Troubled steel boss falls to death

Firefighters were called to lead the operation to get him down and paramedics pronounced the 45-year-old dead at the scene in central London.

Mr Paul’s father Lord Paul, who was born in the Indian town of Jalandhar, founded the business in 1968 with a £5,000 loan.

It comes after the troubled company, which is now in administration, announced 450 job cuts, with the future of another 1,200 uncertain.

Emergency services were called to a building beside his home in Portland Place, Marylebone, on Sunday morning after Mr Paul was seen lying on the roof.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said “Enquiries into the circumstances of the incident continue but it is being treated as non-suspicious at this stage.” and has taken Paul’s body for autopsy.

He married 40-year-old lawyer Michelle Bonn in 2005 and lived in the apartment complex with his parents and 57-year-old twin brothers Ambar and Akash.

A source close to Lord Paul said last night: “It is hard, a son is a son”.

The PLC is one of Britain’s leading firms and includes interests from auto component manufacture to hotels and hospitality.

The Caparo Group comprises 20 businesses, 16 of which are now in administration. Job losses followed at factories across the United Kingdom and all websites associated with Caparo have been suspended.

Mr Paul was involved in a number of business ventures, and was listed as the executive producer on many of Guy Ritchie’s films including Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch.

He also teamed up with Alasdhair Willis, husband of designer Stella McCartney, to form Established & Sons, an upmarket furniture company.

In an 2010 interview with the FT he said the disadvantage of a family business was: “Your family is completely at risk if the business has problems”.

A year ago the Birmingham Post reported that Lord Paul’s family was worth an estimated £2 billion. After it emerged he held an account with the Swiss branch of HSBC embroiled in tax-dodging, Lord Paul was accused of being a “dodgy donor” but denied any wrongdoing.