A huge £40million mansion that was built for a British multi-millionaire who is now a convicted felon has lain abandoned for decades and is surrounded by scaffolding and warning signs.
Hamilton Palace, in the countryside of East Sussex, is bigger than Buckingham Palace but has left people wondering what could have been as it now resembles a scene from a horror movie.
During construction, which was halted half way through, it was dubbed as one of the most high priced private houses in the UK. However, as the Mirror reports, the multi-millionaire that it was built for - Nicholas Van Hoogstraten - is now a convinced felon.
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The property has remained unfinished for over 37 years since work first began on it and those looking to gain access for a nosy are greeted with CCTV in operation signs and others that say: "Danger - shooting in progress." However, such signs that would be enough to see most scarper, have been ignored by urban explorers and curious members of the public.
Eerie images show an unfinished staircase with just the outline of its concrete frame completed which looks as if it was meant to be the lavish centrepiece of the manor. The whole building has also been left with scaffolding around it.
The latest drone images of the vast mansion which is believed to have been named after the capital of Bermuda shows that very little has changed inside the property for a number of years. Construction first commenced in 1985 but the magnificent property would soon be branded the "Ghost of Sussex" by locals.
One entire floor was supposed to be dedicated to hold Van Hoogstraten's extensive art collection but the millionaire owner who previously referred to his neighbours as "moronic peasants" is believed to have got into an argument with architect, Anthony Browne for such low progress being made to the property for more than two decades.
After some cars were spotted inside the property gates, there had been hope that building work inside the mansion would proceed again. However, the urban explorer images confirm the inside looks extremely similar to how it did 22 years ago.
Several other explorers posted videos of themselves approaching the mansion but were eventually scared after seeing shotgun cartridges in the surrounding grounds, as well as hearing 'gun shots'.
Van Hoogstraten who is said to have changed his name to Nicholas Adolf von Hessen was first imprisoned in 1968 after he hired thugs to chuck a grenade at the home of one his former business associates. The millionaire is thought to now spend most of his life in Zimbabwe and his four eldest children reportedly control his former £500m business empire under the name Messina Investments.
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