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Property tycoon Nicholas van
Hoogstraten, estimated to have a personal worth of £200m, has been
released on bail after being questioned by police about a murder
that occurred two years ago in South London.
Scotland Yard said a 58-year-old
man from Framfield, in East Sussex, had been held in connection
with the murder of Mohammed Raja, who was shot dead outside his
home in Sutton, south London, on July 2 1999. Another man, David
Croke, who comes from the Brighton area, was charged with Mr Raja's
killing earlier this year.
Hoogstraten made his fortune by
buying up cheap property in Notting Hill and Brighton. After an
incident involving the blocking of a footpath on his estate near
Uckfield in Sussex he became well known for his acerbic views on
ramblers. He has described them as 'nosy perverts' and 'passing
riff-raff'. Hoogstraten has also been happy to voice his opinions
about his own tenants who he has said are "filth", and of council
house tenants, who he has called "worthless and lazy".
He is said to have financed his
first property purchases from the £1,000 proceeds of selling his
stamp collection. A millionaire by the time he was 20 he owned some
8,000 properties by the 1980s. He reportedly disposed of 90% of
his properties in the 90's. He has business and property interests
in Zimbabwe and is a supporter of President Robert Mugabe.
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