Serial crim Palmer has died
Notorious litigant, fraudster and convicted sex offender Ashley Palmer has died.
The longtime criminal is said to have suffered heart failure. Born Graham Ashley Robert Palmer, he died aged 71.
Palmer accrued dozens of convictions in Australia, Britain and New Zealand.
He burst onto the New Zealand scene with a $2.6m GST fraud, soon after the tax was introduced.
Aside from long periods in prison, Palmer also spent a long time in the courts filing cases against police, lawyers, medical staff, rental car companies and many others.
In one case, he sued an automated toilet manufacturer after a conviction for exposing himself to two young girls at a public toilet.
Palmer wanted $200,000, blaming the toilet company for designing doors that opened after a period of no movement, exposing him to the girls.
He claimed a bladder problem kept him, motionless. The case failed.
David Fisher