Marquess of Ailesbury had belts wrapped round his arms when he mysteriously fell from his bed room window, inquest hears

The Marquess of Ailesbury was said to have been found with belts wrapped around his arms after mysteriously falling to his death from a bedroom window. 

The 98-year-old – also known as Michael Brudenell-Bruce – was found bleeding from the head on the patio of his west London home on May 12 last year. 

He was discovered by his shocked partner 88-year-old former fashion model Teresa Marshall De Paoli who had been cooking supper. 

She claims that Brudenell-Bruce, who was suffering from dementia, fell after he leant out of his first-floor bedroom window to let out their cat, Honeybun. 

But, an inquest into the late Marquess’s death at West London Coroners Court heard that when paramedics arrived at the scene, they called the police as they believed the incident was ‘suspicious because of the circumstances’.

PC Katherine Taylor, one of the officers who attended the scene, said Marshall de Paoli ‘seemed in shock’ and ‘was distressed’ – but didn’t recall her crying. 

Taylor claimed Brudenell-Bruce was found with two belts wrapped around his arms, which another officer suggested could have been to stop him trying to break his fall.

The officer also found the flower pots on the windowsill of the bedroom had been moved inside and seemed it was ‘prepared for a fall’, the inquest heard.

The last picture of 8th Marquess of Ailesbury Michael Brudenell-Bruce and partner Teresa Marshall de Paoli at the Ivy Chelsea in June 2023

Marshall de Paoli was the partner of Marquess of Ailesbury (pictured together) for 37 years 

Taylor claimed that Marshall de Paoli kept saying ‘Oh my God, he fell out of the window’, which one paramedic supposedly thought was ‘very strange’ as ‘she already knew that the window was open’, the inquest was told. 

‘The main concern at that point was the cat. It had not come home. She thought it would be distressing for the cat,’ she added. 

The Met Police and London Ambulance Service both attended the scene within seven minutes. 

Another officer, Sergeant Carla McCrae, told the inquest she found it ‘unusual’ that  Marshall de Paoli thought Brudenell-Bruce ‘must have fallen out of the window trying to save the cat’.

‘I would not normally expect someone to draw the conclusion that someone fell out of a window trying to rescue a cat,’ she told the inquest. ‘It is not an everyday occurrence.’ 

McCrae claimed a pair of glasses had been left on the pillow of the bed and there were supposedly a pair of slippers by the window, pointing towards the outside wall. 

There was also said to be a smudge of fresh blood on the lip of the windowsill. 

McCrae claimed Marshall de Paoli also told her: ‘I am not guilty of anything.’ 

Michael Brudenell-Bruce is pictured in an undated photograph

The current Marquess of Ailesbury, Michael’s son David, 71, also told the inquiry his father had been so frail he could not get up from a sofa with the cat on his lap when he visited six weeks before the fall.

David claimed he asked an inspector looking into his father’s death whether someone in that condition would be able to his bedroom window and move the plants.

He was supposedly told: ‘He would have needed some assistance’.

PC Taylor told the inquest that Marshall de Paoli said Brudenell-Bruce was recently diagnosed with dementia and had ‘voiced concern about being a burden both financially and physically’. 

Marshall de Paoli also said her partner had previously requested help to kill himself and referred to murderous GP Harold Shipman, the inquest heard. 

She also reportedly complained that ‘lefty nurses’ stopped doctors helping people to die, the inquest heard. 

Taylor told the inquest she had initially thought the Marquess’s death was suicide, but could not rule out assisted suicide.

After his tragic death grief stricken Marshall de Paoli stressed: ‘It was an absolutely freak accident. There had not been a row – I had not hit him.’

David, the newly styled 9th Marquess, is the 71-year-old son of Michael Brudenell-Bruce

She contacted the Marquess’s daughter Lady Kathryn Brudenell-Bruce, with the two reportedly spending ‘all night in an armchair together’ comforting each other following the tragedy.

She claimed that she endured an ordeal when police and forensic officers confined her to her home during their investigations. 

Marshall de Paoli lived with Lord Ailesbury for 14 years at her west London home, which she bought before they met. 

Previously, they lived on his family’s 4,500-acre Savernake estate in Wiltshire.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman previously said: ‘The death is unexpected but is not being treated as suspicious.’