Police investigating the murder of John "Goldfinger" Palmer have confirmed they are exploring links to the Hatton Garden heist.
The notorious criminal was killed in the garden of his Essex mansion last June. It was initially thought he had died of heart failure due to a recent operation, but a post-mortem revealed he had been shot.
The garden was one of the few areas of Palmer’s property not covered by CCTV and no forensic evidence was left behind.
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"The murder bears all the hallmarks of a professional hit," Detective Chief Inspector Stephen Jennings said ahead of a BBC Crimewatch appeal to be aired tonight.
The 65-year-old conman was due to stand trial for fraud, firearm possession and money laundering in Spain.
Essex Police says the motive for Palmer's death is still unknown, but he may have been killed to stop him from revealing what he knew about the Hatton Garden raid, the biggest burglary in British history.
"Due to John's significant criminal history, there are people or groups of people who may have wished to do him harm," said Det Ch Insp Jennings. "Therefore, our search is not just for the gunman but for a person or group of people who may have commissioned the killing.
Palmer rose to fame in the 1980s, after he was linked to one of Britain's most notorious gold robberies. He was cleared of involvement but later convicted of timeshare fraud.
His partner, Christina Ketley, told the BBC he had not been involved in London's criminal world at the time of his death. "He had made mistakes in his life, but he had paid for those mistakes," she said. "I was incredibly proud of the way he had readjusted to a very, very normal life."
John 'Goldfinger' Palmer: was fraudster hit by 'Brink's-Mat curse'?
2 July 2015
Police have launched a murder investigation into the death of John Palmer, a notorious fraudster nicknamed Goldfinger. The 64-year-old was found dead by his family last week in Brentwood, Essex.
Police and paramedics initially believed his death was not suspicious, but a post-mortem examination has since found that he was shot. Newspapers are speculating whether Palmer – who was linked to one of Britain's most notorious gold robberies at the Brink's-Mat warehouse in Heathrow in the 1980s – has been hit by the "Brinks-Mat curse".
What happened at Brink's-Mat?
Six armed men broke into the Brink's-Mat warehouse in Heathrow in 1983 expecting to find £3m in cash. Instead, they stumbled on 7,000 gold ingots worth nearly £28m. The gang is believed to have recruited other underworld figures to help them dispose of the precious metal, which largely went unrecovered by police. Only three men – Micky McAvoy, Brian Robinson and his brother-in-law Anthony Black, who was a security guard at the warehouse – were convicted of carrying out the robbery.
In the years since, their bounty has been described as "Fool's Gold", as several people touched by the robbery have met with an "untimely – often gruesome – end", says the Daily Mirror. In 2012, the newspaper claimed more than 20 people linked to the robbery had died, many shot or stabbed to death. One man accused of being an informant was stabbed nine times and shot twice, while another was shot dead on his doorstep. The Daily Telegraph says Palmer also appears to have fallen victim to the "curse of Brink's-Mat".
How was Palmer involved in Brink's-Mat?
Palmer was said to have melted down bullion from the robbery in his back garden, but he denied ever knowing that it was stolen. Although he was cleared in 1987 of handling the stolen proceeds, his alleged involvement earned him the nickname "Goldfinger".
He was later jailed in 2001 for timeshare fraud after cheating money out of 17,000 Britons who paid for homes in 13 resorts in Tenerife. At the time, the racket was described as "the largest timeshare fraud on record". At one point, his estimated £300m fortune earned him a place on The Sunday Times Rich List, but he was later declared bankrupt in 2005. Spanish authorities believe he had continued to run his crime empire from his UK prison cell. He was arrested again in 2007 in Tenerife, where he was charged with fraud, firearm possession and money laundering. After years on bail, it was reported earlier this year that he faced 15 years in a Spanish prison.
Why did nobody realise Palmer was murdered?
Palmer was found dead on 24 June but it wasn't until six days later that a post-mortem examination found he had been shot in the chest. A spokesman for Essex Police said: ''Police and paramedics who attended the scene initially assessed the death as non-suspicious due to pre-existing injuries due to recent surgery. Closer inspection raised doubt and a post-mortem was conducted to establish the cause of death.'' Former Scotland Yard Flying Squad commander John O'Connor described it as a "terrible mistake". He told The Sun the investigation would be "days behind" and detectives may have "completely lost the crime scene". However, former homicide detective chief inspector Colin Sutton said it was "reasonable" to assume the death was due to heart failure days after surgery and suggested the assassin might have even deliberately used Palmer's operation to conceal the murder.
