SUNNINGHILL PARK, the former home of Prince Andrew which was sold for £3m more than the asking price, has been left to decay by its secretive foreign buyers and may be demolished.

The 12-bedroom mansion was a wedding gift to Andrew from the Queen and was later dubbed “SouthYork” because of its similarity to the Southfork house in Dallas, the television soap. It is now dilapidated, its gardens are overgrown and its utility bills remain unpaid.

New details have emerged over the likely identity of the owner of the house, which was sold for £15m in September last year despite a guide price of £12m and no other bidders.

Kenes Rakishev, a 29-year-old Kazakh tycoon who calls himself a “friend” of Andrew, said he had negotiated the deal but was not the owner.

Inquiries by The Sunday Times have determined that the most likely candidate is his business partner, Timur Kulibayev, the billionaire son-in-law of the Kazakh president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Kulibayev refused to comment, but the Crown Estate, which formerly managed the site, has been given the name of one of his assistants as its point of contact.

The 28-year-old Kazakh-born socialite Goga Ashkenazi, with whom Andrew is often seen, is said to have told friends that she is also the “owner” and that she intends to demolish the house.

One female friend said: “Goga said she thinks the house is tremendously ugly.” Her spokesman denied that she had any connection to the property. Her relationship with Kulibayev is on record: she named him as the father of the son she gave birth to last year.

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