THE DEATH of a wealthy Dorset businessman and his helicopter pilot is one of the cases the Daily Echo understands will be re-considered by the police and MI5, following an announcement from Home Secretary Amber Rudd.

In a letter to the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, which had called for a review of decisions not to re-open inquiries into a string of deaths in which there are allegations of Russian involvement, Ms Rudd said: “'The Government was aware of these allegations, and takes seriously any suggestion that a foreign state has engaged in murder on UK soil.

"In the weeks to come, I will want to satisfy myself that the allegations are nothing more than that.”

Her letter follows reports which claimed that US intelligence sources suspect up to 14 people living in Britain may have been assassinated by Russian security services or mafia organisations.

Stephen Curtis, 45, and Bournemouth-based pilot Max Radford, 34 died when an Augusta 109E helicopter crashed on the approach to Hurn on March 3, 2004.

An official investigation blamed pilot error, but the coroner heard of death threats against Mr Curtis and said the case had “all the ingredients of an espionage thriller”.

Speaking about the case, Christchurch MP Sir Chris Chope said: “I was always sceptical about the official verdict on it but looking at these things, the best assassins are the ones who cover their tracks.”

“Whether it could be the state or mafia groups or whoever, how can we prove it if you haven’t got the evidence?” he added.

The original AAIB investigation found there was no evidence of sabotage and that Mr Radford must have become disorientated when the weather worsened and he was forced to rely only on his instruments. “The pilot’s limited instrument flying background did not equip him to cope with the difficult situation in which he found himself,” it said.