While his wife, Marnie, with whom he has two teenage daughters, was defending his name in England, Palmer began a long-term relationship with Ketley.What Palmer liked to call the "dream team" started to break up when, in 1996, his right-hand-man, Brenadan Hannon, fled amid death threats and a firebomb attack on his luxury villa after he fell out with Palmer He was traced to Morocco, where he was arrested in 1998. Hannon was jailed for four years and four months last September when he admitted conspiring with Palmer.Palmer, Ketley and five other timeshare executives were brought to trial at the Old Bailey on 22 September 1999. But after eight months Palmer, who was defending himself, successfully argued that publicity linking him to a notorious criminal, had prejudiced his case. A retrial was ordered.During the trial he could not resist bragging about his wealth. A grinning Palmer told the lawyer representing the loss adjuster for Brink's-Mat: "You didn't know how rich I am You could have sued me for £50m. Were you aware of my private plane? And my two helicopters?" Then there was laughter from the jury which Palmer waited to subside "And I've got one or two cars.".
Right-wing extremists could seek to exploit a damaging split in the black community over the death of the Peckham schoolboy Damilola Taylor, the Metropolitan Police warned yesterday. Right-wing extremists could seek to exploit a damaging split in the black community over the death of the Peckham schoolboy Damilola Taylor, the Metropolitan Police warned yesterday. A group of Nigerian protesters gathered last night outside Peckham police station, south London, to complain that local Afro-Caribbeans were not assisting in the investigation into the 10-year-old's death. However, the demonstrators, who have displayed banners saying "Stop killing our Nigerian children", have caused widespread outrage and the organiser of the protests was accused of exploiting the murder for political gain.Lola Ayonrinde, a Conservative councillor in the nearby London borough of Wandsworth, also faced calls for her removal as a race adviser with the local health authority that covers Peckham The police are also concerned. Chief Superintendent Rod Jarman, the Metropolitan Police's borough commander for Southwark, said National Front agitators, who have recently been active in south London, could attempt to capitalise on the protests.He told a community crime meeting: "If they get the opportunity to play with tensions around Nigerians and Afro-Caribbeans, you give them the opportunity to play around issues of a divided community [Then] I think we will have all sorts of problems. Somehow, we need to walk away from here with a united feeling."Damilola died in a stairwell on the North Peckham estate last November after being stabbed in the leg.
He had been confronted by a group of boys on his way home from school, just weeks after arriving in Britain from Nigeria.Ms Ayonrinde was adamant yesterday that her "exclusively Nigerian" demonstrations, attended by about 30 supporters under the title "O To Gee" (Enough is Enough), would continue. Leaflets were handed out with the message: "Black on black racism must not be swept under the carpet."She claimed that Africans in south London were being let down by "anti-police" Afro-Caribbean political activists, who claimed to speak for the wider black community. She said: "We believe that the police have done all they can and cannot do any more until the community where the suspects are take responsibility."Ms Ayonrinde, who describes herself as a "royal blue" Conservative, said that Africans and Afro-Caribbeans were no more the same than "jasmine is the same smell as rose".Last night's demonstration, and two previous similar events this month, have upset both Afro-Caribbean and African communities, who say the protesters do not represent their views.Margaret Nestor, 54, a Southwark resident originally from Trinidad in the Caribbean, said her seven-year-old granddaughter had been shocked by the protests because she had always believed that Afro-Caribbeans and Africans were the same. Ms Nestor said: "She asked me 'Aren't we Africans as well?' I had to tell her again that we were." She said that until the perpetrators of the murder had been identified and dealt with, it was not right to "point a finger at West Indians".Tayo Situ, 37, a Nigerian-born finance consultant, said: "The idea that there is tension or a 'war' between Afro-Caribbeans and [people of] African origin is not true It is baseless.
