canned designs
A CRUMBLING £40million mansion which is bigger than Buckingham Palace has been left rotting in the English countryside for two decades.
The unfinished Hamilton Place, which sits on acres of land in Sussex, is surrounded by signs warning locals to keep out.
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Owned by convicted criminal and slum landlord Nicholas Van Hoogstraten, the mansion was built to house his art collection.
Construction started in 1985 and what was once dubbed "the ghost of Sussex" has continued to attract attention since.
In 1990 Hoogstraten, 77, caused an outcry in the community after he used razor wires and old refrigerators to block public paths.
One local resident told The Mirror: "As far as I know nothing has changed.
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"It’s difficult to see what work has or hasn’t been done as there are a number of threatening keep out and private signs dotted around the property."
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In 2016, locals called for parts of Hamilton Place to be used as accommodation for the homeless which left Hoogstraten appalled saying the idea was "ludicrous".
His statement said: "The 'homeless' - the majority of whom are so by their own volition or sheer laziness - are one of the filthiest burdens on the public purse today.
"The chance of my offering an opportunity for them to occupy Hamilton Palace is just ludicrous."
And when residents started campaigning to have it torn down, the ex-convict branded them "peasants".
He said: "Even the most moronic of peasants would be able to see… that we have been busy landscaping the grounds of the Palace so as to prepare for scheduled works."
Complete with garish golden domes and a mausoleum, the house near Uckfield has been left surrounded by scaffolding and shipping containers.
However, Hoogstraten previously said this is because of ongoing maintenance.
"Hamilton Palace is far from 'crumbling' and was built to last for at least 2,000 years. The scaffolding only remains as a part of ongoing routine maintenance such a property would require until completion," he added.
Hoogstraten made his fortune as a slum landlord renting out properties which are in bad conditions to tenants who were desperate.
But he became infamous after the gruesome gangland killing of his business rival Mohammed Raja — carried out on Hoogstraten's orders.
Raja was killed at his South London home in 1999 where he was stabbed five times before being shot in the head.
Hoogstraten was sentenced to ten years in jail after being found guilty of manslaughter but later had his sentence quashed.
A judge awarded Raja's family £6million in damages — of which callous Hoogstraten has insisted they will "not see a penny".
Another High Court judge ordered him to pay £1.5million in legal costs to the family in 2016 but they have still not been paid.
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Hoogstraten claims to have "no assets at all now in the UK" and cannot pay the damages - claiming his empire has been broken up and is now in the hands of his five children.
Hamilton Palace is now thought to be owned by Messina Investments which is run by his four eldest children - Maximilian, 30, Alexander, 28, Britannia, 25, and Louis, 25.
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