Pamela Palmer guilty of animal cruelty and accused of cheating friends out of millions
With her tweed jacket, cashmere sweater and a country mansion filled with antiques and wallmounted trophies of culled roe deer and stags, Pamela Palmer appeared every bit the refined lady of the manor. Somewhat aloof and eccentric, the mother of two boasts of having owned two English country mansions in sprawling grounds one of which once belonged to royalty.
But despite having possessed properties worth more than 7million, she has lurched from one financial crisis to the next, and is accused of relying on her good looks, charm and guile to convince friends to give her huge sums to fund a lifestyle well beyond her means.
Last week, having been found guilty of one of the worst cases of animal cruelty uncovered by the RSPCA in recent years, Palmer sidestepped a jail sentence after presenting herself as a frail 70-year-old, complete with crutches. In fact, it appears that she is eight years younger, at a mere 62.
Pamela Palmer posing as an animal-loving lady of the manor with her prize-winning bull
It can also be disclosed that she faces multiple accusations of welching on debts which were not revealed in court.
Many will feel that Palmers suspended prison sentence was an unsatisfying end to a case that laid bare an extraordinarily callous character.
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Amid the grandeur of her home, Sheriff Hutton Hall, near York a 4.5million mansion built by King James I animal welfare officers were staggered to discover livestock who had starved to death, while others were horribly emaciated and suffering from severe untreated injuries.
The court heard that attempts had been made to burn cattle carcasses and bury them in a former swimming pool. Meanwhile, five dead sheep were found in a derelict coach house, and a Hereford cow and bull were in such distress that they were put down by a vet immediately.
Despite squandering money on 16 fireplaces from Sothebys, antiques and numerous valuable pieces of art, she failed to provide the most basic care for her cattle and sheep.
Since her court appearance, several people have complained that this once-elegant woman persuaded them into lending her money. One female neighbour claimed that she is awaiting repayment of a 1million debt; others told how they resorted to legal action to claw back funds Palmer owed them.
Role play: Pamela Palmer's former four-and-a-half million pound mansion home, Sheriff Hutton Hall near York
Her response to increasingly desperate creditors was invariably the same: Hold tight, darling. ! Im await ing funds from the family business.
That business was rooted on the other side of the world, in Australia, where her family helped establish the Sydney Stock Exchange. In reality, however, she was always a loan away from being broke, and in December last year she was declared bankrupt.
She was a damn good-looking woman who used that, and her charm, to get whatever she wanted, says David Jones, a Herefordshire farmer who became her best friend and creditor after she arrived in Britain 20 years ago.
She really wanted to be an English landed lady. But it was beyond her, and time after time her mischievousness turned into manipulation. Men, far more than women, fell for it.
Born on November 21, 1948, Palmer had a start in life that many can only dream of. One of three sisters, she enjoyed the privileges that come with being descended from those who had reaped the immense rewards of the 1870s mining boom that transformed Sydney into a thriving city. It was her grandfather, Joseph Palmer, who helped set up its stock exchange.
Pamela Palmer leaves court after pleading guilty to three animal cruelty charges
His son Joe, born in 1901, became almost as distinguished on the trading floor as he had been as a daredevil pilot during World War II. His wealth is believed to have been poured into a massive livestock ranch where his daughter, the young Pamela, learned her trade before herself working as a commodities trader.
In the early 1990s, when Joe was 92, he brought his daughter, then 44, and her two children, Josephine and Joseph, to Britain. And with them they brought millions of pounds.
The spot where they chose to invest it was amid the gently rolling hills of the Monnow Valley in Herefordshire, just minutes from the Welsh border. There, t! hey fell in love with the huge Glanmonnow House, set amid hundreds of acres of prime cattle-grazing land.
Built in the late 1800s, its quarter-mile, beech tree-lined drive ensured it was as secluded as it was grand.
As an attractive and outgoing single woman, Palmer found herself at the centre of a village scandal when her relationship with a wealthy farmer 21 years her senior, Alfred Benjamin, saw him divorce his wife and move into themansion.
Alfie was like Pams lapdog, a neighbouring farmer, John Francis, said this week. He had done alright for himself and had a plane with his own landing strip, but it was Pam who certainly knew how to spend money. There were holidays in Italy and New York. They had a dark green Bentley and a Mercedes. Spending beyond her means was probably her downfall.
Mr Franciss father, Ernie, recalls how she used her charisma to broker canny land deals. She must have had 500 acres in all. She could charm the pictures off the wall.
A family friend of Mr Benjamins abandoned wife, who did not want tobenamed, is far more critical: Pamela was very pushy, brash and manipulative. We still dont know if she and Mr Benjamin ever really got married. She used the name Palmer-Benjamin, probably because it gave her more airs and graces and soundedvery English. I dont think you would find anyone in the village who liked her.
In 1998, after the death of Alfred Benjamin, Palmer left the village as quickly as she had arrived. Her father had also died, meaning that she inherited the mansion, though her former friend David Jones, now, 63, says that even then, he suspected she had business difficulties in Australia after her father passed away.
