By . David Williams . Hungary faced demands to allow Scotland Yard to investigate the brutal murder of a former British model after her inquest was told a local policeman was a prime suspect in the killing. The family of Eva Rhodes, a friend of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, claimed officer Horvath Zoltan Peter had a grudge against the 65-year-old and was linked to both her murder at the animal sanctuary she ran in a remote Hungarian town in September 2008 and an orchestrated cover up by the authorities there. The victim’s sister Judith Majlath, a Nobel peace prize winner, told how the policeman had even been part of the investigation into the disappearance and murder despite personally threatening previously Mrs Rhodes would be ‘eliminated.’ Celebrity: Animal lover Eva Rhodes, left, was murdered in Hungary in 2009, and found fame in the 1960s as a model and socialite. An inquest into her death has started in London today . Inquest: Eva Rhodes' daughter Sophia Barta (left) and Eva's sister Judith Majlath (right) at Westminster Coroner's Court during the inquest . Friendship: Eva Rhodes became friends John Lennon and Yoko Ono, whose cash eventually helped pay for her animal sanctuary . Two Scotland Yard detectives were at . Westminster Coroners Court in Central London to hear the horrific story . of how Mrs Rhodes had been bludgeoned to death and her body butchered . and burned in the grounds of the sanctuary she ran in Gyor, in . north-west Hungary. One of . her assistants, Csaba Augusztinyi, 33, a weight-lifter and wanted . criminal, later confessed and was jailed for 13 years but passing a . verdict of unlawful killing, Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox called . into question the findings of the investigations in Hungary. Crime: Her caretaker Csaba Augusztinyi admitted killing her and setting fire to her body but her daughter believes the police were also involved . She . said that while she was satisfied Augusztinyi was ‘at least partly . responsible’ inconsistencies in evidence supported the family's belief . ‘others might have been involved.’ Dr . Wilcox highlighted how examinations carried out in the UK on the . victim’s remains by a forensic anthropologist showed Mrs Rhodes had died . as a result of a ‘multitude of skull fractures’ in a ‘frenzied physical . assault’ which conflicted with Augusztinyi's evidence that a punch to . the face and single blow to the head had killed her. ‘It leaves uncomfortable concerns,’ she said. The . coroner said she was concerned Zoltan Peter, who it is believed was . pensioned off from the Gyor force as questions over the death began . emerging, was never questioned by Hungarian investigators. Sophia . Barta, Mrs Rhodes’s daughter, told the inquest how the policeman had . been responsible for a ‘Rambo’ style attack on her and her mother at the . sanctuary in 2002. A . dispute over a rescue dog had grown, she said, so that at one point the . officer had attacked her mother in the courtyard and then turned on Ms . Barta when she tried to photograph the assault. She said her head was ‘smashed’ against the wall and Zoltan Peter then hit her repeatedly with his baton. 'I crumpled into a heap and he began raining blows on me with his baton - an American baton designed to break bones,’ she said. 'I turned my head and looked at his face and his eyes were that of somebody taking great pleasure in what he was doing. ‘I thought I was going to die.' Eva Rhodes pictured in Tuscany (left). The 65-year-old disappeared in September 2008 from her home in Gyor, near Budapest in Hungary. Caretaker Csaba Augusztinyi  admitted killing the former model and socialite . Horrific crime: Ms Rhodes was murdered at her animal sanctuary in September 2008 near Gyor, 65-miles from Budapest. Her body was dismembered and burnt . Star: Eva Rhodes being chased by the press in London at the height of her fame in the 1960s . Eventually, . Mrs Rhodes calmed him, she recalled, but not before he had ‘crushed . like a pancake’ a grey kitten with his foot that had been beside her . head. With the support of . Amnesty International, Ms Barta, from Chelsea, West London, and her . mother successfully took court action against Peter but pressure from . the authorities meant a series of further trials with the final one set . for the month after Ms Rhodes was murdered. Ms . Majlath, whose work on mine clearance was recognised with the Nobel . Peace Prize in 1997, said Zoltan Peter had threatened to have her sister . killed as legal proceedings continued between them over the attack. Conspiracy: Ms Rhodes' sister Judith Majlath believes that the Hungarian authorities covered up the investigation to protect a local police officer . She . said: ‘She told me her life had been endangered.  She had received . phone calls and dead animals thrown into her house and locals were being . nasty... ‘She said to me she was frightened of him and genuinely her life was in danger. ‘Zoltan Peter had said to her “I will get you eliminated".’ The . former beauty queen's sister raised the alarm on September 18, phoning . the Hungarian police from her home in Vienna, Austria, saying Mrs Rhodes . was missing. The next day, . Ms Majlath arrived at sanctuary to find the boss of another animal . sanctuary taking the animals and her sister's office ransacked and a . laptop stolen. She claimed she reported a robbery and her sister's disappearance but the police did not want to know. A few weeks later she paid for cadaver search dogs to look around the grounds. All . three found blood traces inside her Land Rover but the police failed to . impound the vehicle.  