Inside 126-acre castle belonging to murdered Brit crime boss as it goes on sale for less than £600,000

A 126-ACRE castle that once belonged to a murdered Brit crime boss is on sale for less than £600,000.

The chateau in Normandy, France, once homed gangster John "Goldfinger" Palmer but now sits in ruins after his death in 2015.

Palmer, who melted down £26million worth of stolen gold, has had his former property raided several times by crooks who hope to chance upon hidden ingots.

The luxury home once boasted nine pristine bedrooms, 25 bungalows, an 18-hole golf course, tennis courts and a pool.

However, images of the castle today revealed its grandeur has turned to ruins.

Pictures show windows smashed, graffiti everywhere, and its walls and floors hacked at by treasure hunters.

Le Nail, the French real estate company listing the property, said: "The story was beautiful for 15 years until the murder of the owner.

"The property was then abandoned, nature reclaimed its rights and the very hypothetical suspicion that treasure has been hidden there gives rise to a 'gold rush' with devastating consequences for the place.

"A veritable plundering took place in the midst of general indifference, leaving a desolate spectacle today."

The Normandy property is on the market for £578,000.

The 1983 Brink’s-Mat bullion robbery was one of the biggest heists in British history.

Palmer melted down the stolen gold from a warehouse near Heathrow Airport using a smelter in his garden.

It was smuggled out of the UK in lorry drivers’ lunchboxes and private planes.

The gold was later reimported with papers that made it appear legitimate.

Palmer was acquitted at a 1987 trial after convincing jurors he did not know the ingots were from the raid.

He went on to make the Sunday Times Rich List in 1996, with a reported fortune of £300million.

The gangster purchased the chateau in the early 1990s but was convicted of a Spanish timeshare fraud in 2001 and jailed for eight years.

In 2015, he was killed at his home in Brentwood - no one has ever been convicted of his murder.

The BBC has dramatized the Brink’s-Mat heist into a tv series, starring Hugh Bonneville, Dominic Cooper and Jack Lowden.