Battle looms over porn baron Paul Raymond's £650m fortune
Porn baron Paul Raymond has died aged 82, paving the way for a battle over his estimated £650million fortune.
Raymond, known as the King of Soho and Britain's answer to Hugh Hefner, became one of the country's richest men after introducing top-shelf magazines to the UK.
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Raymond shows some bunny girls his magazine, King, in 1964
His pornographic titles included Mayfair. He also had a property empire including the Raymond Revuebar strip club in Soho. Last year's Sunday Times Rich List ranked him just outside the top 100.
He had two children, Debbie and Howard, from his relationship with Jean, a former dancer, and a son called Derry from an earlier relationship.
He is believed to have left much of his fortune to Debbie's daughters, Fawn and India Rose. Their mother Debbie died from an accidental drugs overdose in 1992.
The Revue Bar in Soho, which was the first strip club in the country to have a nude dancing licence
Howard. who has his own property business run from offices in West London, may, however, make a claim to the inheritance.
Derry, who lives in Manchester, was estranged from his father.
From a background in the theatre, Raymond, the son of a Liverpool haulage contractor, launched Britain's first topless dancing club.
He sought loopholes in the law to get around nudity restrictions. In one show, prevented by law from having topless models moving around, he put them on a platform and moved it around instead. He built up his wealth by snapping up property in Soho and West London as prices dropped in the 1970s.
Profits from pornography were affected by the growth of the internet but the empire still turned a multi-million pound profit right up to his death.
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Porn baron Paul Raymond flanked by two girls at the Revue bar in 1981
Restaurateur Mark Fuller, a family friend, said Raymond had passed away on Sunday morning.
He added yesterday: "He was an icon of Britain and he is proof that you can come from nothing and do something with your life. I'd rather not comment on how he died but he was getting on a bit and had spent time in hospital."
