Top City executive sectioned after daughter found with head injuries

A senior executive at the insurance firm Swiss Re was sectioned under the Mental Heath Act yesterday after his two-year-old daughter was found critically ill with head injuries at the family home.

Alberto Izaga, 36, was arrested after the child was discovered seriously injured at the flat at Albert Embankment in central London on Sunday.

Scotland Yard said Mr Izaga, who was in custody, had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act. His daughter remains critically ill on the paediatric intensive care ward of the Evelina children's hospital, based at St Thomas' hospital. She suffered a shattered skull and brain injuries.

Mr Izaga, 36, is head of life and health products at Swiss Re, which has its London base at 30 St Mary Axe - a distinctive building better known as the "gherkin".

Detectives from the Metropolitan Police's specialist crime division five, the child abuse investigation team, are investigating what happened shortly before officers were called to the scene by neighbours who heard a child crying, a woman screaming and a man shouting, amid loud thudding noises, shortly after 8am on Sunday.

Mr Izaga, dressed only in his underwear when officers arrived, was immediately taken into custody. He was detained at Brixton police station on Sunday night and was questioned further yesterday.

Police officers and ambulance crews reportedly found the child lying unconscious in her nightdress with blood pouring from her nose, ears and mouth. The girl, who has not been named, had apparently been kicked and hurled against the floor.

Some city sources suggested yesterday that Mr Izaga had been under immense pressure after leaving General Electric (GE) Insurance Solutions last June to join Swiss Re, in a move that was dependent on Swiss Re's takeover of GE last year. "At the level in which he works, the pressure is enormous," one City source told the Evening Standard. "Every decision they make has to be the right one." Mr Izaga's high-profile departure from GE, where he was latterly president and chief executive of life and health products in Europe, to become Swiss Re's head of life and health products was a move that industry analysts suggested at the time proved Swiss Re's intent to return to guraranteed critical illness reinsurance.

Dick Kirwan, protection market director at Scottish Widows, said at the time that Mr Izaga's previous role, running all GE's life and health operations in Europe, spoke "louder than words" about Swiss Re's intentions. A month after his move to Swiss Re, Mr Izaga was also elected to the board of the Association of British Insurers.

Swiss Re's website says Mr Izaga is married with one daughter. He graduated from the University of Deusto in Bilbao, Spain, in 1994, with a degree in law and business administration and began his career at the headquarters of GE in 1998, where he became vice-president of business development.

Swiss Re, one of the world's most powerful insurance firms, said yesterday that it was "deeply shocked" by news of Mr Izaga, who is also a member of its board.

Founded in 1863, Swiss Re has an annual turnover of about £13bn and almost 9,000 staff in more than 30 countries. Its headquarters is in Zurich. A spokesman added: "Swiss Re is deeply saddened by the tragedy involving the family of Alberto Izaga. Our thoughts are with the family."