Set in a 126-acre castle owned by the murdered British crime boss, it’s being sold for less than £600,000
GET a peek inside the 126-acre castle that belonged to a murdered British crime boss and is for sale for less than £600,000.
The castle in Normandy, France, was once home to gangster John “Goldfinger” Palmer but has fallen into ruins following his death in 2015.
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Palmer, who melted down £26m worth of stolen gold, has had his former property raided several times by crooks hoping to uncover hidden bullion.
The luxury home once boasted nine immaculate bedrooms, 25 bungalows, an 18-hole golf course, tennis courts and a pool.
However, pictures of the castle revealed that its splendor has been reduced to ruins.
Pictures show smashed windows, graffiti everywhere, and walls and floors hacked up by treasure hunters.
Le Nail, the French real estate company with its listing, said: “The story was beautiful for 15 years until the owner was murdered.
“Then the property was abandoned, nature reclaimed its rights and the very hypothetical suspicion that treasure was hidden there triggered a ‘gold rush’ with devastating consequences for the place.
“Amid general indifference, a veritable looting took place that leaves a bleak spectacle today.”
The Normandy property is on the market for £578,000.
The Brink’s-Mat bullion robbery of 1983 was one of the largest robberies in British history.
Palmer used a smelter in his garden to melt down the gold stolen from a warehouse near Heathrow Airport.
It was smuggled out of the UK in lunch boxes by lorry drivers and private planes.
The gold was later re-imported with papers making it appear legitimate.
Palmer was acquitted in a 1987 trial after convincing the jury he did not know the bars came from the raid.
In 1996 he made the Sunday Times Rich List with a fortune of £300million.
The gangster bought the chateau in the early 1990s but was convicted of a Spanish timeshare scam in 2001 and sentenced to eight years in prison.
In 2015, he was killed at his Brentwood home — no one has ever been convicted of his murder.
The BBC has dramatized the Brink’s Mat robbery into a TV series starring Hugh Bonneville, Dominic Cooper and Jack Lowden.
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https://www.the-sun.com/news/7432220/inside-126-acre-castle-murdered-brit-crime-boss/ Set in a 126-acre castle owned by the murdered British crime boss, it’s being sold for less than £600,000