Perhaps that was why she offloaded the estate for an undisclosed sum in a private sale to a man named Philip Kempe. This week he told the Mail: When I met her, I thought she was very eccentric and very peculiar. I didnt believe anything she said.
Sick: This photo shows the mal-treated animals which were kept by Joseph Palmer and his mother Pamela
On the occasions when we were close to exchanging contracts, she would not be available. In the end, I had a call out of the blue to say we had exchanged.
The place was pretty disgusting and dirty, and people used to turn up looking for her and saying she owed them money. I heard that sheep carcasses had been found on the estate, though I never found anything.
At this point, Palmer moved to Sheriff Hutton Hall with its 200 acres, near York, for which she is thought to have paid between 3million and 4million.
Its mile-long drive under 600 pink and white-flowering chestnut trees meanders past the four-bedroom Rangers House, a three-bedroom staff cottage, farm buildings and up to the lake and mansion. Yet for all its attractions, it was an unwise step up the housing ladder.
She is said to have used her coveted new address to inveigle her way into North Yorkshires affluent circles (her bank manager was also treated to a meal there). Meanwhile, she and her son Joseph, 30, struggled to care for the 200 head or so of cattle and 300 sheep on the estate.
Annabel Holt, a wealthy 70-year-old divorcee, was enjoying a life of leisure in her own 1million home just south of Sheriff Hutton Hall when her new neighbour introduced herself. They became friends. Both in their 60s, they seemed ideal companions and even shared a Christmas lunch together in the hall.
Joseph Palmer admitted seven charges of! animal cruelty during the hearing last week
But in 2004, Mrs Holt says the requests for money began after Palmer claimed her 800,000-a-year stipend from back home in Sydney had stalled. Mrs Holt, a mother of three, had been brought up to be compassionate. So she sold some shares and, without pomp or ceremony, wrote out a cheque for 51,000. And it was soon repaid.
Four years later, however, Palmer, who was invariably accompanied on walks by up to 20 of her dogs, announced she wanted to set up a dog rescue sanctuary, promising Mrs Holt an 80,000 return on a 60,000investment.
She turned up out of the blue with a man she described as her overseas accountant, says Mrs Holt.
I trusted them. But like all the other money I was to lend her from then on, I didnt get it back.
Theres no doubt I was being greedy I expected to be repaid with substantial interest. But there were no contracts, and nothing was in writing.
The following year, she even contributed to Palmers 35,000 monthly mortgage bill. She sold nearly 300,000 of shares and took out a 400,000 mortgage on her own property to try to ensure her friend did not lose her home.
A handwritten ledger she kept records how she lent Palmer petty cash and money for dog food, among other things.
As the crisis deepened, good money chased after bad, and Mrs Holts friendship with Palmer ended, she claims, with her selling off antiques, heirlooms and eventually her large home to move into a bungalow all to help Pamela Palmer.
While there is no doubt she was naive in the extreme, just how much money she has lost is a measure of the manipulative qualities of Pamela Palmer.
She is clever, crafty, and lived beyond her means, says Mrs Holt. She is like a rotten egg it looks nice from the outside, but inside is putrifying.
A second neighbour, who asked to remain anonymous because he is embarrassed, lent Palmer 200,000 after she produced documents showing her family trust to be worth 16.2million. There are now! questio ns marks about their authenticity.
A silage supplier took Palmer to the county court and was paid shortly before the case was due to be heard. An electricity company, called out after cables were damaged on her land, also took her to court to have its bill of more than 2,000 honoured.
Palmers estate slipped into irrevocable disrepair. Robin Barker, a neighbouring farmer who helped out because he was so alarmed by the state of the animals, recalls calves not being tagged, a de-fleaing lotion being administered incorrectly, leaving 20 sheep blind, and some creatures eating soil because they were starving.
Everything she bought was on the never-never. They had far too much stock who were left days without food and water. And there are lots of angry contractors who worked on the estate and are owed money, Mr Barker continued, estimating that up to 200 animals perished.
Last week, Palmer and her son were given an 18-week suspended jail sentence after pleading to three and seven counts, respectively, of animal cruelty. They were also banned for life from keeping livestock.
The mansion has now been repossessed and Palmer told Selby Magistrates Court she was homeless. She also told court officials she was born in 1940, despite listing her year of birth on company documents and the electoral register as 1948.
But she is used to telling sob stories. In 2008, when her son was convicted of aggravated vehicle taking, she broke down in tears and said that she could not pay his 200 fine. A friend put up the money but was never re-paid.
Repeated attempts to contact Palmer over the past two days have failed.
Her former friend David Jones, who obtained an out-of-court settlement to recover a five-figure sum he lent her, cannot hide his glee: I encountered the bloody woman and came off best. There arent many of us here who can say that.
Mrs Holt, however, remains soured by a deep sense of betrayal: How can I prove that she promised to pay me back with interest when th! ere is s o little in writing?
I acted wonderfully towards her, and look how I was treated in return. All she gave me was two bags of dog food.'
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