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Home / European families / A Tetra Pak heir kept his wife's body in their London house for two months
Case file s444 · European families · 2012
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2012
Died
about 7 May 2012 (Eva Rausing)
Place
Cadogan Place, Belgravia, London · United Kingdom
Field
packaging fortune
Legal tradition
English law; Swiss company law · Common law · Civil law
Historical event
London 2012 Olympics summer; Tetra Laval family succession after the 1995 split
European familiesBodies, bones and burialsSeized by the stateNowEuropeUnited Kingdom
AI illustration: A white stucco townhouse on Cadogan Place, Belgravia, London, 2012
Illustration made with AI for celebrity.estate.

A Tetra Pak heir kept his wife's body in their London house for two months

Ruben Rausing founded Tetra Pak in Sweden. His sons Gad and Hans ran it together. Hans moved to Britain in 1982 to avoid Swedish tax. In 1995 Hans sold his half to Gad for an estimated $7 billion. Gad died on 28 January 2000. His children Finn, Jörn and Kirsten Rausing kept the business, now Tetra Laval of Pully, Switzerland. Hans's son Hans Kristian married Eva Kemeny in 1992. They had met in drug rehabilitation. In 2008 both received police cautions for possessing Class A drugs. On 10 July 2012 police stopped Hans Kristian on suspicion of drug possession and searched his Belgravia house. They found Eva's body wrapped in bin bags and bedlinen. Her pacemaker showed she had probably died about 7 May. A coroner found she died from drug abuse. Hans Kristian pleaded guilty to preventing her lawful and decent burial. On 1 August 2012 he received ten months, suspended for two years, with two years of drug treatment. He married Julia Delves Broughton in 2014; she died on 18 April 2024. Hans died on 30 August 2019, aged 93. In 2026 Tetra Laval is owned by the Rausing family, Gad's line, and Hans Kristian was knighted for services to the arts in June 2025†.

What the law took from it

A $7 billion buyout settled the business between the brothers but did not protect the family that took the cash.

Sources
  1. ForbesPress
  2. The GuardianPress
  3. BBCPress
  4. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia
  5. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia
  6. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia
  7. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia
  8. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “A Tetra Pak heir kept his wife's body in their London house for two months,” story s444, https://www.celebrity.estate/a-tetra-pak-heir-kept-his-2012, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

European familiesBodies, bones and burialsSeized by the stateNowEuropeCommon lawCivil lawUnited Kingdom