Tag: 2007

Lee Brahim Murray-Lamrani (AKA ‘Lightning Lee’ and ‘The Stopwatch’)

The “mastermind of Britain’s biggest cash robbery”, “from the streets kid” and “scary son of a b**ch” Lee Murray was born in Greenwich and nicknamed (much to his displeasure) ‘The Alien’ by fellow members of what was known as the ‘Buttmarsh Boys’ gang. He “liked punching people almost at random in the street”, turned to crime in his teens and most notably received a sentence of twenty-five years in prison in 2010 for his part in the robbery of £53 million ($64.6 million, €61.1 million or درهم 237.4 million) in cash from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent in 2006.

After what many called “the crime of avarice of the decade”, 6’3” tall Murray – a one-time rising star mixed martial arts fighter and “friend and rival” of Katie Price’s ex-husband Alex Reid – fled to Morocco (where his father had been born and attempted to claim nationality to avoid British justice) but was convicted of drugs offences in Rabat in 2007. A bid to return him to Britain in exchange for a suspected terrorist wanted in regard to the 2003 Casablanca bombings later came to nothing.

In 2011, “caged cage fighter” Murray – who is said to have fathered a child “by a woman visitor who was not his wife” inside Salé prison and was put in “the hole” for six months due to being caught with a laptop computer in his cell – was amazingly able to give an interview via text message from his cell to the Middle Easy website. In it, he claimed being in a Moroccan jail is “better than being in a UK prison any day”, thanked those who’d created ‘Free Lee Murray’ T-shirts (but claimed he’d only instead wear one saying: ‘Free OJ’) and stated: “I have no regrets on any part of my life, the way I lived my life has made me the man I am today I’ve done a lot of things a lot of other people would regret but I don’t think you should regret anything in life, just learn from it instead”.

Less than half the money stolen by Murray and his associates has ever been found and still to this day the former drug dealer, when asked, is said to state: “I was a millionaire before that heist, my friend”.

March 7, 2017
A Working Rolls

1959 Rolls-Royce estate car owned by late industrial tycoon Orin Smith to be auctioned; it was bizarrely designed to include beds and a loud air horn to “blast” cattle off the highway

Florida based businessman and retired CEO of the Engelhard Corporation Orin Smith (1935 – 2016) was passionate about cars and next month, those with deep pockets will be in with a chance to purchase 58 vehicles from his collection that will be sold, mostly without reserve, by RM Sotheby’s at their annual Amelia Island sale on 10^th and 11^th March.

Amongst the eclectic selection of classic and contemporary cars from the late industrialist’s collection is a 1959 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I estate car by H. J. Mulliner and Radford. One of just two examples, this immaculate short-wheelbase shooting brake was originally supplied to a Robert L. McCormick of Wichita, Kansas and transported to New York on the Cunard flagship Queen Elizabeth.

McCormick kept the car – which features a luggage space that can accommodate items up to 6-foot long – until 1965 and on selling it to a Palm Beach based judge named Lewis M. Schott, penned the new owner a letter that read:

The Radford conversion is a “complete job”. I will explain to your chauffeur and secretary how it makes into beds, etc, etc.

I’ll explain the 3-way horn switch to your employees. I used the loud horn for “blasting” livestock off the Mexican highways.

Finally, I hope you have as much fun out of the car as I have had. It should go 200,000 miles without work on it… A serious sacroiliac precludes long motor trips for me for a few years, and I’m an unhappy warrior when I think about it.

Sold again in 2007 to Florida Roll-Royce expert Richard Gorman, the shooting brake was then subject to an 18-month renovation. It is now presented in velvet green and a sage with parchment leather interior piped in velvet green and features upgraded air conditioning.

Of the overall collection to be sold on behalf of Smith’s family, Don Rose of RM Sotheby’s remarked:

I had the great pleasure of knowing Orin Smith and found him to be a true gentleman in every sense of the word.

In addition to his impressive gathering of some of the finest Rolls-Royce and Bentley automobiles, Orin displayed an eclectic taste with a keen eye for other icons of style, including sporting machinery from pre-war to the best of the contemporary.

The common thread here is beauty, in both design and engineering; fitting for a man of generous spirit devoted to excellence. Because of those qualities, Orin Smith was beloved to the Amelia Island crowd, which makes the offering of his collection at our Amelia Island venue all the more poignant.

