Police launch manhunt after socialite Robert Troyan found battered to death in Mayfair apartment

Police have launched a manhunt after a wealthy socialite was found battered to death in his flat in one of London’s most exclusive neighbourhoods.

Robert Troyan, 59, was found on the kitchen floor of the flat in Mount Street, Mayfair, on Friday afternoon. He had suffered head injuries.

Mr Troyan was the former partner of the interior designer and architect Anthony Feldman and the couple were the first in London to enter into a civil partnership in December 2005, just a month before Mr Feldman died of pancreatic cancer.

Famed for their “Mayfair dinners”, the pair enjoyed entertaining at their home in the top two storeys of an 18th-century town house in Hertford Street, Mayfair, where the “where champagne was always chilled and ready to open”.

Scotland Yard said police were called to the address in Mount Street just before 4pm last Friday to reports of a man collapsed. He was pronounced dead at the scene. There have been no arrests.

Neighbours said that after his partner’s death, Mr Troyan had moved to the apartment in Mount Street after neighbours began complaining about his “lively lifestyle”. One local resident, who did not wish to be named, described him as a “colourful character” who was “devastated” by his partner’s death.

He said: “He came from a very monied background in America. He was totally devastated by Anthony’s death. It was Anthony that really kept everything running smoothly in both their lives.

“After Anthony died, there was quite a lot of coming and going of various characters, and it caused some problems. Nothing would surprise me. In the end Robert moved to Mount Street. I went past there on Friday, and I actually thought – ‘I hope it’s not him’.”

Mr Troyan, known by some as “Roberto”, had studied at art school in America, before moving to the UK. It is believed to have owned a large collection of antiques, which he stored at the Mount Street flat. Neighbours said that he walked with a stick and was rarely seen without his Philippine housemaid who is believed to have raised the alarm on Friday.

One neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: “He was living in a building that was fairly empty most of the time. People were often away at their country houses – they would use the apartments as a base. I think there were only three out of 15 flats occupied on Friday.

“I believe he rented the flat. It must have been lonely after living so well for so long.”