He has respect ‘for people who are straight with me, whoever they are’. He could not stand being lied to or people ‘taking liberties’.
He said that he had a quick temper and would sometimes ‘do mad things’. ‘Straight away, afterwards, I know I shouldn’t have done it and I feel embarrassed. For example, when they take you out of the cell, you would just be walking past a table and then you might pick it up and throw it across the room, just on impulse. Then they are all around you, looking at you.’ He believed that he was ‘probably going to die on one of these blocks’. He believed he was ‘too damaged for normal location’.
Charlie said he had been suffering from head pains and blackouts that had started in 1975. He said he had been working out on a punch bag in the gym when he had lost his vision for a few seconds and then woke up on the floor of the gym. He said his last blackout had been about nine weeks ago in Winson Green Prison. Before the episode, he had developed pains in the right side of his head, which had lasted for about two hours. He then fell unconscious and found that he had wet himself when he came round.
In total, he had had about three episodes of blackouts since the first one in 1976 but had only wet himself on one occasion and had never bitten his tongue. As he spent almost all his time alone, there were no other accounts of these blackouts, so it was impossible to know whether or not he had had convulsions. He had feared that he was developing a brain tumour but accepted that this could not be so; otherwise he would have died by now.
Charlie was correctly oriented in time, place and person. He was articulate and appeared to be of at least average intelligence.
2
‘YOU’RE NICKED!’
Many people have written to me over the years, and all sorts of questions have been asked but, you know, no one has asked me why I’m violent. Don’t you find that rather odd? What it tells me is that people accept violence and bad behaviour. I mean, if a star behaves badly then they put it down to artistic temperament. But I can tell you that violence is nothing more than a basic instinct; look at the amount of attention and glorification given over to violence. Go and look on my mate Julian Davies’s website –www.unlicensed2000.com – and then tell me that you or others aren’t impressed by pure brutal force.
Look at those celebrities in today’s society who have faced imprisonment; mostly it’s because of childish acts or just wanton lust. A breakdown of society’s values occurs in everyone … not just me.
For anyone hitting the prison system for the first time, it must be a daunting prospect, if not a frightening one. Me, well, I’m already in the system and can survive. For those mere mortals on the street arriving in the prison queue for the first time, it can tear their lives apart. But can you imagine being famous (or infamous) with the trappings of everyday wealth that you and I can only dream of and then facing the prospect of going to prison? Not just losing your dignity, but losing your minders, your assistants, your luxuries and losing your entourage of followers!
For those of you who don’t know what happens to someone charged with committing a crime, I’ll explain how it works. That way you will understand the indignity these stars suffer.
After you’ve been arrested for an offence, you are taken to the local cop shop. You stand before a policeman – the desk sergeant. He asks you to empty your pockets, and that means everything you have on your person, not just your pockets. So if you’ve got a gram of cocaine down your sock then that also comes into the equation.
Once you’re booked in, the desk sergeant will ask you if you want anyone informed of your arrest. Now if you’re a really big star then you’ve got a joey (runaround) who you can call to sort things out for you. But obviously you’re not going to want to inform the News of the World about your arrest, are you? This offer of informing anyone of your arrest is in addition to your legal right to have your solicitor called.
After the formalities are completed, the desk sergeant asks you to sign your property sheet and you are given a copy of PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence Act); don’t throw this away ’cos you’ll need something to read while in the cell!
Now let’s assume you’ve been arrested while wearing your 24-carat gold ring with diamond-encrusted inlay. This item is simply listed as ‘gold-coloured ring’! You can swear blind that it’s valued at £10k, but they won’t wear it. In the property bag it goes! And if you smoke fags, then these also go in the prop bag. So behave yourself and be nice to the desk sergeant, ’cos later you are going to have to ask for one to be passed into your cell.
Once you’ve been formally charged, the desk sergeant will ask you if you’ve anything to say. Here’s where you keep your trap shut. OK, you can deny the offence, but don’t admit to anything – keep quiet! You’ll have plenty of time to deny the charge in court.
Did you know that your right to silence has now been reduced to nothing more than a token gesture? Since the days of the Magna Carta, you have had a right to silence, but this has been stripped away from the statute books and replaced with a more incriminating piece of wording, which goes something like this: ‘You do not need to say anything, you have the right to remain silent. But if you remain silent and then, later, rely on something that hasn’t been said and use it in your defence at court, then this can be taken to mean …’ What that means is that you can’t stand there with nothing to say and then at court come up with an alibi to explain away why you were doing whatever it was you were doing without it being inferred that you had time to construct such an alibi … clever bunch of bastards, these Law Lords!
So if you have a cast-iron alibi, then you had better declare it there and then, and that shows you’ve not invented it. If you were in the local barmaid’s arms at 2.20am when the crime was committed, then say so; don’t leave it to the court date ’cos they’ll only think you’ve paid her for the alibi.
