Costing around £40 million ($49m) to build, Hamilton Palace was once considered to be one of the most expensive (and largest) private houses built in Britain for a century, though no one has ever lived there. After four decades, the abandoned mansion is now all but crumbling, but remains fiercely protected by a team of security guards.

According to the palace's architect, Anthony Browne, van Hoogstraten has a reputation. One documentary quoted him saying that he was prepared to do "whatever is necessary" to get what he wants. The construction of the palace caused plenty of disputes with neighbours after van Hoogstraten decided to remove a public footpath that ran through the estate.

He also received a four-year prison sentence in 1968 for criminal damage, after a hand grenade was thrown into the home of a former business associate said to have owed him money.

Grand home builds that ended in disaster