Terrorism police are investigating an unexplained death in New Malden, amid reports of exiled Russian businessman Nikolay Glushkov having died.

Police were called by the London Ambulance Service to Clarence Avenue at 10.46pm on Monday, March 12 to reports of a man found dead.

A Met spokesperson said they believe they know the identity of the man, and his next of kin have been informed, but formal identification is yet to take place.

This news comes after Russian journalist Damian Kudryavtsev posted a tribute to Mr Glushkov on his personal Facebook account.

Mr Glushkov's next-door neighbour, who did not want to be named, said he was a "nice man", who used to give his neighbour's children gifts at Christmas.

The neighbour said: "I think he lived on his own. He lived there for about two years but we didn't see him regularly, just occasionally when he was putting the rubbish out and things like that.

"I didn't notice anything last night, we didn't hear anything but there are two tents in the garden.

"I don't think I've seen him in the last week or so. I hadn't noticed him, but I don't know what's happened - the police said they are still searching and there are lots of police cars."

The Met’s Counter Terrorism Command is leading the investigation “as a precaution because of the associations that the man is believed to have had”.

Mr Glushkov was a close friend of Putin critic Boris Berezovsky, and had said he did not believe Mr Berezovsky’s death was due to natural causes.

There is as yet no evidence to link this incident to the nerve gas attack in Salisbury, although the next-door neighbour said they had not seen Mr Glushkov since then.

A woman who lives across the street said the businessman used to visit her shop but that she did not know him.

She said: "There were five or six police cars this morning about six o'clock, it's right across the street from us.

"I didn't really know the man, I've seen him and we used to see him out with his dog but that's it.

"He sometimes came in our shop many years ago, by the triangle, but I don't remember what he looked like.

"I'm really shocked that this has happened in our street."