Channel 5's A Very British Sex Scandal: Who was the Earl of Shaftesbury Anthony Ashley-Cooper, how did he die, and was anyone convicted?

Channel 5's A Very British Sex Scandal: The Earl and The Escort tonight (Wednesday) will feature the very first interview with a woman convicted of her involvement in the murder of one of the UK's wealthiest men. The documentary follows the investigation into the disappearance and murder of the 10th Earl of Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley-Cooper.

The Earl, who went missing in 2004, was eventually discovered dead in a ravine at the foothills of the Alps. Jamila M'Barek, the Earl's estranged wife, and her brother were subsequently convicted in the circumstances of his death.

The program from Channel 5 also features contributions from Jamila's lawyers, detectives, and reporters who worked on the case

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Who was Earl Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley-Cooper?

Anthony Ashley-Cooper was one of Britain’s wealthiest men. Part of a historic family based in Dorset with grand properties in the UK and France, they owned a 9,000-acre estate and works of art worth tens of millions of pounds.

In his youth, he attended Eton and Oxford. After his father died when he was nine, he moved to France for a time with his French mother.

When he was older - and having served in the military, he was married three times - first, to an Italian national. She divorced him after 10 years because he cheated on her with another woman.

His second marriage was to a Swedish national, with whom he had two sons. They divorced in 2000, after his mother died.

Subsequently, the Earl split his time between the ancestral family home in the South West of England and the French Riviera. There, he enjoyed a hedonistic lifestyle of drink, drugs and sex, all funded by his multi-million-pound inheritance.

In early 2002, an article in the Daily Telegraph described the then-63 year old dressed in an open-necked pink silk shirt and gold chain, frolicking at Bellini's bar in Kensington with 29-year-old French model Nathalie Lions. They said: "He wrote cheques and Lions spent them, and he would not listen to those who suggested he was being taken advantage of."

Who is Jamila M’Barek?

Jamila M'Barek was a divorcée and mother of two. She met the Earl through an escort agency in France.

In 2002, the pair were married, which made M'Barek the third Countess of Shaftesbury. Two years later, after he sought a divorce, the Earl was found dead. M’Barek confessed that her brother was responsible for the murder.

When did he go missing and when was he found?

The 10th Earl of Shaftesbury disappeared in France when he was 66, prompting an international police investigation. On November 15, 2004, Shaftesbury's Nice-based lawyer reported him missing after being contacted by the Earl's girlfriend.

On April 7, 2005, skeletal remains were discovered by the French authorities in a valley at Théoule-sur-Mer on the outskirts of Cannes. Identified as the Earl's body, it was discovered five months after his death.

How did he die and who was implicated in the investigation?

M'Barek, then in her early 40s, was admitted to a psychiatric hospital three months later. There, she had an emotional breakdown and began confessing to her involvement in her husband's death.

When interviewed by police, she claimed that the Earl had been beaten to death by her brother, Mohamed M'Barek, during a fight regarding the couple's divorce at her flat in Cannes. Both were convicted of his murder.

The Earl's estranged wife reportedly told investigators: "I did not want him to die. I just wanted my brother to intimidate him so that he would continue to pay me my allowance.

"But he didn't want to have anything to do with it, so a violent quarrel broke out. I left the room because I could not stand to see what was happening."

What happened to the Earl and his family?

The 10th Earl was cremated in Monaco and buried at his family seat in Wimborne, Dorset. His elder son, Anthony, died of natural causes only five weeks after becoming the 11th Earl and was succeeded by his younger brother, Nicholas.

What happened to Jamila M’Barek?

During the case, the prosecution played a secretly recorded telephone conversation between the defendant and her sister, Naima, in which Jamila discussed £100,000 paid to her brother, allegedly his fee for contract killing. She additionally recounted precisely how she was going to blame her brother for her husband's death

M'Barek was subsequently imprisoned for having paid her brother to murder her husband. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison, later reduced to 20 years.

A report by the magistrate in the 2007 trial said: "She was an escort girl who loved the high life and wanted to preserve the social and financial status procured by her marriage to the Earl of Shaftesbury.

"She had an easy, even luxury lifestyle that was a revenge on her poor childhood. She chose the life of a kept woman, with multiple affairs with men she chose for their bank accounts and their assets."

A Very British Sex Scandal: The Earl and The Escort is on tonight (Wednesday) at 9pm on Channel 5