Of the shooting brake itself, the auctioneer adds:

Numerous Rolls-Royce shooting brakes exist, but many of them are crude later conversions. This car is a true and authentic coachbuilt original, created to the exacting specifications of its original owner, and restored to that same high standard – air horns and all. Errant cattle, consider yourselves warned.

February 6, 2017
Panic Over The Price

Vast New York triplex with three bullet-proof panic rooms at The Heritage at Trump Place reduced in price by 47%; Is the Trump connection a factor?

In 2012, a Saudi royal placed a fifth, sixth and seventh triplex he “rarely uses” on the market for £61.7 million ($75 million, €71 million or درهم275.5 million). It didn’t sell and now it’s back for sale for just £32.9 million ($40 million, €37.9 million or درهم147 million) through Elizabeth Mercedes Berk of Mercedes/Berk.

Featuring three bullet-proof panic rooms and extending to a total of 10,500 square foot over three levels, #6A at 240 Riverside Boulevard – alternatively known as The Heritage at Trump Place – is a combination of six units in what is described as “one of New York’s finest full-service condominiums”. It is currently configured to provide 3 bedrooms but comes with plans to turn it into a 5-bedroom home.

Enjoying 120 foot of “contiguous, unobstructed park and Hudson River views”, the Upper West Side property – which is within a building that was completed in 2005 – features three private terraces, a restaurant quality kitchen with a sushi bar, a billiards room, a hair salon, a ventilated cigar room, a six-person Jacuzzi and a saltwater aquarium. Two adjacent units that currently provide staff accommodation can be included in the sale for an additional sum.

The current owner, Prince Nawaf bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, is 82 years old and said to be confined to a wheelchair. He was Director General of Saudi Intelligence from 2001 to 2005 and is described as “a close ally of the late King Abdullah”.

One has to ask: “With Donald Trump’s name associated with the building, will panic set in and will the price drop further?” We’re guessing the answer is “yes”.

January 10, 2017
A Parson’s Moat

East Sussex country house for sale; it comes complete with an enormous rectangular moat allegedly dug by an eccentric parson in the 1700s

One generally associates moats with castles and manor houses – such as the one we featured last month – but an old rectory currently for sale for £5 million ($6.3 million or €5.9 million or درهم‎‎23.2 million) in East Sussex comes with an especially impressive ground water-fed, rectangular example complete with three timber footbridges.

Chailey Moat, Chailey Green, East Sussex, United Kingdom, BN8 4DA

The house in Victorian times with the Reverend Thomas Harry Lee Jellicoe outside with his servants circa 1900

This fireplace is one of the most stunning and historic features internally

It is situated within this reading room

Another view of the main house shows the size of the moat

Previously marketed for £3.5 million ($4.4 million or €4.1 million or درهم‎‎16.2 million) in 2007 but not sold at that time, Grade II listed Chailey Moat at Chailey Green, near Haywards Heath in East Sussex dates to around 1540 and was previously known as ‘The Parsonage’. It blends Tudor, Carolean, Elizabethan and Georgian elements and is centred on an original timber framed medieval structure hidden by later additions. The south-eastern façade is described by selling agents Savills as “most striking” and amongst other unusual features are a Venetian window on the first floor and a brick fireplace in a reading room with an intricately carved overmantel that allegedly came from part of a Charles I bedstead.

Aside from a 6,146 square foot main house with 5 reception rooms and upto 8 bedrooms over three floors, there is a 398 square foot 1 bedroom cottage and a 4 bedroomed, 17^th century barn conversion that extends to 807 square foot and also provides a substantial games room.

Gardens and grounds extend to 43.76 acres and aside from the moat – which was allegedly singlehandedly dug by the Reverend Richard Porter, rector from 1713 to 1753 – there is also a enclosed tennis court, an outdoor swimming pool, a stream fed lake, a productive orchard and rolling pastureland.

Chailey Moat is offered by Savills and was described by Country Life’s Penny Churchill as a “mansion of peace” in June this year. In October, the medieval property’s current owner, businessman Andrew Colin, described its idyllic setting to The Times. “It’s like sitting in the middle of a nature reserve”, he said.

The dining hall

The drawing room

The staircase dates from the 18th century

The kitchen has a four-oven AGA

This barn conversion provides ideal staff or guest accommodation and beyond it is a full-sized tennis court

A lake is situated within the grounds

Whilst extensive lawned gardens extend out across the moat

Another view of the gardens

A floor plan of the main house

Floor plans of the barn conversion, cottage and outbuildings

December 9, 2016
Sexing up Brexit

Defrocked priest appears outside the Supreme Court dancing a jig without any trousers; he believes Nigel Farage was “sent by Christ”

This week, as the Supreme Court debated one of the most serious constitutional cases in history, a strange little man dressed as a leprechaun danced a jig whilst holding placards about Nigel Farage, a Third World War and Brexit.

