Except they weren't. They maintained the outward appearance of an opulent lifestyle, and it bankrupted him.
Being bankrupted is not trivial. It's a criminal offence to hide assets, and it means that until discharged, which is typically 6 years later, you can't have credit. No bank account, no credit cards, nothing. You want to run a business, you pay cash. You can't be a director of a limited company either. You could maybe try to transfer assets to a spouse, but the spouse in question divorced the guy.
This is entirely separate from the £3,000. We don't know what that was about. The point is that if the guy was about to fall off a cliff and his whole Belgravia, nanny for the kids lifestyle is about to implode, he's going to do whatever he has to to stave that off. Perhaps including threatening someone he thinks has cost him money he now needs, like this week.
It's inferential. She didn't go to Shorrolds so she went somewhere else. We know she needed to go to the pub so she goes there. So what befell her at the pub? There is no reason for CV to kill her but what if he covered up her death in cahoots with someone else?
I believe the man in question is still extremely rich, actually. And at the time they were living in Belgravia they must have had a huge income to afford the lifestyle they were leading. Yes, he declared himself bankrupt, but that’s how very rich people hang onto their assets. I actually know someone who himself is incredibly rich: he advises rich people where to put their money for safe keeping in the event they are forced into bankruptcy.
The man we’re talking about is still extremely rich now, so how did he turn things around after bankruptcy if he was penniless? It’s obvious he had money stashed away…
I know bankrupts can’t have bank accounts for six years, so as he knew he was entering bankruptcy just days after Suzy’s disappearance, he’d hardly have wanted a cheque off her. His creditors would have immediately eaten it up. What’s more, the extent of his finances and difficulties could not be compared to Suzy’s finances. Here was a man living in Belgravia, albeit going into receivership, while Suzy was paying a mortgage on a small top floor flat in Putney. They were worlds apart financially, and a meagre £3,000 would have been peanuts to him - especially as he must have had masses stashed away under different names etc. And whilst hidden assets/tax evasion are criminal offences, hugely rich people employ accountants (such as my friend) who advises them of all the loopholes on legal evasion.
All that aside, who says that this man met Suzy in the PoW? He’s never been mentioned, ever. How do you you know he met Suzy there? <modsnip: Rude and personalizing> There’s nothing wrong in coming up with hypothesis, but the scenario you’ve suggested - where this astute businessman has roped in naive barmen who are strangers to him in order to ambush Suzy, when he knew exactly where to find her, sounds almost farcical. I don’t mean to be rude about this, but people don’t do such dramatic things involving strangers unless they want to be caught. And as he’s never even been questioned, it seems absurd to even think he would do such a thing. He must be intelligent and savvy, how else would he be so rich? So I can’t see him publicly sitting in a local pub where he’d be easily spotted, and then ordering the new barman/manager to “hide” Suzy, possibly kill her, hide her body - then dispose of her car.
And the money to open a beauty shop (which is just rumours) and did it ever exist - that wouldn’t have bankrupted him if he never took the lease on, which it appears he never did. No-one’s ever mentioned a beauty shop opening, and despite the police going through Suzy’s bank accounts, there was nothing that flagged up to suggest she’d gone into business with anyone otherwise the police would have delved into that…
I also think that CV sounded too naive and inexperienced to get himself involved in a murder - with a stranger at that.
If Suzy was murdered in the pub, even accidentally, the likeliest scenario would be that CV had looked in her diary and seen private things about her life which excited him, and as she was very pretty he probably was attracted to her, but knew she was out of his league and in a moment of madness he came onto her inside his office where he’d have taken her; overpowered her in his sudden urge and somehow killed her, whether by accident or purposely. I think that’s the most likely scenario.
Murders are often unpremeditated, and when the full facts are discovered they’re often quite mundane. I don’t mean that disrespectfully, but they’re often things that simply get out of hand very quickly. It’s all the curiosity surrounding the mystery that starts dramatic rumours, turning them into something involving masses of exaggerated speculation.
I personally think CV is the perpetrator and he’s also tripped himself up badly. He told the police that Suzy told him she’d collect her belongings at 6 PM, but she couldn’t have told him that as she already had a viewing booked for 6 PM. CV couldn’t have known that, and I suspect that’s what DV noticed when looking at her work diary. And that’s why CV is now saying he can’t remember what time Suzy said she’d arrive to collect her belongings…he’s since seen she had a viewing at that time. He’s tripped himself up, badly.
