A WEALTHY businessman hacked to death with an axe in a bedroom at his luxury home knew his killer, police said today.

The body of former Rossendale man Daniel O'Brien, 41, was discovered in a bedroom of his £275,000 house in Midgley, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, last Wednesday.

He had been struck with the axe "numerous times" on his head and died from severe injuries.

His partner, Jan Charlton, made the grim discovery and ran screaming into the street.

At a news conference in Wakefield, the detective leading the murder hunt said the motive for the attack on Mr O'Brien, who until three years' ago had a house in Holme Terrace, Townsend Fold, Rawtenstall, was still unclear.

Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Johnston said: "My opinion is that Mr O'Brien knew the person who killed him.

"A major line of inquiry is his business and social contacts."

Mr Johnston said Mr O'Brien had made his money through several business dealings over the last few years but had been enjoying "a break before his next venture."

He said it was possible some of his past associates may be "a little aggrieved" as a result of business dealings with Mr O'Brien, who used to be a regular at the Whitchaff Inn, Bury Road, Rawtenstall.

Mr Johnston also revealed that the four-bedroom house was for sale and said he was keen to speak to any prospective buyer who may have visited.

"I need to build up a picture of the last movements of Mr O'Brien," he said.

"I know he had many visitors, particularly in respect of the sale of the house. I would really like to speak to anyone who visited Mr O'Brien."

Mr Johnston said he was keen to trace a man seen to knock at Mr O'Brien's door on the morning of the murder and a man in a light coloured Ford Mondeo parked in the street.

Mr Johnston refused to go into any detail about the bedroom where Mr O'Brien was murdered or what was found in the room.

"It's a very, very nice house and there appears to be no disturbance anywhere else in the house - you can draw your own inferences from that," he said.