After the desk sergeant is through with you, then – if, and only if, you have been charged with an offence – you are taken into a nice little room to have you fingerprints, photo and DNA swab taken. Yeah, you thought it was all over and that you were going to be taken to your nice little cosy cell, but the fun is only just beginning!
After your mug shot, you have your prints taken. Now if it’s one of those ultra-modern cop shops then you simply have to press your fingers on the glass and the rest is done by magic. But if it’s an outdated prehistoric cop shop, then your prints will be taken in the old manual way, with ink and roller … messy.
Then comes the DNA swab … open wide! A sample of your saliva is taken for the DNA cross-referencing, so if you were involved in some sort of crime years and years and ago and they have DNA evidence from that time, then you are bang to rights if you were involved then and it turns out that the DNA they have on file is yours. This is how they catch rapists years and years after they’ve committed an offence. Some young girl might have been raped way back in the 1970s, and they’ve got traces of the rapist’s sperm from her underwear. Back then they didn’t have the know-how about DNA, but they’ve since analysed the sperm and now have the DNA profile to hand. Then, thirty years later, Joe Bloggs comes along and commits a minor misdemeanour of sorts, but he still has his DNA swab taken … and BINGO! His DNA matches that of the rapist’s of some thirty years earlier. What can he say? He’s nicked!
Technically, you do not need to give a DNA sample; it’s in contravention of your human rights. But all that will happen is that the police will apply to the courts and they will grant them permission to take it from you forcibly. What about all these innocent men who willingly give their DNA samples during door-to-door enquiries when the police are trying to catch local rapists. Technically, after the DNA has been cross-referenced, the police are supposed to destroy their databank of DNA given on a voluntary basis … this does not happen, believe me. If you have ever had your DNA sample taken and then, later, were found ‘not guilty’ at court, you would think that your DNA sample would be destroyed … bollocks!
After the DNA swab, and when the nice
policeman or civilian (as the case may be) has finished with you, you are taken to your place of abode. Before entering the cell while in police custody, you are asked to remove your belt, tie and shoes … no, they are not going to give you a pipe and slippers. This is in case you want to hang yourself. Why they ask you to take off your shoes when they are slip-ons beats me; maybe you are going to beat yourself to death. As well as all of this being degrading, it is for your own safety. I mean when you see how many people have died, statistics don’t lie. That’s all you become, a number.
Once stripped of your potential means of suicide, you are free to go into the cell. Don’t expect the Savoy or the Ritz. A wooden bench and steel toilet (without toilet roll) is all you will find. It might be nighttime, you could be tired and want to sleep, so ask for a blanket and pillow. Before using these, check for last night’s leftovers. Very rarely are you given clean blankets and pillows. Personally, I’d rather sleep without them.
Whether you are male or female, the same applies. But if you are a female, then a female custody officer should process you.
Every time a police officer visits your cell, this is entered into the ‘Custody Record’; you are entitled to a copy of your custody record for up to twelve months after you were locked up in that stinking cell. This can show who the officer was who entered your cell, important evidence if you later claim that you suffered any form of violence while in custody.
You are now in the system and under the rules of PACE. There are custody time limits; they cannot hold you in there forever without first seeking the permission of the court to extend these time limits. Preferably, if the charge is minor then you can be let out under your own control, bailed to appear before the court or to come back at a later date to the police station.
However, should you have been arrested on terrorism charges, they may as well throw the key away. Nearly all of your rights are gone. You can disappear into the hands of MI5 and never be seen again.
Should the police want to interview you, then you can have your solicitor present, but if it is a very serious charge then the police do not have to inform your solicitor for some time, as this might hamper their investigations.
Should your charge be minor, then your solicitor will tear himself out of bed in the early hours of the morning and make his way to the police station you’re being held in. Do not expect your solicitor to hurry along, unless you’re a cash-paying client or a really big name.
Once at the station, the police will tell them what the charge is and what they want to ask you. You sit there in the interview room and are cautioned under PACE. Unless you are cautioned, then what you say cannot be introduced as evidence, but try telling that to the court if you’ve just admitted killing someone without being under caution … they’ll still use it against you.
The chances are that you’ve been lifted on a minor charge, fighting in a restaurant or something similar. Pushing someone can be classed as an assault; you’ve had one too many and pushed them away from you when they asked for your autograph. This is a situation many celebrities find themselves in … God help me when I get released!
So there you are in the interview room, tense and worried. Your solicitor is sitting beside you and should be taking copious notes at a furious pace. You should have had a private meeting with your solicitor prior to the interview. This interview can take place within sight of the police, but it should be out of earshot from them. If not, make it known that you want a private meeting in a room.
Your solicitor will tell you what your rights are; you can remain silent or you can issue a statement via them or you can answer questions that are put to you. The interview then commences in a room that looks like a recording studio; the wall has special acoustic padding on it. Don’t worry – this isn’t so that when the police beat you up no one can hear it! That happens in the cell when they wrap you up in the mattress (this is so the bruises don’t show). An audiotape is placed in a machine, the police officers present name everyone in the room and then the questions commence.
