GUNNING FOR GOLDFINGER
Gangland boss John ‘Goldfinger’ Palmer shot dead outside his Essex home had 16,000 reasons to die
The underworld kingpin's life of violence and crime ended when he was shot dead by a mystery assassin
GANGLAND boss John ‘Goldfinger’ Palmer had 16,000 reasons to die when he was shot dead outside his Essex home, according to cops.
The underworld kingpin's life of violence and crime ended three years ago when he was killed in his garden by a mystery assassin who has never been found.
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Police have said there could have been 16,000 fraud victims of his who would have had a motive to kill him.
Palmer went from market trader to multi-millionaire via fraud, racketeering and money laundering – most notoriously from melting down gold bars from the £26million Brink’s-Mat robbery in 1983.
Now Palmer’s estranged wife Marnie, who lives in the West Country, has written the amazing story of her life with Britain’s No1 crook.
In an exclusive extract she told of her fury at the bungled police investigation into her husband’s murder.
She said: "Detectives refer to it as the “golden hour” — the time immediately after the discovery of a body in a murder investigation when they are most likely to find the best clues.
"In my husband’s case they didn’t just lose an hour, they lost a week."
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She added: "It was one of the most hopeless starts to a murder investigation in police history.
"I’m no expert in detective work and I’m certainly no authority on forensics, but you would imagine any call to HQ that started: 'Body believed to be John Palmer found at Sandpit Lane, South Weald' would arouse at least a flicker of interest from any officer.
"Police had been monitoring the place for more than a decade. And for 30 years John had been a top target after he was cleared of melting down gold bars from the Brink’s-Mat robbery when he said he didn’t know they were stolen.";
Long time criminal Palmer was jailed at the Old Bailey for eight years for swindling 16,000 timeshare holiday customers out of £33m.
The gang boss was also suspected of selling proceeds from the £10m Hatton Garden jewellery heist.
And years previously he had been arrested over the £26m gold bullion robbery at Heathrow airport in 1983.
He was suspected of smelting some of the stolen gold, which led to his nickname 'Goldfinger'.
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In June, 2018, police revealed that Palmer’s hitman spied on him through a hole in his fence.
Cops said the contract killer leapt over the 5ft fence and opened fire with a .32 revolver fitted with a silencer.
An officer present at the Chelmsford inquest into his death said police had followed up 700 leads and taken 200 witness statements.
John 'Goldfinger' Palmer's family speak out in Crimewatch appeal
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GOLD FLOWS DOWN THE M4
IT was months after the November 1983 Brink’s-Mat heist that John got involved, writes Marnie.
The robbers had turned to crime boss Kenneth Noye and his right-hand man Brian Reader – later jailed for the 2015 Hatton Garden raid – to fence the loot.
It was via their Hatton Garden contacts that our little gold smelting business in the West Country was identified.
Noye and Reader knew the Brink’s-Mat gold ingots had to be melted down to get rid of their traceable serial numbers, and that selling pure gold afterwards would be just as suspicious. Only a different grade of bullion would put investigators off the trail. Noye started off sending a few ingots, before steadily increasing the amounts over a matter of weeks.
Soon it was coming down the M4 thick and fast. Reader was also at one point said to have taken briefcases full of gold bars on the train from London to Bristol.
It may sound naive, but I genuinely believe John didn’t initially realise he was handling Brink’s-Mat gold. By the time he twigged, it was too late to pull out.
Like everything else, the gold was just put in with all the scrap – unwanted rings, broken gold teeth, damaged necklaces.
John just carried on doing what he always had done – mixing everything together with the unwanted jewellery.
After the gold left our property, I really have no idea where it went. As much as 70 per cent of the haul has never been traced and is still said to be sloshing around London’s criminal underworld and property market today.
But Marnie added: "John and I had been married since 1975 but he was now living full-time with his lover Christina Ketley and their son James, 21. Our relationship had deteriorated to the point where I was hopeful of divorce by Christmas.
"The news reached me and my older daughter, Janie, in Bath at 6.30pm, an hour after his body was found.
"But it was five agonising days before Essex Police showed up. They apologised because they had failed to realise that I was John’s widow.
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"The detective said John may have died because of complications after his gallbladder surgery, which left four holes in his stomach from the keyhole operation.
"The medical staff were told of the recent op when they arrived and had apparently concluded he had suffered heart failure. But the following weekend another police officer visited and announced: 'I’m sorry to tell you, John was murdered. He was shot.'"
'Goldfinger' murder: Background to killing
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Marnie said John's death "sparked the biggest breakdown" of her life.
She added: "John and I were together for four decades and I knew him better than anyone. He came from nothing and was a passionate and loving man.
"But I had also seen him at his absolute worst. He could be violent, paranoid, ruthless and cruel, as well as a womaniser and a drug abuser.
"By 1983 we were doing well because of John’s business melting down gold from legitimate jewellers in a home-made smelter at the bottom of the garden.
"But the Brink’s-Mat raid changed everything for John and me. I’ve heard it said that if you have bought a gold necklace made since then, the chances are that a significant percentage of it comes from that raid, and was melted down in our back garden. I’m not proud of that."
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THOUSANDS OF SUSPECTS
SO who killed John Palmer? Among the many theories are his Hatton Garden raid links. Palmer knew Hatton crook Brian Reader and was killed two months after the raid. Palmer also told friends he wanted to expose police corruption and he was said to be under surveillance.
Russian gangsters were also said to be moving in on Palmer’s Canary Isles timeshare scam – with which he had already created a potential 16,000 enemies who had been ripped off.
Palmer was thought to be preparing to turn supergrass against former associates. A member of his team had close links with the Lebanese underworld.
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MOST READ IN NEWS
Marnie said John's " drug-taking, violence and womanising" eventually destroyed them.
She added: "I now know he was having affairs until the day he died.
"I have given up hope that the case will be solved. So much of what I have been told by Essex Police is hogwash.
"Will they find John’s assassin? There’s more chance of Lord Lucan showing up."
©Marnie Palmer. Extracted from Gold- finger And Me: Bullets, Bullion And Betrayal, by Marnie Palmer and Tom Morgan (History Press, £9.99). Also on Kindle.
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