Everything you need to know about The Essex Murders: Who Killed Goldfinger?

From the team who brought you the 2023 Sky Original documentary The Essex Murders comes The Essex Murders: Who Killed Goldfinger? – exploring one of the biggest mysteries within the criminal underworld.

Private investigations firm TMEYE take on another unsolved Essex murder, this time of John Palmer, known to most as Goldfinger.

Palmer was found dead in the garden of his Essex home on June 24th, 2015, and while it was initially believed to be natural causes, it was later revealed he was murdered.

The assassin worked with such precision that detectives initially believed his bullet wounds were incision marks from a recent gallbladder surgery.

Despite the high-profile case, no one has ever been arrested for the murder.

As the 10th anniversary approaches and the case remains unsolved, this new series re-examines his life and death, featuring exclusive testimony from some of Palmer's closest associates, speaking for the first time.

Private investigations firm TMEYE – fresh from reinvestigating the Essex Boys murder case, which assisted in launching the CCRC to review the convictions – will lead viewers on a hunt spanning multiple countries.

Who was John ‘Goldfinger’ Palmer?

John ‘Goldfinger’ Palmer, born in 1950, was a British gangster and thief.

From a poor background in Solihull, Palmer started a jewellery business as a teen and had earned his first £100,000 by the age of 20. His company Scadlyn would trade in precious scrap metal, and it was through this he would turn to a life of crime, with his business soon being used to turn over their stolen goods.

In 1983, Palmer became connected to the Brink's-Mat robbery – one of the largest robberies in British history – with £26 million in gold bullion, diamonds, and cash stolen from a warehouse near Heathrow Airport.

Palmer was arrested on suspicion of his involvement with the heist, having ‘cleaned, recycled and sold on the gold’, but was later cleared of all charges in court when he successfully argued he didn’t know the gold he was dealing with was from the Brink’s-Mat robbery.

He later moved to Tenerife with the profits from the sales and started a timeshare business, living a lavish lifestyle. In 1996, he reached #76 of the Sunday Times rich list with his earnings valued at £200million, owning a private jet he would use between Tenerife and Bristol, and having dealings as far as Russia.

However, from 1999 onwards, he spent the rest of his life being tracked by a covert police unit.

In 2001, Palmer was sentenced to eight years in prison for ‘the largest timeshare fraud in history’ with upwards of 16,000 people giving him up to £30million. While he only served half that sentence, he would be released penniless, having declared bankruptcy.

He would then return to the UK to live a life of solitude, following his arrest in Spain on charges including fraud, firearms possession and money laundering, which could have resulted up to 15 years in prison.

Palmer was shot and killed in June 2015.

The killer has never been caught, with an endless list of mobsters and criminals with motives to carry out the murder.

Yes. The 2023 BBC series “The Gold” is a dramatised retelling of the events surrounding the Brink’s-Mat Robbery, starring Tom Cullen as John Palmer. The series also featured Hugh Bonneville and Dominic Cooper, and was renewed for a second series which aired in 2025. Both series are available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

Where and when can I watch The Essex Murders: Who Killed Goldfinger?

All three episodes of The Essex Murders: Who Killed Goldfinger? will be available to watch on Sky Documentaries and NOW from Saturday 4 October 2025.