THE MYSTERIOUS death of a Dorset millionaire could now be re-examined in the light of questions raised following the poisoning of Russia spy, Sergei Skripal, in Salisbury.

International lawyer Stephen Curtis, 45, who lived on Portland, and his Bournemouth-based helicopter pilot, Max Radford, died when the Agusta 109 helicopter they were travelling in crashed and exploded in a fireball on approach to Hurn on March 3, 2004.

The coroner conducting the inquest said the story had ‘all the ingredients of an espionage thriller.'

Now Yvette Cooper, who chairs the Home Affairs Select Committee, has asked an urgent question in the House of Commons regarding the deaths of 14 people, including, it is believed, that of Mr Curtis, which the news service BuzzFeed claimed in a report had been linked to Russia by US spy agencies.

"What about the other 14 cases that several members have now raised of suspicious deaths, where UK authorities in many of these cases have concluded that these were suicides, despite the fact that there has now been considerable reported evidence, including in the BuzzFeed report, of further evidence that casts serious doubt on those conclusions," said Ms Cooper.

Mr Curtis, who owned a castle on Portland, was chief executive of Menatep, a company owned by Russian oil giant Yukos.

His position at Menatep placed him right at the centre of a power struggle between Vladimir Putin and the boss of Yukos, Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

The inquest heard from relatives of Mr Curtis that the lawyer had received death threats and Mr Radford's father, Dennis, said the possibility of sabotage should be considered.

But accident investigators said they found no evidence the helicopter had been deliberately brought down and said pilot error was to blame.

Yvette Cooper, who chairs the cross-party committee which scrutinises the police and MI5, wants the National Crime Agency to look into deaths: "That have not been treated as suspicious by the UK police but have – reportedly – been identified by United States intelligence sources as potentially connected to the Russian state".

She said she believed that an NCA investigation would be ‘a prudent course of action’ to ensure that: “No attempt on an innocent life on British soil should go uninvestigated or unpunished.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson agreed there were ‘a number of deeply troubling cases’ but added: “To the best of our knowledge at present there is no further evidence that points in the direction of criminality.

"But I think what she (Ms Cooper) says is very important and we will certainly follow it up and I will certainly have that discussion with the Home Secretary."