The Murder of John "Goldfinger" Palmer

Has the so-called "Curse of Brinks-Mat" struck again or is it totally unconnected to the notorious gold bullion heist?  A security depot was robbed by a gang expecting to find £3,000,000 in cash.  What they did find was an incredible £26,000,000 worth of gold.  Most of the gold has never been found but the gang and assorted associates have been jailed and at least twenty, connected to the gold or gang in various ways, have met violent deaths.  John Palmer, a dealer in scrap metal and jewellry, was charged with handling the stolen gold.  He said he had no idea where the bullion came from and was acquitted.  It earned him the monicker of "Goldfinger."  Palmer then became involved in the timeshare business in Tenerife, which essentially was a con, and 17,000 people were supposed to have been fleeced.  Palmer was jailed for fraud in 2001 for eight years but served only half.  He has been given the accolade of being labelled Britain`s wealthiest villain.  Another man given that plaudit was drug baron Curtis Warren.

    Authorities believed that Palmer amassed a fortune of £300 Million through various crooked schemes.  He, like Warren, made it onto the Rich List!  But in 2005, Palmer was declared bankrupt by a judge and ordered to pay more than £3,000,000 in compensation to victims of his timeshare con.  Personally speaking, if he amassed just one third of what the authorities said, then being declared bankrupt must have made him laugh, and repaying that money would have been loose change in his pocket.  He was arrested by the Spanish authorities in 2007 and spent the next eight years on bail.  He spent his time between his home in Essex and his luxury yacht moored up abroad.  Not bad for a supposed bankrupt.

    But on June 24th 2015, Palmer, 64, was found collapsed at his home in South Weald, near Brentwood in Essex.  At first, unbelievably, it was thought that he had suffered a heart attack.  Nearly a week later, the autopsy revealed that Palmer had been shot in the chest!!!!!  Now it is a case of "Who could have done it?"  Time share revenge?  Brinks Mat?  Could it have been a more mundane reason?  As of now, it is a Police investigation.  But if the tales of John Palmer are only half true, then it makes him one of THE premier villains in British history and makes ridiculous, the sad, pathetic bastards, who still harp on about sixties villains.  You know who I mean.