Police net spreads for tycoon's fiance

PARIS - A businessman suspected of murdering his millionairess fiancee in a Paris hotel returned to Britain within hours of the alleged attack and tried to escape on a speedboat.

The 39-year-old fugitive, Ian Griffin, has been at the centre of an international manhunt since Wednesday, when the battered body of Polish tycoon Kinga Legg was found at the prestigious Hotel Bristol.

As police tracked his black Porsche 911 to Cheshire, details surfaced of how Griffin arrived at a five-star marina on the Thames in Surrey and told staff he was planning to "go away". Days before travelling to Paris, Griffin had asked craftsmen to modify his £25,000 ($63,000) 5.5m speedboat, enabling him to use it on the open sea as well as on rivers. Griffin had also ordered electronic navigation charts for British and European waters.

It is understood Legg had sustained serious head injuries after being bludgeoned with a lampstand.

She headed a multimillion-pound company which supplies tomatoes to McDonald's and British supermarkets.

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