the times | Wednesday June 8 2022 5
News
A man has been charged with murder
after a university lecturer died from
stab wounds.
The academic, Dr Antonella Castel-
vedere, 52, was found at her home in
Colchester last Wednesday and taken
to hospital, where she died later.
Ertan Ersoy, 50, who was also injured,
was found with Castelvedere. He was
taken to hospital and then arrested. He
was charged last night and will appear
at Colchester magistrates’ court today.
Castelvedere, originally from Brescia
Antonella
Castelvedere
died in hospital
from her injuriesLORNE CAMPBELL/GUZELIANSuspect charged with murder of lecturer ‘stabbed at her home’
in Italy, was a senior lecturer in English
Literature at the University of Suffolk.
The university released a statement ex-
pressing their condolences to her
family. She had lived in Britain for 25
years and her parents and brother still
live in Italy, according to reports in the
Italian media.
The university said: “The University
of Suffolk community is deeply sad-
dened by the untimely death of Dr
Antonella Castelvedere. Antonella was
a widely respected and well-liked
member of staff at the university where
she was an outstanding academic inEnglish and Critical Writing. Our
thoughts are with her family at this very
difficult time.”
Her university profile says that she
was also a fellow at Advance HE, a
charity that works with higher educa-
tion institutions across the word to
pursue excellence.
Students paid tribute to her on social
media. One former student wrote:
“What a tragic loss... Antonella had a
smile and laugh that was truly infec-
tious. She supported and mentored me
through my dissertation and was the
most inspiring teacher. I feel honouredto have been taught by her and [to have]
known her warmth and kindness.”
Neighbours have been laying flowers
outside her house. Residents in the road
decided to go ahead with a party to
celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
after taking the advice of police. Theydescribed her as “quiet” and “well
liked”.
Castelvedere’s father, Spartaco, is a
former director of an agricultural con-
sortium. The family have made no
comment about her death so far.
Detective Chief Inspector Antony
Alcock, of the Kent and Essex serious
crime directorate, said: “Although we
have reached the point of charge, our
dedicated team of detectives are con-
tinuing to gather accounts from wit-
nesses and other evidence. This was an
isolated incident and there is no threat
posed to the wider public.”Laurence Sleator
Roman Abramovich has paid £1.75 bil-
lion in tax in the UK over the past 20
years, his lawyers claim.
Representatives of the former owner
of Chelsea football club say he and his
businesses paid more than £41 million
in 2019-20 alone in corporation tax,
stamp duty and employer’s national in-
surance contributions.
“This places Abramovich among the
top 25 tax contributors in that year,”
they argue.
The revelations appear in legal sub-
missions to the EU in which the Rus-
sian oligarch, 55, claims sanctions
against him are discriminatory, dispro-
portionate and based on false allega-
tions about his closeness to President
Putin. It is thought similar submissions
have been made to the UK government.
Abramovich argues that he pays
more tax in Britain and the EU than he
does in Russia and that he should not be
considered a leading contributor to the
Russian state or a supporter of Putin’s
policy in Ukraine.
The billionaire’s Belgian lawyers say
that he has invested £2 billion of private
funds in Britain, that his family office is
in London and that he used to employ
almost 1,000 people at Chelsea FC and
other businesses.
Robert Watts, compiler of The Sun-
day Times Tax List, said: “These num-
bers would place him firmly on the list
of the top 50 taxpayers, but we’ve never
had this kind of transparency from him
before.”
Abramovich’s fortune has halved —
from an estimated £12 billion to £6 bil-
lion — since the invasion of Ukraine,
notably because of the fall in value of
the steelmaker Evraz, in which he is the
major shareholder.
Brussels imposed sanctions on the
oligarch in March, saying he had
“long and close ties to Vladimir
Putin” and “privileged access to
the president”.