Worried that a cover up was under way, she moved . the vehicle to a house Ms Barta owned but it disappeared, the inquest . heard. The charred remains . of her sister were found partially buried in the sanctuary’s grounds . after they had been moved in a wheelbarrow from the fire by Augusztinyi, . who then telephoned sex chat lines. Dr Wilcox said she found both Ms Barta and her aunt to ‘be credible and compelling witnesses.’ The cats and dogs sanctuary was funded partly by donations from animal lovers in England and a gift from Yoko Ono . The battered body of Eva Rhodes was found in woods near her home (pictured) near Gyor, 65-miles from Budapest . She . continued : ‘I accept the evidence of Sophia Barta that this man had . previously seriously assaulted her on the sanctuary premises in a manner . which would appear strikingly similar to the attack which later took . her mother's life. ‘I am concerned that this man never appears to have been questioned in relation to Eva's death.’ Foreign . Secretary William Hague has twice written to the Hungarian authorities . asking them to hand over details of their inquiries so Scotland Yard can . review the case but they have steadfastly refused. Now . the family believe the inquest and Dr Wilcox’s findings provide a . compelling reason for Scotland Yard to be invited to carry out a new . investigation. Ms Majlath said : ‘The verdict completely contradicts the findings of the Hungarian court. 'This is because it was built on lies and the story of the murderer which is now completely crushed. ‘It . has been five years of Hungarian cover-ups and heartache seeking truth . and justice.  There is now a clear case for an independent investigation . by Scotland Yard. Beauty: Ms Rhodes was a successful model and actress before moving to Hungary to look after animals . ‘Ironically, . Viktor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary, was in London giving a . speech on European Traditional Values, as the inquest took place. Surely truth, justice and transparency should be high among them. ‘Prime Minister now is the time that you act upon what you are preaching at this moment. 'I would like to see Horvath Zoltan Peter interrogated and brought to justice.' Mrs Rhodes, whose family left Hungary in the late 1956, rose to fame as a model and actress in London in the 1960s. Her . stunning looks and skill as a model and actress attracted the attention . of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who were looking for an actress to star in . a film they were making called Rape, about the intrusion of the camera . in everyday life. She . married British architect Mark Rhodes. The couple later divorced and she . established the sanctuary in 1997 using £150,000 of her own money.  It . was subsequently partly supported by donations from animal lovers in the . UK and a payment from Yoko Ono.
Former socialite Eva Rhodes found dead in woods near her home in 2009 .
Ran animal sanctuary and its caretaker admitted her murder a year later .
Inquest in London hears her daughter believes police had a hand in death .
By . David Williams . Hungary faced demands to allow Scotland Yard to investigate the brutal murder of a former British model after her inquest was told a local policeman was a prime suspect in the killing. The family of Eva Rhodes, a friend of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, claimed officer Horvath Zoltan Peter had a grudge against the 65-year-old and was linked to both her murder at the animal sanctuary she ran in a remote Hungarian town in September 2008 and an orchestrated cover up by the authorities there. The victim’s sister Judith Majlath, a Nobel peace prize winner, told how the policeman had even been part of the investigation into the disappearance and murder despite personally threatening previously Mrs Rhodes would be ‘eliminated.’ Celebrity: Animal lover Eva Rhodes, left, was murdered in Hungary in 2009, and found fame in the 1960s as a model and socialite. An inquest into her death has started in London today . Inquest: Eva Rhodes' daughter Sophia Barta (left) and Eva's sister Judith Majlath (right) at Westminster Coroner's Court during the inquest . Friendship: Eva Rhodes became friends John Lennon and Yoko Ono, whose cash eventually helped pay for her animal sanctuary . Two Scotland Yard detectives were at . Westminster Coroners Court in Central London to hear the horrific story . of how Mrs Rhodes had been bludgeoned to death and her body butchered . and burned in the grounds of the sanctuary she ran in Gyor, in . north-west Hungary. One of . her assistants, Csaba Augusztinyi, 33, a weight-lifter and wanted . criminal, later confessed and was jailed for 13 years but passing a . verdict of unlawful killing, Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox called . into question the findings of the investigations in Hungary. Crime: Her caretaker Csaba Augusztinyi admitted killing her and setting fire to her body but her daughter believes the police were also involved . She . said that while she was satisfied Augusztinyi was ‘at least partly . responsible’ inconsistencies in evidence supported the family's belief . ‘others might have been involved.’ Dr . Wilcox highlighted how examinations carried out in the UK on the . victim’s remains by a forensic anthropologist showed Mrs Rhodes had died . as a result of a ‘multitude of skull fractures’ in a ‘frenzied physical . assault’ which conflicted with Augusztinyi's evidence that a punch to . the face and single blow to the head had killed her. ‘It leaves uncomfortable concerns,’ she said. The . coroner said she was concerned Zoltan Peter, who it is believed was . pensioned off from the Gyor force as questions over the death began . emerging, was never questioned by Hungarian investigators. Sophia . Barta, Mrs Rhodes’s daughter, told the inquest how the policeman had . been responsible for a ‘Rambo’ style attack on her and her mother at the . sanctuary in 2002. A . dispute over a rescue dog had grown, she said, so that at one point the . officer had attacked her mother in the courtyard and then turned on Ms . Barta when she tried to photograph the assault. She said her head was ‘smashed’ against the wall and Zoltan Peter then hit her repeatedly with his baton. 