THE body of the Earl of Shaftesbury has been found in mountains in the south of France, five months after he disappeared, it was reported today.

The earl's sister, Lady Frances Ashley-Cooper, confirmed the discovery of the body last night, the Daily Telegraph reported.

She told the newspaper: "At last the family's anguish is over."

She said her brother's body was found "in a mountainous area not far from Nice".

She said: "It means we can give him the proper burial he deserves."

The flamboyant 66-year-old aristocrat vanished from the Noga Hilton Hotel in the French Riviera resort of Cannes on November 6.

His third wife, Jamila M'Barek, confessed at the beginning of March that she played a part in his disappearance.

Former hostess Ms M'Barek, 37, is being held in a prison hospital in Nice where she is undergoing treatment for depression after she was placed under investigation for murder.

Ms M'Barek, who is of Tunisian origin, has denied murder and has instead allegedly blamed her brother, Mohammed M'Barek, 40, who was also arrested in late February in Munich, Germany.

The 6ft 1ins peer was described by friends and family as generous and charismatic with a reputation for being an international playboy.

According to the earl's lawyer Philippe Soussi, Ms M'Barek has admitted she took part in the "criminal disappearance" of her husband but she has denied murder. Brother and sister have both been placed under investigation for murder.

Reports suggested that the Eton and Oxford-educated earl, whose name is Anthony Ashley-Cooper, was short of cash and had been taking legal action following a theft. It is also reported that he was trying to recover some of the hundreds of thousands of pounds he had spent on Ms M'Barek.

The earl inherited his title from his grandfather at the age of 22 and took on the family seat at Wimborne, Dorset.

First published: April 6