Once the interview is over, the police officer doing the interviewing will say, ‘Interview terminated at …’ and he will say the time. What happens to the audiotape/s? They are sent to the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) who will make a decision on whether charges should be brought, because at this stage you might not yet have even been charged.
Should you be charged, then you are entitled to a copy of the audiotape. It can make good listening on days when you are depressed, if only to see how much you’ve incriminated yourself.
Right, the interview is over and charges have either been brought against you or you’re bailed and you await the outcome of the CPS decision. You can be bailed for four weeks or even longer and conditions might be attached to the bail, such as staying away from witnesses, remaining at a certain address, and so on.
Should the police believe that you might interfere with witnesses, commit further offences or abscond, then they can oppose bail. That will result in you being brought before the court and the charges being read out to the court and the reasons for the prosecution wanting to have you remanded. Don’t worry, all is not lost. Your solicitor can object to these accusations and apply for bail. The court might grant bail, but with conditions. These conditions may require you to report to the local police station once a day at a given time. Conditions of bail are so variable that I cannot even begin to list all the permutations; the main thing is that you get bail.
The minute you walk out of the court and into the fresh air, you feel reborn, the air hits your face, everything seems unreal and what you’ve just gone through seems a nightmare. Unless you are a seasoned criminal veteran, you will relish your freedom and this is when the thought of being locked up becomes a far more daunting prospect than the night of drunken bravado that got you in the fix.
So you’ve done your best to keep it out of the newspapers, you’ve been whisked out of court in a disguise, but come Sunday your face is splashed all over the front page. How come? I’ll tell you how … the police do not subscribe to the Data Protection Act and the press pays handsomely for this information … be warned!
What now? Let’s say you’ve been charged and face the prospect of appearing in court. Are you pleading guilty or are you fighting the case? Should you be fighting the case and eventually be found guilty, then the sentence will be more severe than if you first entered a guilty plea. The court usually deduct 20 per cent from the sentence if you plead guilty; obviously, if you walk free and are acquitted then there is no sentence and nothing to add on … only you can decide on your course of action. I mean, look at UK TV presenter John Lesley … he walked, but at what price?
On the other hand, let’s say you’ve been found guilty. At this stage, you are usually let out on bail unless, of course, you happen to be OJ Simpson and then you might not be released! Probation reports will be requested by the judge before you are sentenced; these can take up to four weeks.
Probation are a law unto themselves; unless you show remorse at what you’ve done and accept that your offending behaviour was your fault, then the report is going to go against you. The rest is in the lap of the gods and also depends on whether the judge is sympathetic to your plight.
The day of sentencing arrives and you haven’t yet left the country to go and live in Cuba; you are either walking into court under your own steam or you are shipped in from prison from the remand wing.
You are standing in the dock, trying to look your meekest, giving all those fancy Masonic signs to the judge in the hope that he’s a sympathetic fellow Lodge member and you’ve got that lucky four-leaf clover in your pocket while standing with your legs crossed … yes, it all worked – you are sent to prison!
Celebrity or no celebrity, you are prison fodder; you are at your most vulnerable. You’ve seen all those films about prisons and prisoners getting done by arse bandits and you’ve even seen Scum on video starring Ray Winstone! My advice is, befriend the hardest (and straightest)
con on the wing and look after him by sending his family some nice gifts; get your minder and stay out of trouble or you’ll get smacked. Do your time the easy way and don’t play the ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me out of Here’ tune!
When you think that paedophiles like Jonathan King can survive in prison, then that might make you feel a little easier in yourself. For the likes of him, there is no hiding place; you just have to surround yourself with prison queens. Look at Gary Glitter – he’s not gay, he had no one inside … he had to stay behind his cell door. No one likes paedophiles, but most cons can tolerate the queens; they can be a laugh, but don’t bend down to pick the soap up in the shower.
When you enter into the prison system, you go through what is called ‘reception’. You’ve been unloaded from the prison van that picked you up from the court, you’re probably part of a larger group of convicts who have been collected from other courts along the way or just part of a group that has been collected from the court where you were convicted.
You would have been picked up between 4.00pm and 5.00pm, and dumped off at the nearest allocation prison, possibly ending up sitting in a holding area full of cells; there could be up to twenty of you in each of the holding cells. During the course of this ‘reception’ period, you will be given a meal of sorts and a mug of prison swill tea. Cells are opening and closing like there was no tomorrow; cons disappear and your holding group gets smaller. Where are the cons going and what’s happening to them?
You are called next. They take you from the cell and you are given a brief interview by a Reception Prison Officer. He asks your date of birth, which court you’ve come from and your sentence. He’s not asking you this so he can be nice, he’s asking so he can confirm he’s got the right prisoner in front of him … it’s his job. Oh, and they ask you your religion as well. This is so that if you are a Muslim or Jew and so on, then you can be given the right sort of food to comply with your religious requirements. I have known cons to give their religion as Judaism, even if they aren’t Jewish, just so they get better grub while behind bars.
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