BILLIONAIRE junkie Hans Kristian Rausing was today convicted of hoarding his wife's dead body after he admitted: "I know it is sad and selfish, but I just didn't want her to leave."
The Tetra Pak tycoon, 49, pleaded guilty to stashing Eva Rausing's rotting corpse in the couple's bedroom under a pile of bin bags, sheets and clothing held together by gaffer tape.
Reclusive Rausing, worth £5.4 billion, had sealed up locks and sprinkled "deodorising powder" over the bundle in a bid to stifle the stench, Isleworth Crown Court heard.
But cops discovered the grim scene after pulling him over for driving erratically three miles from his £70 million Chelsea mansion last month.
Rausing was handed a ten-month jail sentence suspended for two years after admitting failing to prevent the lawful and decent burial of Mrs Rausing, 48.
Dead ... Eva Rausing
He was also given a two-year drug rehabilitation order to be completed at a residential rehab centre.
Judge Richard McGregor-Johnson told him: "If ever there was an illustration of the utterly destructive effects of drug misuse on individuals and their families, it is to be found in the facts of this case.
"You and your wife had every material advantage imaginable, and for a time a happy family life.
"Your relapse into the misuse of drugs, together with that of your wife, destroyed all that.
"It is graphically illustrated by the contrast between the rooms visitors saw, and the utter squalor of the rooms you really lived in."
The court heard the search for Mrs Rausing was sparked when officers found a crack pipe, cannabis, white powder in her husband's car after he was stopped in Wandsworth, South West London.
Unopened letters addressed to Mrs Rausing, made out in his her maiden name Kemeny, were also found in the boot.
When officers quizzed him over the mail, Rausing started to "well up" and claimed she had left for California a fortnight earlier.
Police became suspicious and arrested him.
Mrs Rausing's body was found hours later hidden in an annex of the couple's home in posh Cadogan Square.
Addict Rausing, Britain's 12th richest man, was moved to a hospital and tested positive for cocaine, morphine, diazepam, tamazepam and nitrazopam.
Devastated
In a prepared statement given to police, he said: "My condition has stabilised, I fully understand that my beloved wife of 19 years is dead and I am devastated, particularly for my children, by her death.
"I understand that the police want to interview me but I do not have anything to say.
"I do not have a coherent recollection of events leading up to and since Eva's death save to assure you save to say I have never wished upon her or done her any harm.
"I did not supply her with drugs."
He added: "I don't know what caused her death, I did not feel able to fully confront the reality of her death.
"With the benefit of hindsight I did not act rationally.
"I tried to carry on as if her death had not happened, and batted away any enquiries about her, I also took measure to reduce the smell.
"I believe in the period since Eva's death I have suffered some sort of breakdown."
Mrs Rausing, who met her husband in rehab in 1989, is believed to have died on May 7 but a post-mortem has failed to establish a formal cause of death.
However, cocaine, opiates and amphetamines were found in her system.
She was last seen on May 3 but texted a worker two days later.
When police arrived at the couple's home to look for her they found staff nervous about letting them in.
Prosecutor James O'Connell said: "They were hesitant to allow access to the second floor because part of the premises was an annex which for some years access had not been allowed to anyone other than Mr Rausing and his wife.
"They decided to force entry but when they were in a lift they noticed the stench of decomposition.
"They entered a room which had been sealed off with locks and the use of tape known as gaffer-tape.
"On entry they had discovered it in an untidy state, in particular there was a bed which was untidy and next to it there were a pile of clothes and other materials and it was under that that the body in an advanced stage of decomposition was found.
"It was noted subsequently that some deodorising powder had been used on the clothes and the items on top of the body."
Rausing and his wife had battled drug and alcohol problems for 30 years and had become virtual hermits in their 50-room sprawling home.
His barrister Alexander Cameron QC, brother of PM David Cameron, told the court the couple's problems took hold again in 2000 when they
both toasted the New Year with a glass of champagne.
Mr Cameron said Rausing found his wife dead on May 7.
He said: "He has no recollection at all of the next 10 or 12 hours.
"He didn't move the body, he described her as appearing quite restful.
"He felt quite unable to face up to the fact that Eva had died and almost like a small child couldn't face up to telling anyone else and so took steps to delay the moment of facing up to reality."
Mr Cameron added: "In his own words he acted in a cowardly fashion."
Mrs Rausing's body will be returned to America to be buried.
Rausing was also given a two-month jail sentence suspended for two years after he admitted driving while under the influence of drugs.
He was ordered to pay prosecution costs of £1,000.
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