Earl's body identified, French sources say

NICE, France - Police have identified a body found in a copse in southern France as that of an English aristocrat who disappeared on the French Riviera five months ago, judicial sources said on Tuesday.

Police made no immediate comment. But the sources said DNA analysis had proved beyond doubt that it was the body of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 66, the 10th Earl of Shaftesbury, who disappeared in the glitzy resort of Cannes on the night of November 5.

His lawyer said last month the earl had probably been killed, adding to a bizarre tale of sex, crime and money.

The body was discovered in a state of advanced decomposition near the village of Theoules-sur-Mer on April 5.

The earl's third wife, Jamila M'Barek, and her brother Mohammed have been placed under official investigation for murder, one step short of official charges in France.

M'Barek told investigators she had asked her brother to "intimidate" her husband so that the earl would continue to pay her an allowance of €7000 ($12,846) a month, police sources have said.

But M'Barek said she did not want the earl to die.

Ashley-Cooper had sought a divorce from M'Barek, who is of Tunisian origin, after meeting another woman.

- REUTERS