‘Who is Alex? Is he the gifted businessman whose interests have netted him billions of dollars, whose generosity and charm has beguiled the world’s elite? Or is he the cold-blooded killer accused by the French police of poisoning his lover? A ruthless but brilliant conman who made millions by creating a fictitious persona?’

Alexandre Despallières bewitched everyone he met with his disarming good looks and killer charm. But this had tragic consequences for many he got close to, as he left a trail of suspicious deaths in his wake.

Posing as a billionaire businessman dying of an inoperable brain tumour, Despallières seduced and married music industry legend Peter Ikin in 2008. Just one month later, Ikin died of a paracetamol overdose and Despallières was set to inherit his estate, worth millions, through a forged will.

As investigations unfolded, other suspected victims emerged, including Despallières’s own parents. Others narrowly managed to escape a similar fate, such as a Hollywood heiress, who Despallières convinced to adopt him, and conned her out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Despallières died in 2022, just before he was due to stand trial, leaving unanswered questions behind. In Love Until Death, Chris Hutchins untangles Despallières’s web of deceit, and gains the trust of Despallières himself, who reveals his version of events for the first time.

Chris Hutchins is a journalist who has written compelling investigative biographies of characters as diverse as Elvis, Princess Diana and Vladimir Putin.