Peter Foster: Conman investigated over claims he tried to hire hit man to kill private investigator

Foster is alleged to have targeted Ken Gamble, a private detective living in the Philippines

Conman Peter Foster (PA)

An Australian conman who was linked to Cherie Blair is being investigated over claims he tried to hire a Filipino hit man to murder a private eye investigating one of his suspected fraud scams.

Peter Foster is alleged to have targeted Ken Gamble, a private detective living in the Philippines who had reportedly uncovered millions of dollars in hidden proceeds from a failed online gambling venture.

Police raided the home of Foster’s mother on Queensland’s Gold Coast and another property linked to Foster in Byron Bay, a coastal town in New South Wales. Foster, 53, was not arrested and no charges have been brought but several phones were seized.

Foster’s elderly mother Louise is not implicated in the allegations and he told local media the claims are false.

Police are investigating claims Foster offered £39,000 for a hit man in the Philippines to kill Mr Gamble, whose business is based in Manila and is working on behalf of around 150 alleged victims, with a further £49,000 bonus if the hit was carried out before Christmas. Foster is alleged to have siphoned £5.7m from victims and transferred the funds to offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands, Vanuatu and Hong Kong.

The serial fraudster, who has been imprisoned in Britain, the United States and Vanuatu for allegations related to weight loss programmes and other schemes, was given early release from a Queensland jail in October. Police are investigating claims that within three weeks of his parole on a contempt of court conviction connected with a weight loss industry fraud, Foster targeted Mr Gamble - one of his ‘enemies’.

Police raided the home of Foster’s mother on Queensland’s Gold Coast and another property linked to Foster in Byron Bay, a coastal town in New South Wales. (TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/AFP/Getty Images)

Police are said to be in possession of a number of phone recordings Foster made to the Philippines, according to Australian media. Mr Foster told the Daily Mail the alleged phone calls were a hoax, and that the false nature of the calls would become clear when they were scientifically tested.

Foster, a self-confessed swindler, gained notoriety in 2002 when he allegedly helped Mrs Blair purchase two flats in Bristol for a substantial discount while her husband was Prime Minister. Foster had been involved in an affair with Mrs Blair’s lifestyle adviser Carole Caplin at the time.

The Bristol flats deal became known as “Cheriegate” and Mrs Blair made a tearful apology for the embarrassing connection stating “I did not think it was my business to choose my friends’ friends.”

Foster first made headlines in the 1990s when he was dating the former page 3 model Samantha Fox and fined for a trading standards offence relating to his Bai Lin weight loss tea scheme.

In 1996 he was jailed in Britain for breaching laws regarding distribution of slimming granules but absconded nine months later while on day release from open prison and fled to Australia using a false passport. Foster was jailed for five months in Australia on separate charges before being extradited to Britain and jailed in 2000 at St Albans Crown Court for using fraudulent documents to obtain credit for a slimming cream company.

Last year officials caught up with him again in Australia amid extraordinary scenes when he was arrested in bushes and dragged away looking dishevelled after a police chase. On his release from jail in October, 12 months into a three year sentence, Foster said that he was going to “just go home to my mum, make a cup of tea, hold her hand and tell her I’m sorry for the last 12 months”.