Blackmail theory over Todd death

Date published: 13 March 2008

Details of the tangled love life of Michael Todd emerged today hours before an inquest was opened in Anglesey.

Sources claim the 50-year-old chief constable of Greater Manchester may have killed himself because an affair with a leading businesswoman was about to be exposed.

Newspaper reports claim the married father of three had been involved in affairs with several women, including police officers and a personal assistant.

It is said the businesswoman’s husband went ballistic when he found out about the long-term relationship. Sources also claimed that Mr Todd had recently separated from his wife, Carolyn, who lives in Nottinghamshire, - something that Mrs Todd has refuted - and that he had fathered an illegitimate child

According to The Sun, a briefcase and personal belongings were stolen from Mr Todd’s car last September, and it is feared they could be linked to a blackmail plot.

The Times said rescuers spent 12 hours looking in the wrong spot for Mr Todd, after mobile phone signals suggested he was near Menai Strait and Port Dinorwic, 10 miles from the site at Bwlch Glas where his snow-covered body was discovered on a slope near Snowdon next to a half-empty bottle of gin.

There were no trauma injuries on the body but a post-mortem examination has failed to establish the cause of death.

Toxicology tests are being carried out to establish whether Mr Todd had any drugs or alcohol in his system.

Police say reports that letters to his family were discovered near to his body were wrong, and an unnamed source close to the investigation also said that there was no sign of any pills at the scene.

Mr Todd, who had been tipped to succeed Ian Blair as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, the UK’s highest ranking police role, had sent worrying text messages on Monday afternoon, which prompted the search.

He is understood to have sent more messages from Snowdon, but their content is not known.