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Getty Grandson Found Dead At Los Angeles Home

The grandson of oil billionaire J Paul Getty has been found dead in mysterious circumstances at his home in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles.

Andrew Getty, 47, was discovered in the bathroom of a gated house in Montcalm Avenue early on Tuesday morning.

Police went there after receiving a call from a woman, reportedly a former girlfriend.

They said she has not been arrested but has been helping with their inquiries.

A coroner said Mr Getty appears to have died from natural causes or an accident, but media reports suggested he had suffered a traumatic injury.

Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Commander Andrew Smith said: "At first glance, it does not appear to be a criminal type of act. But that could change."

It was said that the police were examining medication found at the scene.

Celebrity website TMZ reported Mr Getty and his ex-girlfriend had a difficult relationship and police were called to his home over 30 times, mainly to deal with "domestic disturbances".

He had recently taken out a restraining order against a woman, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Mr Getty was not initially identified by officers but a statement from his parents, Ann and Gordon Getty, appealed for privacy at "this extremely difficult time".

He was one of four sons of Gordon Getty - a multibillionaire and one of the richest men in the US - and the grandson of oil baron J Paul Getty.

The industrialist, who founded the Getty Oil Company and was an avid collector of art and antiquities, died in 1976.

Another one of his grandsons, J Paul Getty III, had his ear cut off in a kidnapping in Rome when he was a teenager.

The family apparently stalled on paying a ransom and the kidnappers cut off part of his ear and sent it to a newspaper to prove they were genuine.

Then 16, he was eventually freed after five months in captivity and a payment of $2.7m. He died in 2011 aged 54.