The eldest son of Formula 1 boss Max Mosley has been found dead at his London home from a suspected drugs overdose.
Alexander Mosley, 39, who was a talented mathematician and had recently became a restaurateur, was discovered collapsed in his £1.2m mews house in Notting Hill by a relative who had accompanied him to his home on Tuesday afternoon. Attempts by paramedics to revive Mr Mosley failed and he was declared dead at the scene.
Scotland Yard said the death of the grandson of the 1930s Fascist leader Oswald Mosley was not being treated as suspicious. It is understood that Mr Mosley, an Oxford graduate, was found alone in a room with drugs paraphernalia close to his body.
Friends said that Mr Mosley, who was the co-owner of a critically-acclaimed restaurant close to his home, was a "hugely likeable" but "troubled" individual with a history of depression. His home in St Lukes Mews, at the heart of one of London's most fashionable districts, is on the same street as the house where the television star Paula Yates was found dead in 2000.
A neighbour said Mr Mosley had had a serious drug habit but had also been clean for long periods: "He was a very troubled guy. He was too rich too young. He had problems and they haunted him to the end. I knew him socially. He was a cultured man. He obviously bought something and it was too strong and it killed him."
The tragedy will once more bring unwelcome publicity to the Mosley family months after the exposure of Max Mosley's sado-masochistic sexual practices by the News of the World. The newspaper filmed the president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the governing body of motorsport, in an orgy with five prostitutes, provoking a slew of lurid headlines and a successful High Court claim for invasion of privacy.
Max Mosley, who is one of the key architects of Formula 1's expansion in recent years, had been due to attend this weekend's Grand Prix in Spain but cancelled his trip to be with his wife, Jean, and his younger son, Patrick, 38.
During his High Court action against the News of the World, Max Mosley, who won damages of £60,000 after a judge ruled there had been no "Nazi" connotations to the orgy, said the revelations had been "devastating" for his family. He said: "I don't think there is anything worse for a son than to see in a newspaper, particularly one like the News of the World, pictures of the kind they printed.
"I can think of nothing more undignified or humiliating than that. To see my father in that position, I would find devastating. My family can do nothing except suffer the consequences for something they have no responsibility for."
Alexander had a close relationship with his father, regularly attending Formula 1 events as a boy. Eddie Jordan, the former F1 racing team boss and a friend of the family, said: "It's totally tragic, he was such a bright boy. I'm devastated for them. Max and Alexander particularly were very close."
He added that father and son shared "a great intellect" and Alexander was a "hugely clever and talented computer expert". After attending Westminster School, Alexander Mosley read mathematics at Oxford before completing a PhD in mathematical logic at London University.
Dr Dugald Macpherson, his PhD supervisor, said: "He was a talented mathematician and very likeable. He was very quiet and kept his family life private. After he completed his thesis he said he wanted to branch out to do other things."
Using inherited wealth, Alexander set up the Hereford Road restaurant in 2007 with Tom Pemberton, a leading chef and friend from Westminster.
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