He shoves his shiny black shoe in the door and pushes a manila envelope at me. ‘Read these,’ he says. ‘Please,’ he adds after what seems to be a battle with his will. ‘Don’t doubt yourself. It’s all real.’

SUICIDE OF TOP LAWYER STILL BAFFLES

The Parisian, 15 May

THE DEATH OF high-profile lawyer Audrey Godard three nights ago still leaves police and Godard’s family and colleagues baffled. The fifty-seven-year-old senior partner of Godard, Duclos and Debuchy threw herself out of the window of her rue de Navarin apartment on Friday night in front of seven friends and colleagues at a dinner party.

Friends who spoke confidentially to The Parisian cannot understand why she would commit suicide. She was successful and appeared happy and gave no indication of depression or undue stress. After gathering witness accounts, police certified the death self-inflicted and closed the investigation.

But Ms Godard’s three adult children suggest that there was undue pressure to close the case from Etienne Duclos and Elisa Debuchy, the law firm’s other senior partners. They think the circumstances surrounding their mother’s suicide should be examined.

‘It is outrageous that our mother’s death should be hushed up simply to avoid negative publicity for the firm,’ said Marcel Godard (27) speaking on behalf of his bereaved siblings, Robert (25) and Amelie (23). ‘Of course we want the firm to avoid negative impact as much as they do, but we need to understand what caused this tragedy. A few days’ extra investigation would not harm the business, and would provide us with closure.’ They have appealed to the magistrate’s office to reopen the case.

Audrey Godard was born in Birmingham, England, in 1960, as Audrey Cartwright. She was educated at Henley School and Edgbaston Arts Academy and studied dance and drama at Beauchamp University before undertaking an MPhil in law. She started her legal career as an entertainment contracts specialist and became one of France’s highest-profile entertainment litigators by taking on diverse cases for celebrity clients, most notably the defamation suit of Harold Karnac and the fascism row of President Pasteur vs Penguin Random House.

In 1988, Ms Godard married automotive designer Philippe Godard; he died of colonic cancer in 2007. Audrey Godard is survived by her three children and her mother, Elizabeth Cartwright.

ENGLISH BUSINESSMAN DIES IN ACCIDENTAL FALL

Tokyo Daily News, 2 January

TOKYO – An English businessman has died in an accidental fall from his apartment in Sakurashinmachi.

Mr Martin Trengove (58) was celebrating New Year’s Eve when, according to his partner Ms Jennifer Russell, who was with him at the time, he slipped on ice on the balcony and fell the four storeys onto the road, dying instantly.

Mr Trengove, a self-employed marketing executive, was embroiled in a fraud scandal in the UK in 2014, but the Japan Chamber of Business lists him as an active member in Japan since 2015.

Metropolitan police have interviewed witnesses to the accident and confirm that no foul play is suspected.