A millionaire businessman has been charged with the murder of his two-year-old daughter.

Alberto Izaga, 36, was arrested three months ago after his daughter, Yanire, was found at the family’s luxury riverside flat in London with head injuries. The child died in hospital on June 5, two days after police were called to the £1 million apartment by neigh-bours who had reported hearing screaming.

Mr Izaga, a married senior executive at the European insurance group Swiss Re, appeared at the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

He is alleged to have kicked and punched his daughter with such severity that she suffered a fractured skull. He has been detained in a secure psychiatric hospital since his arrest in June and was flanked by two court officials and two mental health workers throughout yesterday’s 20-minute hearing. He has not indicated a plea and District Judge Daphne Wickham committed the case to the Old Bailey, where he is expected to appear on January 9 next year.

Judge Wickham granted bail on condition that he resides at the Bridge House Medium Secure Unit at Lam-beth Hospital and that his passport is retained by police.

Mr Izaga graduated from the University of Deusto in Bilbao in 1994 with a law and business degree. He began his career with General Electric in 1998, working at the company’s headquarters, where he was vice-president of business development. He was elected to the board of the Association of British Insurers last July. He worked at Swiss Re’s British headquarters in the distinctive Gherkin building in the City of London.

A message on the company’s website reads: “Alberto Izaga is not available to manage his operational responsibilities at this time. The thoughts of the entire Swiss Re team are with the Izaga family.”

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