Goldfinger 'ran £1.3bn network from jail'

Timeshare fraudster John Palmer has amassed £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 £30 million timeshare fraud. He has been ordered to pay nearly £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 time-share 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."