Devastated Lib Dem peer and I’m A Celebrity contestant Brian Paddick, 64, reveals sudden death of his ‘beautiful’ husband at their Oslo home with ‘no cause immediately apparent’
- Mr Paddick said his husband Petter Belsvik was found ‘peacefully alone’
- He said the cause was not ‘immediately apparent’ and that it would take time
A ‘devastated’ British politician and former I’m A Celebrity contestant has revealed the sudden death of his husband at their Oslo home.
Brian Paddick, 64, a Liberal Democrat peer, former London mayor candidate and also the Deputy Assistant Commissioner in London’s Metropolitan Police Service until his retirement in 2007, announced the death of Petter Belsvik on Monday.
He said the cause of his husband’s death was not ‘immediately apparent’ and that it would ‘take some time to establish what happened’.
‘My beautiful, loving husband, Petter Belsvik, has died suddenly at our home in Oslo,’ Lord Paddick wrote in a message to his followers on Twitter on Monday.
‘He was found peacefully alone, with no cause of death immediately apparent. It will take some time to establish what happened. We were devoted to each other & I am devastated,’ he added.
His Twitter announcement was met with a flood of well-wishes, tributes and condolences.
Brian Paddick (right), 64, a Liberal Democrat who was also the Deputy Assistant Commissioner in London’s Metropolitan Police Service until his retirement in 2007, announced the death of Petter Belsvik (shown left) on Monday. He said Mr Belsvik died at their Oslo home
Lord Paddick (shown right in both photos) said the cause of his husband’s death was not ‘immediately apparent’ and that it would ‘take some time to establish what happened’
Broadcaster Kay Burley wrote: ‘My dear Brian, this is truly tragic news. All my thoughts are with you. Stay strong xxx.’
Peer and Conservative politician Lord Bethell tweeted in response: ‘how horrible! I am so sorry. Lots of prayers and good vibes to you.’
And former BBC Home Affairs correspondent and journalist Danny Shaw wrote: ‘So sorry to hear that Brian. What a terrible shock. Thinking of you.’
It is understood that Mr Belsvik was a civil engineer from Oslo. The pair met in a bar while on holiday in Ibiza, and got married in 2009 on Norway.
Same-sex marriage had been legalised in the country eight days earlier, and their marriage was among the first high-profile unions to be sealed following the legislation’s introduction.
Will-wishes and condolences flooded in following Paddick’s tragic Twitter post
Lord Paddick was a contestant in the eight series of ITV1’s reality TV show I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, which was broadcast in 2008.
The pair were pictured embracing and kissing after Paddick left the jungle.
Speaking in 2010 as part of the Liberal Democrat debate about equal marriage in the UK, Paddick said that the ‘real impact of [marriage rather than a civil partnership], the symbolism of it, the importance of it, didn’t really strike me until we stood in front of the judge in the courthouse in Oslo, and she said… we’re here today to witness the marriage of Brian and Petter.
‘And that was an intensely moving experience. We really feel, my husband and I, that we are really equal because we are married,’ he said at the time.
Paddick, who was granted a peerage in September 2013, served in the police force for more than 30 years before retiring in May 2007 from his role as the Met police’s deputy assistant commissioner.
He was responsible for a number of changes in policing priorities and methods in London, making a particular splash in the early 2000s when, in his role as police commander for Lambeth, instructed police officers to stop arresting people on minor cannabis possession charges to free up police resource for more impactful crimes.
He went on to run as the Lib Dem candidate for London Mayor in 2008 and 2012, losing out to Boris Johnson.