The strange, trouser-less pensioner’s banners bizarrely were captioned:

“Nigel Farage was sent by Christ to get Britain out of Europe and fulfill [sic] Bible prophecy”.

“Britain will fight for Israel in the Third World War whereas Europe will fight against Israel and against Christ”.

Dubbed a “sex elf” in one tweet, The Huffington Post later suggested the man to be Neil Horan, “a defrocked Irish Catholic priest who has previously disrupted major events like the Grand Prix and the Olympics and appeared on Britain’s Got Talent”. Horan was given an ASBO for attempting to disrupt the London Marathon in 2007 and his published works number A Glorious New World Very Soon to Come and Christ Will Soon Take Power From All Governments.

In 2006, Horan was held for two months in custody in Germany during the World Cup. He had announced that he had planned to carry posters that declared “Adolf Hitler was a good leader who was following the word of Christ”.

You truly couldn’t make it up.

December 8, 2016
Sugaring a Price

1957 Bentley S1 Continental sports saloon that has been owned by both Sir Elton John and Lord Sugar for sale for a 243% higher sum than it achieved in 2007

Owned by the temper tantrum prone Sir Elton John – a character known for his fondness for visits to the land of olive oil that is Italy – between 1976 and 2001, a 1957 Bentley Continental S1 sports saloon that was next owned by Alan “Call me Lord” Sugar.

Last sold at a Bonhams auction in December 2007 for £144,500 (the equivalent of £181,000 or $226,000 or €213,000 or درهم‎‎829,000 today) on behalf of the businessman and reality television personality and registered ‘490 JLC’, the car is now offered for a figure 243% higher at £495,000 ($618,000 or €583,000 or درهم‎‎2.3 million) and features coachwork by H. J. Mulliner. It is capable of a top speed of 120 miles per hour, 100 miles per hour achievable in third gear and reaching 50 miles per hour in a little over 9 seconds.

When introduced in 1955, the model was the most expensive car in the world and at that time Autocar described it as: “A modern magic carpet which annihilates great distances and delivers the occupants well-nigh as fresh as when they started”.

Used in the UK for the first nine months of its original owner’s tenure and then in Gambia for just six months thereafter, the automatic, silver coloured car has undergone restorations by both Weybridge Automobiles and P&A Wood. It is now available through The Chelsea Workshop and of it they comment: “It is probably the best for sale today”.

November 27, 2016
Raising Walton Street

Six storey Chelsea house for sale for 268% more than it sold for in 2007

Last sold for a total of £5,025,000 million ($6,668,000 or €5,936,000) in 2007, 37–39 Walton Street in Chelsea was formed by the merger of two townhouses that has created an 6,294 square foot home complete with the addition of a two level iceberg basement extension.

Offered for sale now for £18,500,000 ($25,550,000 or €21,854,000) after a lengthy renovation, the six storey house has not only five bedroom suites but also a media room, a lift and a mechanised rising floor that converts a swimming pool into a large entertaining room.

Situated directly next to The Enterprise bar and restaurant, the house is being marketed by Strutt & Parker.

The swimming pool is a multi-functional space with a mechanised rising floor that turns the room into a large entertaining room

The sauna

The dining room

The kitchen

The master bedroom

A lift connects four of the six floors

The garden

One of two terraces

There is also off-street parking to the rear

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September 11, 2016
An unlucky mansion

Unlucky mansion in Yorkshire with 13 bedrooms for sale for a lower sum than it was marketed for in 2007 – despite having been renovated internally in the time since

Offered for sale for less than it was last marketed in a “dilapidated condition” in 2007, Whinburn Hall in the gritty West Yorkshire mill town of Keighley has now been largely restored internally but is still surrounded by neglected yet Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953 protected grounds.

Described as a “fine country house… contrasting with the cramped rows of terraces in the streets behind them” according to Wikipeda, this Grade II listed Victorian Arts and Crafts mansion was built in 1897 for Prince Smith III (1869 – 1940), an exotically named gentleman who later renamed himself Prince Prince-Smith before becoming Sir Prince Prince-Smith on the death of his father in 1922.

