantic by a Spanish helicopter 20 miles south-west of Gran Canaria. Spanish national radio said he was unclothed and showed no sign of violence.

At a hastily-improvised midnight press conference at Reina Sofia airport in the south of Tenerife, the island's Civil Governor, Angel Delgado, said Mr Maxwell's motor yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, left Santa Cruz in the north of the island at 10pm on Monday and put into Puerto de los Cristianos at 9am yesterday.

But, he said, Mr Maxwell's body was found by a fishing boat floating 19 to 20 miles from Gando on the other side of the neighbouring island of Gran Canaria - more than 100 miles from the obvious route between the points of departure and arrival. Asked to explain how the body could have got there, Mr Delgado replied: "That's a good question."

He said that according to the crew Mr Maxwell was last seen at 4.25am yesterday. "His absence was noted when the boat arrived at los Cristianos at 9am," the governor added. According to other versions, Mr Maxwell was found to be missing at around 11am when he failed to answer a telephone call to his cabin. Licinio Alonso, the director of the Maritime Safety Centre at the Spanish Ministry of Transport, said the alarm was not raised until 1pm by a satellite telex via Norway.

A post-mortem examination will be carried out this morning.

An air and sea search was launched after the captain of the 55-metre Lady Ghislaine notified the Spanish authorities that the 68-year-old chairman of Maxwell Communication Corporation and Mirror Group Newspapers had disappeared.

On BBC 2's Newsnight programme last night, the Mirror Group editorial director, Charles Wilson, said he could not imagine any situation that would cause Mr Maxwell to take his own life since "he had too much of the arrogance of his own ability to conceive of such a thing."

Mr Maxwell's son Ian faced the cameras outside the offices of the Mirror Group last night to say that the sadness of his father's death would touch not only his family, but also the 15,000 to 20,000 employees, and the shareholders of the company which had lost "its publisher, its chairman, and its saviour".

Shares in MCC and MGN were suspended yesterday at the companies' request after Mr Maxwell was reported missing. Ian and another son, Kevin, were appointed acting chairmen of the companies.

MCC has been struggling to emerge from debts put at £1.3bn; other debts may take the group total to over £3bn. Financial experts in the City and on Wall Street became increasingly nervous about the stability of the companies.

Mr Maxwell's death marks the end of an extraordinary career. Born into poverty in Czechoslovakia, he was decorated for his bravery in the second world war before going on to establish a vast media and publishing empire.

A Labour MP in the 1960s, the socialist millionaire counted many world leaders among his friends and associates, including Eastern bloc leaders.

Mr Maxwell was taking a break after a bruising round of allegations about links with the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad, and speculation over the health of his business empire.

He said the allegations made by American Pulitzer prize-winning author Seymour Hersh were "ludicrous, a total invention". But he sacked the Daily Mirror foreign editor, Nick Davies, for issuing false denials about a meeting with an American arms dealer.

A statement issued by MGN last night said Mr Maxwell flew to Gibraltar where he joined the Lady Ghislaine.

A Maxwell company spokesman said last night: "His last conversation that I can find was with his son Ian, who spoke to him at 11 o'clock last night when they had a normal business and family conversation and he was in a perfectly good mood."

Richard Stott, editor of the Daily Mirror, said: "He went out to the boat at the weekend because he had a cold. I spoke to him last night and he seemed OK."

Speaking on BBC television news, he said Mr Maxwell had not been depressed. "He was very angry about allegations contained in the Seymour Hersh book," said Mr Stott.

Politicians were swift to pay their tributes. The Prime Minister said Mr Maxwell had given him "valuable insights" into the situation in the Soviet Union during the attempted coup. He was a "great character", Mr Major added.

Neil Kinnock spoke of the former Labour MP for Buckingham, from 1964-70, as a man with "such a zest for life . . . Bob Maxwell was a unique figure who attracted controversy, envy and loyalty in great measure throughout his rumbustious life. He was a steadfast supporter of the Labour Party."

Mr Maxwell had four sons and five daughters but a son and daughter died.