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Detectives hunting killer of John "Goldfinger" Palmer are probing 'Hatton Garden link'
Essex Police are under investigation themselves after failing to spot that John 'Goldfinger' Palmer had died as a result of a gunshot wound to the chest
Detectives investigating the murder of gangland criminal, John “Goldfinger” Palmer, are probing whether his death could be connected with the £10 million Hatton Garden safe deposit heist.
The 64-year-old, who earned his nickname because of his alleged connection with the infamous 1983 Brinks-MAT bullion robbery, was found dead in the garden of his Essex mansion on June 24.
Police initially ruled his death non suspicious, but launched a murder investigation six days later when a routine post mortem examination discovered the cause of death had been gunshot wound to the chest.
Police sources claimed the murder bore all the hallmarks of a professional and well planned hit and detectives are now liaising with the Flying Squad to see if Palmer may have played some role in the infamous jewellery raid in Hatton Garden which took place over the Easter weekend.
Asked if there was a potential link between the two investigations a spokesman for the Essex Force simply said: “We are liaising with other police forces and agencies who may have information pertinent to our enquiry.”
Essex Police has referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission following the failure to spot that he had been murdered and Palmer’s family are considering taking legal action against the force.
Officers, who initially attended the scene, were said to have been wrong-footed by post-operative injuries from recent surgery.
But Palmer’s brother Malcolm, 68, said he had only had gallbladder surgery, not heart surgery as has been reported, making the error even more difficult to explain.
He said it was “too soon” to say whether the family might take legal action against the police or paramedics, because they still had so few facts about what happened. He said it would be up to Palmer’s partner Christine Ketley and son James to decide what to do.
Police were called to Palmer’s home, as is routine in all cases of sudden death, by paramedics at 6.40pm on June 24.
After attempting to restart his heart at the scene, he was declared dead and as it was considered to be non-suspicious, his body was moved to a local mortuary for a low priority post mortem.
But Mr Palmer said he could not understand how the gunshot wound was missed.
He said: “It’s just ridiculous. I can’t understand how two paramedics were down there, and the police, and didn’t find anything.
“They have cocked up somewhere terrible. Meanwhile all the evidence is disappearing [because of the delay].”
Essex Police said the police and paramedics had decided the death was “non-suspicious due to pre-existing injuries due to recent surgery”.
East of England Ambulance Service said its paramedics had tried to resuscitate Palmer, raising the possibility that they thought any blood on the body came from trauma to his post-operative wounds.
But Malcolm Palmer said: “People have said he’d had heart surgery but the only thing he told me about was that he was having gallbladder surgery.
“Surely he would have told me if he was having heart surgery? And if he’d had a heart operation, he wouldn’t be up and about one week later. It seems very strange.
“I was already grieving over his death, which they said was from a haemorrhage, and then yesterday I find out he was murdered.”
John ‘Goldfinger’ Palmer, with his former wife Marnie in 1987, was said to have had a £300 million fortune
Essex Police said that because they did not initially suspect foul play, they did not order an urgent post-mortem examination, which caused the six-day delay before a pathologist spotted the bullet wounds as they prepared to carry out the autopsy.
One former murder detective said it was entirely possible the murderer knew Palmer had recently had surgery and deliberately used the existing operation injuries to disguise the bullet wound.
He said: “It is quite plausible that whoever did this was close to Palmer and knew that he had scarring to his chest. By using a small calibre weapon and avoiding causing an exit wound it is perfectly understandable to see how this was missed.”
Palmer, who was jailed in 2001 for swindling 20,000 people in Britain’s biggest timeshare fraud, was facing a fresh trial in Spain over another alleged timeshare con.
Spanish police refused to comment on the case, however the trial is expected to go ahead with the other two defendants.
Malcolm Palmer said: “I’m baffled as to who has done this. It was the first time in years he had settled down, he was so happy and this has suddenly happened out of the blue. He has probably upset a lot of people, but it just doesn’t add up to me.”