Equitable Life boss finds bugging device in his flat

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Charles Thomson, chief executive of Equitable Life, called in police after discovering the listening equipment concealed in his luxury apartment in London.

Detectives are investigating how the device came to be in the Barbican flat, which Mr Thomson, 59, uses as a base during the working week.

A security sweep has also been carried out at his £1million family home in Ayr, in Scotland, which he returns to most weekends.

Yesterday, a source said: "The discovery has caused a lot of concern and distress."

Strathclyde Police say they have been handed a tape which is understood to contain a private conversation between Mr Thomson and his partner of five years, Verity Coutts.

He left his wife Pamela and their two children for Miss Coutts, 32, a former Equitable employee with whom he has a young daughter.

Since taking over in 2001, Glasgowborn Mr Thomson has survived criticism for enjoying fat-cat pay and for having faked his own reference before he joined.

A year before his appointment, the Equitable had nearly collapsed when it emerged that it could not honour some pension policies.