Silvio Berlusconi dead: Billionaire former Italian prime minister dies aged 86

The former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has died at the age of 86, Italian media reported on Monday. Berlusconi dominated Italian politics for almost twenty years, leading the centre-right party Forza Italy from 1994 to 2009, before taking the helm of successor party The People of Freedom until 2013. The right-wing populist enjoyed three spells as prime minister of Italy – from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2006 and again from 2008 to 2011. His last few years in the country’s top job were marred by allegations of corruption and tales of “bunga bunga” sex parties at his lavish villa outside Milan. He was accused of unlawful sex with 17-year-old nightclub dancer known only as “Ruby the Heartstealer” – but he was acquitted on appeal in 2014, after several women testified that his bung bunga parties were merely “elegant dinners”. Berlusconi had amassed a huge fortune through his business dealings. He was the controlling shareholder of Italian media giant Mediaset, and owned the football club AC Milan from 1986 to 2017. More follows Read More Reports: Former Italian Premier Berlusconi readmitted to hospital 3 weeks after release Mapped: Ukraine claims four villages captured in first gains of counteroffensive British girl killed during barbecue in France as father fights for life – latest