It is the decade-long crime mystery worthy of its own TV drama - who killed the Midland criminal dubbed Goldfinger?

As the second series of the BBC drama telling the story of one of Britain's biggest heists returns to screens tonight, Sunday, June 8, the life and death of John Palmer, who left school illiterate after growing up in a poor family in Solihull , is back in the spotlight.

He earned his Bond villain nickname for his alleged part in making gold bars stolen in the £26million Brink's-Mat robbery disappear. Bullion running to millions of pounds was said to have been smelted away at his mansion near upmarket Bath after it was stolen from a warehouse near Heathrow in November 1983.

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