Goldfinger 'ran pounds 1.3bn network from jail'

TIMESHARE fraudster John Palmer has amassed pounds 1.3 billion by running a criminal network from his British prison cell, Spanish police claimed today.

The new accusations came as Spanish police arrested 11 of Palmer's alleged henchmen and flew them in a military aircraft to a prison in Madrid. Five Britons are among those being held.

Palmer, 52, from Bath, earned the nickname "Goldfinger" over his alleged links with the 1983 Brink's-Mat bullion robbery.

He was sentenced to eight years in May last year for his part in a pounds 30 million timeshare fraud. He has been ordered to pay nearly pounds 36 million in compensation and costs to his victims.

The 11 suspects, arrested in Tenerife and Costa del Sol as part of a three- year operation, include Richard Cashman, 35, considered by the police to be Palmer's No2, and four men from the London area.

They are accused of drug-trafficking, extortion and timeshare fraud on a vast scale with many of the victims British holidaymakers.

Spain's police chief in Tenerife, Juan Cotino, said: "The investigation will now concentrate on finding out what the network has done with all the money it illegally gained."

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