'I crumpled into a heap and he began raining blows on me with his baton - an American baton designed to break bones,’ she said. 'I turned my head and looked at his face and his eyes were that of somebody taking great pleasure in what he was doing. ‘I thought I was going to die.' Eva Rhodes pictured in Tuscany (left). The 65-year-old disappeared in September 2008 from her home in Gyor, near Budapest in Hungary. Caretaker Csaba Augusztinyi  admitted killing the former model and socialite . Horrific crime: Ms Rhodes was murdered at her animal sanctuary in September 2008 near Gyor, 65-miles from Budapest. Her body was dismembered and burnt . Star: Eva Rhodes being chased by the press in London at the height of her fame in the 1960s . Eventually, . Mrs Rhodes calmed him, she recalled, but not before he had ‘crushed . like a pancake’ a grey kitten with his foot that had been beside her . head. With the support of . Amnesty International, Ms Barta, from Chelsea, West London, and her . mother successfully took court action against Peter but pressure from . the authorities meant a series of further trials with the final one set . for the month after Ms Rhodes was murdered. Ms . Majlath, whose work on mine clearance was recognised with the Nobel . Peace Prize in 1997, said Zoltan Peter had threatened to have her sister . killed as legal proceedings continued between them over the attack. Conspiracy: Ms Rhodes' sister Judith Majlath believes that the Hungarian authorities covered up the investigation to protect a local police officer . She . said: ‘She told me her life had been endangered.  She had received . phone calls and dead animals thrown into her house and locals were being . nasty... ‘She said to me she was frightened of him and genuinely her life was in danger. ‘Zoltan Peter had said to her “I will get you eliminated".’ The . former beauty queen's sister raised the alarm on September 18, phoning . the Hungarian police from her home in Vienna, Austria, saying Mrs Rhodes . was missing. The next day, . Ms Majlath arrived at sanctuary to find the boss of another animal . sanctuary taking the animals and her sister's office ransacked and a . laptop stolen. She claimed she reported a robbery and her sister's disappearance but the police did not want to know. A few weeks later she paid for cadaver search dogs to look around the grounds. All . three found blood traces inside her Land Rover but the police failed to . impound the vehicle.  Worried that a cover up was under way, she moved . the vehicle to a house Ms Barta owned but it disappeared, the inquest . heard. The charred remains . of her sister were found partially buried in the sanctuary’s grounds . after they had been moved in a wheelbarrow from the fire by Augusztinyi, . who then telephoned sex chat lines. Dr Wilcox said she found both Ms Barta and her aunt to ‘be credible and compelling witnesses.’ The cats and dogs sanctuary was funded partly by donations from animal lovers in England and a gift from Yoko Ono . The battered body of Eva Rhodes was found in woods near her home (pictured) near Gyor, 65-miles from Budapest . She . continued : ‘I accept the evidence of Sophia Barta that this man had . previously seriously assaulted her on the sanctuary premises in a manner . which would appear strikingly similar to the attack which later took . her mother's life. ‘I am concerned that this man never appears to have been questioned in relation to Eva's death.’ Foreign . Secretary William Hague has twice written to the Hungarian authorities . asking them to hand over details of their inquiries so Scotland Yard can . review the case but they have steadfastly refused. Now . the family believe the inquest and Dr Wilcox’s findings provide a . compelling reason for Scotland Yard to be invited to carry out a new . investigation. Ms Majlath said : ‘The verdict completely contradicts the findings of the Hungarian court. 'This is because it was built on lies and the story of the murderer which is now completely crushed. ‘It . has been five years of Hungarian cover-ups and heartache seeking truth . and justice.  There is now a clear case for an independent investigation . by Scotland Yard. Beauty: Ms Rhodes was a successful model and actress before moving to Hungary to look after animals . ‘Ironically, . Viktor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary, was in London giving a . speech on European Traditional Values, as the inquest took place. Surely truth, justice and transparency should be high among them. ‘Prime Minister now is the time that you act upon what you are preaching at this moment. 'I would like to see Horvath Zoltan Peter interrogated and brought to justice.' Mrs Rhodes, whose family left Hungary in the late 1956, rose to fame as a model and actress in London in the 1960s. Her . stunning looks and skill as a model and actress attracted the attention . of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who were looking for an actress to star in . a film they were making called Rape, about the intrusion of the camera . in everyday life. She . married British architect Mark Rhodes. The couple later divorced and she . established the sanctuary in 1997 using £150,000 of her own money.  It . was subsequently partly supported by donations from animal lovers in the . UK and a payment from Yoko Ono.
officer Horvath Zoltan Peter had a grudge against left, was murdered in Hungary in 2009, and found inquest into her death has started in London today . Inquest: Eva Rhodes' daughter Sophia Rhodes was murdered at her animal sanctuary in found in woods near her home (pictured) near