Goldfinger death errors officers criticised
Two police officers who failed to notice that a notorious Essex criminal had been shot have been disciplined by their force.
Two police officers who failed to notice that a notorious Essex criminal had been shot have been disciplined by their force.
John Goldfinger Palmer died in June 2015 after being shot in the chest at his home in the South Weald area of the county.
The officers, who were first on the scene along with paramedics, originally stated his death was from natural causes.
A murder investigation was launched the following week after a post-mortem was conducted.
Essex Police now believes the attack was carried out by a professional hit man who fired six shots from an area not covered by CCTV.
A spokesperson for the force said the officers had been informed Palmer had recently undergone surgery and that this could account for his injuries.
However they did not carry out a full examination of the body, which would likely have raised suspicions about his injuries, they added.
They also did not call an inspector to the scene to confirm their assessment or check Mr Palmers antecedents on the police national computer.
Given the full circumstances of the information they were presented with at the time it was judged this did not amount to gross misconduct.
They have been given management action for failing to fully comply with force policy on dealing with sudden deaths.
At the time of his death, Palmer was due to stand trial in Spain on fraud, firearm possession and money laundering charges.
He was jailed for eight years in 2001 for orchestrating a timeshare scam thought to have netted him more than £300 million and was also believed to have melted down gold stolen in the 1983 Brinks-Mat robbery.
BBC Crimewatch is featuring an appeal on Palmers murder, the programme will be shown on Thursday March 10 at 9pm.