It said his connection with Pu-
tin “helped him to
maintain his con-
siderable wealth”
and his businesses
benefited from Rus-
sian aggression and
were a big source of
revenue for the
Abramovich
‘one of UK’s
top taxpayers’
Kremlin. But the oligarch’s lawyers say
the EU is relying on “false and un-
founded declarations” in its description
of his relationship with Putin.
The papers add: “Mr Abramovich
does not have a privileged relationship
with President Putin in order to main-
tain his wealth and does not benefit
from Russian decision-makers respon-
sible for the annexation of Crimea or
the destabilisation of Ukraine.
“On the contrary, Mr Abramovich
acquired his wealth prior to Vladimir
Putin becoming president and has de-
nied and contested false allegations in
relation to having financial links to the
Russian government before courts.”
Abramovich says he has never ex-
pressed support for Putin’s policy to-
wards Ukraine.
His submission is accompanied by a
letter from the leader of the Ukrainian
peace talks delegation praising the oli-
garch’s “positive role”.
David Arakhamia said that with
Abramovich’s assistance agreements
were reached that helped to establish
“humanitarian corridors through
which more than 400,000 civilians
have been evacuated”.
The Ukrainian MP added: “His ef-
forts have also resulted in several ex-
changes of prisoners of war through
which several hundreds have been re-
leased... Abramovich continues to ac-
tively participate in the negotiation
process as well as supporting humani-
tarian efforts.”
The billionaire’s lawyers argue that
sanctions have restricted his ability to
take part in the peace negotiations and
humanitarian work because legal firms
and consultants have been uncertain
about engaging with him and he has
been unable to travel as freely.
Sanctions also affected the value of
Chelsea at a time when Abramovich
had pledged to donate the proceeds of
the club’s sale to humanitarian
causes. His ownership of the club
has, the submission states, been
characterised by huge invest-
ment not only in the first team
but in the Chelsea women’s team
and the youth academy, includ-
ing the building of world-class
training facilities at Cob-
ham in Surrey.
It adds: “Abramovich
has also directed Chel-
sea to take the lead on... combating anti-
semitism and racism.”
War in Ukraine, page 30
Sean O’Neill, Bruno Waterfield Brussels
Always look on the bright side for a long life
Being an optimist can add years to your
life, according to research.
A study has found that those who
“always look on the bright side” were
more likely to live past the age of 90.
Hayami Koga, from the Harvard TH
Chan School of Public Health in Boston
in the United States, and the study’s
lead author, said that optimism was as
good for you as exercise.
She added: “Although optimism itself
may be patterned by social structural
factors, our findings suggest that the
benefits of optimism for longevity may
hold across racial and ethnic groups.
Optimism may be an important target
of intervention for longevity across
diverse groups.”
The findings, published in the Journalof the American Geriatrics Society, are
based on 159,255 women in the US who
were tracked for up to 26 years.
Optimism was assessed using a ques-
tionnaire known as the “life orientation
test” — one of the most commonly
used measures. Other factors such as
education, marital status, income and
chronic health conditions were also
taken into account.
Those who ranked among the top
25 per cent for optimism lived 5.4 per
cent longer on average than those in
the lowest quarter.
Koga said: “Higher optimism was
associated with longer lifespan and a
greater likelihood of achieving excep-
tional longevity overall. The contribu-
tion of lifestyle was modest. Optimismmay promote health and longevity in
diverse racial and ethnic groups. Future
research should investigate these asso-
ciations in less long-lived populations.”
Growing evidence suggests that posi-
tive psychological factors are asso-
ciated with a lower risk of morbidity
and mortality.
A sunny disposition is partly in the
genes. However, experiments have
demonstrated that it can be inspired by
cognitive-behavioural strategies.
Research has suggested that optimis-
tic individuals take more proactive
approaches to promoting their health.
They are also more likely to engage in
positive behaviours such as increased
physical activity, healthier diets and not
smoking.Finger on the tiller Matty Whitaker tests a narrow boat on the 127-mile Leeds and Liverpool Canal in Skipton, North YorkshireThe oligarch is
challenging the
EU on sanctions