Aristos Constantinou

Aristos Constantinou was killed by burglars after returning with his wife to their home in the early hours of new year’s day 1985 after a night out.

He was shot six times with nickel-jacketed bullets, including one into each temple in the chapel in his 66-room mansion at 39 Bishops Avenue, Hampstead.

The murder became known as the ‘silver bullet murder'.

Aristos Constantinou's 28-year-old wife had initially been a suspect. She was later named as a suspect in 1997 and the police sent the CPS a file, but they decided there was not enough evidence to prosecute.

The police submitted a further file in 2022, but the CPS again declined to prosecute, although on that occasion, the police were reported to have taken the unprecedented act of appealing the decision. However, it is not known for certain who the suspect in that file was.

Shortly after the murder Aristos Constantinou's wife married a life guard from Florida and left the country. She has consistently denied any involvement in the murder. In 2002 she again denied being involved with the murder and added that she wouldn't be coming back to the UK for questioning.

At the inquest into Aristos Constantinou's death she was noted for having run from the witness box after giving evidence into the arms of her new husband. She admitted initially lying to the police about what happened. It was reported that she had waited nine months before telling the truth, stating that she did it to protect their children. She said that she had recognised one of the men that had attacked them, but said that the man had threatened her children and that he had since made other threats to her and her children and that she had constantly been threatened by two other men up until the time she left Britain in July 1985.

It was later reported that she had gone back to Cyprus.

It was also later reported that the man she had identified had been the father of a lover she had had at the time. However, it was said that the police could find no evidence for her claim and although the police identified a suspect in 2022 and sent a file for consideration of the CPS, it isn't known whether there were any connections with the lover or his father.

Aristos Constantinou's wife said that after they arrived home they following the New Year's party that she found a man in their bedroom and that he dragged her downstairs by the hair and forced her to help him open the study door and the safe. She said that all the while she could hear Aristos Constantinou screaming in a room at the back of the house.

She said that she tried to escape and get a shotgun from an upstairs room, but that her attacker caught her and dragged her into a bathroom and punched her hard on the mouth, causing her to fall and hit her on the towel rail, rendering her unconscious. However, she said that she then escaped by climbing through a window into the street where two motorcyclists stopped to help her. The motorcyclists then went into the house to find Aristos Constantinou dead.

However, it was noted that she had initially told the police nothing about that in her original statements to the police and that it wasn't until nine months later that she revealed those details.

When the police were called to the scene at about 1.45am, they found Aristos Constantinou slumped in an alcove with four bullet wounds to his chest and two to his head. A wall safe had been opened and a glass pane in the kitchen door had been smashed.

The murder weapon was never found.

It was also thought that Aristos Constantinou might have been shot because he had been a 'have-a-go' hero.

At the inquest, it was also noted that Aristos Constantinou's wife had initially told rescuers that Aristos Constantinou had been shot, but when asked how she could have known that if she hadn't seen him and didn't mention hearing any shots, she said that she didn't remember that, adding:

When she was told:

She began to cry and left the court. Once outside, she said:

Aristos Constantinou had been a millionaire and a fashion tycoon after having set up his own fashion label, Ariella.

Following his murder his brother took over the fashion empire. He said that he had no ill-feeling towards Aristos Constantinou's wife, but noted that he was unhappy about his brother’s three children being in the United States. He said:

Aristos Constantinou's wife had been buyer and area manager for one of her husband's shops.

It was reported around the time that one of Aristos Constantinou's dress shop managers had had a close friendship with Aristos Constantinou's wife. He said that they were close but that they never met outside the shop. He said:

He added that he was sure that his relationship was the reason he had to leave the shop in April 1986. He said that he left partly of his own accord and partly because he was sacked.

The case was reopened in 2017 and in 2020 it was reported that a file had been prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions for consideration against the main suspect, however, the CPS decided in April 2021 to drop the case. However, Aristos Constantinou’s family were said to have found closure in the findings, stating that they at least knew who did it.

They said that the they had consistently been told by the police that the evidence only pointed to one suspect but that it was the CPS who had declined to take action even though the police described the evidence as 'overwhelming'.

As the third investigation in 2022 sent the file to the CPS, Aristos Constantinou's brother said:

However, the CPS again declined to prosecute.

In 2012 Aristos Constantinou's brother was reported as having accused Aristos Constantinou's wife of the murder and to demand the police take action against her, adding that as far as he was concerned, the murder was solved.

At that time, 2012, Aristos Constantinou's wife was said to have been living in Cyprus with her third husband.

It was also reported in 2012 that a letter from the Metropolitan Police's Assistant Commissioner in 1999 which was made public in 2012 said the report led to new evidence, which:

Aristos Constantinou's brother said that after the CPS declined to prosecute in 1997 that he dedicated his life to trying to find out why, but was told by the CPS that they could not tell him as the information was 'privileged material'. As a result, Aristos Constantinou's brother called for the CPS to be disbanded. He said:

Aristos Constantinou was born in Cyprus and had had three children. He had been the son of a Greek Cypriot tailor and had come to England in the 1960s. After going to the London Fashion School, he started business from the back room of a shop in Carnaby Street from where he went on to become a success.

The mansion at 39 Bishops Avenue had at the time been called Heath Lodge but was later renamed The Fountains. However, around 2023, following an attempt to sell it, it was demolished and a new mansion built in its place. Bishops Avenue was known as millionaires row at the time, and is now known as billionaires row.

At the time of  his death, his company had 11 stores and more than 300 wholesale accounts across the world.

One of Aristos Constantinou's son's was later convicted of fraud by false representation, fraudulent-trading and money laundering in 2023. He had been the head of a foreign exchange company involved in a £70m fraud, and was sentenced to 14 years.