Russian whistleblower feared murdered vomited hours before his death, mistress reveals Alexander Perepilichnyy, a Russian whistleblower whom authorities believe may have been intentionally poisoned, vomited the night before he collapsed and died […]

Alexander Perepilichnyy, a Russian whistleblower whom authorities believe may have been intentionally poisoned, vomited the night before he collapsed and died near his Surrey home, his secret girlfriend has told an inquest.

Mr Perepilichnyy, 44, died hours after returning to the UK following a “romantic” trip to Paris with a 22-year-old Ukrainian model in November 2012.

Perepilichnyy vomited for an hour

Mr Perepilichnyy had been helping the investment firm fund Hermitage Capital Investment to expose a £150m money-laundering operation.

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The married father-of-two spent around an hour vomiting in his hotel bathroom the night before his death after dining at a fashionable Asian restaurant, Elmira Medynska told an inquest at the Old Bailey in London which is examining whether the Russian financier died of natural causes or was murdered.

The married father-of-two spent around an hour vomiting in his hotel bathroom the night before his death

Suspected murder

Surrey Police concluded within six months of Mr Perepilichnyy’s death that there had been “no third-party involvement” in his demise but subsequent toxicology tests indicated that poison from a rare Asian plant, Gelsemium elegans, may have been used to kill him.

In 2017 BuzzFeed News reported that US spy agencies had passed on intelligence to MI6 suggesting Mr Perepilichnyy had likely been “assassinated on direct orders from [Vladimir] Putin or people close to him”.

And French detectives are treating the case as a suspected murder.

Earlier this week the inquest heard Mr Perepilichnyy fought off a multi-million pound legal challenge from a firm run by the prime suspect in the Alexander Litvinenko poison case less than a month before he died.

Stressed and shaking

Ms Medynska, who works in fashion and was modelling in 2012, met Mr Perepilichnyy through a dating site and was one of the last people to see him alive.

Ms Medynska noticed Mr Perepilichnyy’s hands were “shaking”

She had not been due to participate in the inquest until BuzzFeed News tracked her down last summer.

The pair spent two nights together in Paris where Mr Perepilichnyy appeared at times to be “nervous” and “very stressed”, recalled Ms Medynska, who was at the time 22 at the time.

At one point during the trip Ms Medynska noticed Mr Perepilichnyy’s hands were “shaking”, she told the court via video link from Paris, where she has lived for the past three years.

Food tasted ‘bad’

She also observed that Mr Perepilichnyy was drinking more heavily than usual and recalled that he appeared to be “somewhere else”, mentally.

“His mood was not very nice,” Ms Medynska added.

Mr Perepilichnyy sent back his food, commenting that it tasted “not nice”

On 9 November the couple dined at the Buddha-Bar, where Mr Perepilichnyy seemed “stressed”. Ms Medynska said that Mr Perepilichnyy sent back his tempura prawns, commenting that the food tasted “not nice” and ordered sushi or sashimi instead.

“He was very irritated and mad about the quality of the food [and] said the taste [was] bad,” she told the court.

Immediately sick

Later that day Mr Perepilichnyy collapsed and died while jogging near his home in Weybridge

Despite informing Ms Medynska he felt “better” to be in the fresh air during the short walk back to the hotel, Mr Perepilichnyy went directly to the bathroom when the couple reached their room and stayed inside for “a long time”.

Ms Medynska said she heard what she believed to be Mr Perepilichnyy vomiting “three times” over the course of about an hour, and that he emerged with a “red face” and red eyes.

The following morning, however, he had a “very good appetite” and ate an early breakfast of eggs and hot chocolate before before the pair went to the airport together, for Mr Perepilichnyy to return to London and Ms Medynska to Ukraine.

Later that day Mr Perepilichnyy collapsed and died while jogging near his home in Weybridge, Surrey.

The inquest continues.

@kt_grant