French police have begun an international murder hunt for a British man who is alleged to have fled a luxury Paris hotel after the battered body of a wealthy woman friend was found there on Tuesday.

Ian Griffin, 39, from the London area, drove away from the Hotel Bristol, a favourite of President Sarkozy, in a grey Porsche on Tuesday just before the woman’s body was found in their room, police said.

The 36-year-old victim, a Polish businessswoman, was identifed as Kinga Legg. She headed a large Polish company which exports tomatoes and has a base in Surrey. Its main customers are British supermarkets.

A maid found Ms Legg’s body in the bath of the room that she shared with Mr Griffin on Tuesday evening. She had been severely beaten with a blunt instrument. The room had been badly damaged in appeared to be a violent scene. Wall-paper was torn, curtains pulled down, furniture overturned and there was blood on the floor and walls.

“The autopsy showed that she died of blows to the body. There was no weapon used except for bits of furniture and fists,” Henri Moreau of the Brigade Criminelle told The Times.

The couple were said by police to have been involved in a stormy on-off relationship. They were reported to have arrived from Britain on Saturday at the Bristol, which is almost opposite the Elysée palace. They spent a night on the town on Monday and drank heavily, police said.

Mr Griffin, who is understood also to use the name Griffin-Bond, lived with Ms Legg at a rented home on Oxshott’s Crown Estate in Surrey. He was born in Warrington, Cheshire, and has recently lived in Knutsford and Twickenham. He was reportedly declared bankrupt at Warrington County Court in 2006. Hotel staff and guests told police that they had not heard any row or violence.

“We have sought the British police,” Mr Moreau said. “We are inquiring with people who knew them. Friends have told us that they lived part of the time in Britain. Apparently he did not do much in the way of earning a living. It is possible that he lived off her,” said Mr Moreau. " Mr Griffin “had a bad business record and was known for bankruptcy,” said the police spokesman. “British police are inquiring into his background. The couple clearly had a lot of money,” he added.

Ms Legg, whose maiden name was Wolf, was the director and believed to be the owner of Vegex, a tomatoexporting firm at Opatowek, Poland and with its British base at Oxshott.

Last night Ms Legg’s former husband, Peter, was stunned by the news of her murder. The couple married in 1996 and lived in Poulton le Fylde near Blackpool, Lancs, until they split up two years later. “This has come as a complete shock . . . it is terrible,” Mr Legg, 40, said.

Ms Legg owns a yacht based in on the French Mediterranean coast. Mr Griffin had been suspected of heading for the vessel but he had not been spotted. They did not have the registration number of the Porsche 911 which he was driving.

The Hotel Bristol, where rooms cost upward of £500 a night, declined to discuss the affair. President Sarkozy often dines at there, a favourite with tycoons and film stars, on the Rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré about half a minute's walk from his palace.

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