Conspiracy theories

Before formal identification of the two tragic victims had taken place newspaper headlines hinted at foul play due to Stephen Curtis' business dealings in Russia.

The millionaire international lawyer's connections to crisis-hit Yukos oil placed him in the middle of a power struggle between Russian President Vladmir Putin and Yukos boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

And many suggested that he had paid the ultimate price after taking over the reins at Yukos when Khodorkovsky was jailed.

Local businessman and pilot Max Radford and Mr Curtis died instantly when their helicopter exploded into a fireball in March last year.

But long before their shocked families had time to come to terms with their deaths theories were already circulating as to the cause of the terrible crash.

Many claimed the pair had been murdered despite a detailed investigation which concluded the crash was the result of pilot error.

And next week the theories and the facts will be aired at Bournemouth Town Hall.

Representatives from national and international news organisations are expected to attend the inquest, which starts on Monday and is expected to last for up to three days.

Conspiracy theories surfaced within hours of the tragedy when Mr Curtis's identity became known to the media. The 45-year-old millionaire lawyer was said to have received death threats and to be involved in a large international tax fraud.

A married man and father of a teenage girl, he was the boss of a Russian oil firm and allegedly told friends he had been targeted by the Russian secret service.

The former Welsh university student was managing director of Group Menatep, a £16 billion holding company. After his death he was accused of masterminding a number of offshore companies for tax fraud and money laundering.

He was named in a lawsuit brought by US investors who claimed they lost millions in the collapse of Russian oil company Yukos. Menatep was the holding company of Yukos.

Mr Curtis lived in the remote, multi-million pound Pennsylvania Castle in Portland. His flamboyant funeral service ended with a firework display there.

Mr Radford, 34-year-old boss of Hurn-based Red Aviation, was the pilot of Mr Curtis' private Agusta 109E helicopter and had flown him between Battersea heliport and Bournemouth airport regularly.

Mr Radford, who lived in Bournemouth, was originally from Sussex and began flying helicopters in 1993. He gained his commercial licence in the USA where he spent four years as an instructor and earned his UK airline transport pilot's licence in 2000.

He was joint owner and chief pilot of Red Aviation. Weeks after the crash, the firm ceased trading, leaving a trial of debts.

The Air Accident Investigation Branch of the Civil Aviation Authority, which compiled a report into the crash, concluded: "During the final stages of the approach the pilot probably became disorientated due to a loss of visual references when attempting to fly by sole reference to his flight instruments or limited ground lights or a combination of both. The pilot's limited instrument flying background did not equip him to cope with the difficult situation in which he found himself."

In the final 29 seconds of the flight, Mr Radford confirmed there was a problem but did not say what it was.

When the air traffic controller asked Mr Radford if everything was OK, he replied, "Negative negative." Moments before impact he said: "OK, it's OK, I need a climb, I need a climb." The helicopter came down in a field a mile from the runway.