Constructed from wealth generated by the Prince-Smith family’s textile machinery manufacturing business, Prince Smith & Son, the house was redesigned and extended in 1912 – 1913 and became a training centre for the National Institute of Houseworkers in 1940. Sold again in 1950 to the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, the “modern manor house” was run as a residential school and special referral unit until 2008 and then, after a period of dilapidation and the rejection of plans to turn Whinburn Hall into flats, was bought by a 35-year old businessman named James Sheldon in 2008.

An unlucky mansion – Whinburn Hall, Hollins Lane, Utley, Keighley, West Yorkshire, BD20 6LU – On the market for £1.45 million in 2016; marketed in 2007 for £1.5 million (or the equivalent of £1.88 million today)

An unlucky mansion – James Sheldon purchased Whinburn Hall at the age of 35 and died there aged just 42

Sheldon, who worked as a lifeboat coxswain in Southport for 18 years, restored Whinburn Hall to use as a family home and also based his business Nav-comm, a specialist in the design of LED lighting systems for emergency vehicles, there.

In the years that followed, Mr Sheldon developed what he claimed to be a new form of “anti-terror security equipment” to detect explosives and drugs from 50 metres and took a stand at a trade show in London in 2013 to showcase this. It was later described as being like “an experiment a first year university student would have tried, but which failed” and in due course West Yorkshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit placed Sheldon and his father, Anthony, under investigation.

Both were arrested on allegations of fraud and on 23^rd June 2015, after two police officers visited Whinburn Hall to inform the duo that they were to be rebailed for three months, 42-year old James Sheldon tragically jumped to his death from the fourth floor tower of the hall. It later transpired he had been served with an eviction order due his non-payment of the mortgage on the house and faced debts of some £1.25 million ($1.62 million or €1.45 million).

The main property, which is now for sale through agents Dacre Son & Hartley for just £1.45 million ($1.87 million or €1.68 million), currently – rather unluckily, some might also argue – features 13 bedrooms and 7 reception rooms. It comes with a detached bungalow and a dilapidated gatehouse and stands in 7 acres of protected gardens that includes a folly designed by the renowned Lancastrian garden designer and landscape architect Thomas Mawson. Hopefully the next owner, aside from tackling this “overgrown jungle”, will also bring with them better luck.

This ‘baronial hall’ is used as a dining room and is dominated a truly tasteless purple ceiling

The purple theme continues in this gallery

And there’s more of it in this corridor

A drawing room complete with ‘classy’ DFS style furniture and a huge television set could be somewhat improved

A striking fireplace in another room is surrounded by some pretty hideously coloured leather sofas

A staircase with a resemblance to something from a fun fair

Another staircase is a little more traditional

One of thirteen bedrooms

The house is surrounded by 7 acres of overgrown grounds

A somewhat amateur attempt at creating a helipad is located close to the house

The entrance gates

The roof of the adjoining gatehouse is literally caving in

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August 15, 2016
Darth and Maddie

That the police have ended forensic work into the search for “missing” Madeleine McCann speaks volumes about Theresa May’s sheer lack of judgement

Yesterday, The Sunday Mirror reported that all forensic work into the search for “missing” Madeleine McCann is to stop. In doing so, British police have only confirmed all that we all already knew: This was an investigation that should have ended years ago and it is a disgrace that our new Prime Minister #DarthVader Theresa May continued to fund it so extravagantly and for so long.

Organised by Scotland Yard at the ridiculous cost of £12 million thus far (whilst searches for other missing children get next to nothing), Operation Grange is something that our former Home Secretary Theresa May surprisingly took beyond excessive interest in. She hosted a party in Downing Street attended by Madeleine McCann’s parents in Downing Street in 2012 with the “Chanel-clad” Lady Meyer and in the time since she has continued to be involved via charities called PACT and Action Against Abduction. Separately, Mrs May most recently approved an additional payment of £95,000 to fund the continued investigation into the “disappearance” of the missing child – whose parents paid for child care in the daytime but not at night back in 2007 – in April this year. The activities it funded achieved nothing.

It is simply a disgrace that such a large sum has been squandered on a hunt for one child and though Mrs May wasn’t involved from the very beginning of this somewhat curious story, it is something that has primarily been dealt with in her domain in office. Shame on her: Like with her appointment of three inappropriate individuals in succession to chair the investigation into historic abuse, this represents yet another fine example of her pathetic ability to judge the difference between the right and wrong course of action.

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August 8, 2016
Reducing a stately

Grade I listed Sir John Soane designed country house Tyringham Hall reduced in price by 30% (more…)

May 15, 2016