Van Hoogstraten 'joins Samaritans'

Mr Van Hoogstraten could talk you through your troubles

Suicidal people seeking a sympathetic ear could find notorious property baron Nicholas van Hoogstraten at the end of the line, according to a newspaper.

The millionaire, freed on appeal on Tuesday from a 10-year sentence for manslaughter, has joined the Samaritans, The Guardian reports.

"I am a good listener," says the man who described his tenants as "filth".

He gained his certificate, which allows him to apply for a post as a voluntary counsellor, while at Belmarsh prison.

Listening skills

HM Prison Service document 10380 states: "This is to certify that Nick van Hoogstraten has been trained by the Samaritans of Bexley/Bromley in listening and befriending skills at HM Prison Belmarsh."

The Samaritans says volunteers need a good listening ear and patience. Its website calls the work challenging and rewarding "knowing that you may have made a difference".

Samaritans are asked to have a good listening ear and patience

Mr van Hoostraten, 58, who served one year of a 10-year term, said he had helped a number of distressed fellow inmates by listening to them and offering legal advice, according to The Guardian.

Among the inmates the tycoon is said to have taken was a Jamaican Yardi, who was acquitted last month of a murder in South London but is back in jail awaiting deportation.

Mr van Hoogstraten, once famously described by a judge as an "emissary of Beelzebub", was released from high security Belmarsh in Woolwich, south-east London, after serving 12 months of his sentence for the manslaughter of rival landlord Mohammed Raja when his conviction was overturned following a complex legal battle.

The three appeal judges who ruled on the case said "the interests of justice" required him to be retried, but the current state of the law did not allow it.

Mr van Hoogstraten has said he will sue "just about everybody" over the case.