A PARAMEDIC called to treat notorious Solihull gangster John “Goldfinger” Palmer, who was gunned down in his garden, raised concerns about the cause of his fatal injuries, a report has said.
A case review carried out by East of England Ambulance Service revealed a paramedic told police he doubted Mr Palmer’s the 65-year-old’s wounds were from recent keyhole chest surgery.
The reports states police at the scene were “not concerned.”
A post-mortem examination was started on Mr Palmer’s body in June 2015 but was stopped when additional injuries were identified and it appeared the cause of death could be suspicious.
The examination later established he had been shot six times with a weapon believed to be a handgun.
Police were called to Mr Palmer’s home in South Weald, in Essex due to his death being unexpected alongside paramedics.
The first paramedic at the scene found him on the ground “with large amounts of blood around the top of his shirt” and his son carrying out CPR.
According to the report, there was not one single wound but “some small wounds in various stages of coagulation” on Mr Palmer’s chest and abdomen.
Mr Palmer’s son was “unsure” if they were related to recent gall bladder surgery.
One of the paramedics, whose name has been taken out from the document, “did not feel the wounds were consistent with keyhole surgery to the gall bladder due to the location and the fact they were not covered or stitched.”
The report goes on to say the paramedic raised the matter with other clinicians on scene and the police officers but they were “not concerned.”
During a follow-up interview with one of the paramedics, the report states there was a conversation between two paramedics where “[redacted name] said the wounds were a bit unusual and could have been gunshots. [Redacted name] described this as an off-the-cuff remark”.
The ambulance service concluded that, while different procedures may have been used if gunshot wounds had been identified, it was nevertheless “reasonable” paramedics at the scene “accepted the explanation of the injuries they were presented with” given Mr Palmer’s recent operation.
Extensive enquiries have been conducted by detectives in to Mr Palmer’s murder, and public appeals have been made including on BBC Crimewatch.
In February, a 50-year-old man, originally from Tyneside but currently living in southern Spain, was questioned on suspicion of Mr Palmer’s murder but was not arrested and left of his own accord after he was interviewed.
Palmer was once described as Britain’s richest criminal and was thought to have been worth £300 million.
He came to public attention when he was cleared of handling proceeds from the £26 million Brink’s-Mat bullion raid at Heathrow in 1983, but was jailed in 2001 for timeshare fraud.
He is also believed to have links to the Hatton Garden heist and was believed to be under investigation for another fraud offence at the time of his death.
