by James Morton
In March he was disciplined after he threw a table at a television, and assaulted four members of staff and set fire to his prison hospital cell. Attitudes changed and there was now a fear of a real psychotic illness if he remained in a mainstream prison location. It was decided to ask Parkhurst if they would take him, and they agreed.
Unfortunately, in the short term, things did not improve. Back in Parkhurst, on 2 April he tried to cut his wrist with a broken spectacle lens. He was found when his cell was unlocked shortly before 7 a.m. with a two-inch traverse cut across his left forearm four inches above the wrist. When he was taken to the treatment room he threw a cup of tea over the warder and grabbed his tie. This time the Parkhurst medical officer believed it was a genuine suicide attempt. The medical report on him described him as ‘depressed and appears to have lost hope’ and the doctor was surprised at the deterioration in his mental condition from when he first went to Long Lartin.
He began to talk about Christianity, but the doctor was not convinced he was genuine. ‘He is’, said the report, ‘extremely demanding and manipulative. Nevertheless the deterioration in his stability is now worsening over recent months.’ He wanted to be moved to Broadmoor to be with Ronnie. One of the problems was that he had fallen out with a supportive inmate and he was having difficulties with another former inmate who was now allowed to visit him. It was thought that without help from other inmates he could not survive on a normal wing.
Reggie showed no signs of improvement in 1982 and was beginning to show serious signs of prison wear and tear. He had indeed not been able to cope with life on C wing in Parkhurst and had ‘sought the sanctuary of the prison hospital’. In January another report told of a liaison which ‘bordered on obsessional and might be based on a homosexual relationship’.
A year later, after his father’s death on 31 August 1983, a report on Reggie, then in C wing, read:
‘He is an arch manipulator of staff and has a few friends amongst his peers in the wing. He is tolerated by the gangsters and is disliked by some because of the company he keeps. These include the young-looking types of inmate who hero-worship him because of the gangster image of Kray. There are suspicions that the friendships of the young inmates are of a homosexual nature… he has not shown a genuine change of heart and will always remain a criminal who is prone to violence to achieve his grandiose schemes. He acts the role of ‘Godfather’ and has enlisted young inmates who are promised jobs on their discharge from prison.’
The next month the Assistant Governor wrote of Kray’s relationship with a prisoner whom he introduced as ‘family’ as ‘whilst not being overtly homosexual, certainly somewhat bizarre’.
‘In summary he is a partly deaf, semi-illiterate, institutionalised 50-year-old who always accepts ‘no’ without question and is always polite, courteous and respectful to staff, and who is desperately trying to retain some dignity by maintaining a small, young group of prisoners around him with, apart from the one exception, noticeably less and less effect.’87
Now at last it was accepted he did not have the resources to effect an escape, and the Governor and staff continually tried to get him downgraded to a lesser category, a move which was regularly blocked by the Home Office.
Their father Charlie Kray Snr did not survive his wife for long. On 8 March 1983 Charlie Kray Jnr’s son Gary found him collapsed on the stairs at Braithwaite House where they were both living. The Twins did not even ask to attend his funeral. Later they explained this, saying their father would not have wanted it.
Two years later in March 1985 the waxworks of the Twins were removed from the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussauds to make way for fresher figures and the Easter rush. Violet would have been pleased. She had regularly complained the effigies looked nothing like her boys.
It was about this time that Reg Kray began a long series of relationships, which at the time he denied were gay, with a number of younger prisoners. There was also speculation about his heterosexual love life, with a Maureen Cox gushing on the pages of the Daily Mirror, ‘Reggie is writing me love letters. It’s leap year next year and if I pop the question I think he may say yes’.88
In October 1986 the then real love of his life was ‘jailhouse pup’ Peter Gillett, a wannabee pop singer serving six years for possessing firearms and conspiracy to rob. Gillett denied he was having a homosexual affair with the lifer and Reggie was keen to emphasise that while he took Gillett breakfast in bed in his cell, theirs was a platonic friendship. ‘We’re not bent. It’s like a homosexual affair without sex.’ He was, he said, closer to Peter than he had been with anyone before including Frances. Among his many kindnesses, he arranged for a white Rolls Royce to collect Gillett from Parkhurst when he went on four-day home leave.
Kray and Gillett wrote songs together and he dreamed Gillett would give him his first No. 1 single:
‘How stimulating if one day our lyrics could be heard in the vast Wembley Stadium, with the kids joyfully tapping their feet and clicking their fingers to one of our songs and recognising us as songwriters – then these austere days spent alone would really bear fruit.’89
It was not to be. On his release Gillett cut some records and appeared at Raquel’s, the Essex disco infamous for the death of Leah Betts from an overdose of Ecstasy, but his career never took off. Joey Pyle, then a major force in the London underworld to whom Kray had recommended Gillett, was dismissive of his talents. ‘At first I thought it a joke. The boy could hardly sing a note, there was nothing, no talent at all.’90
But by 1990 Kray had fallen out with his former protégé sufficiently to ask the actor Martin Kemp to hit him for real on the film set of The Krays, in which Gillett was an extra.
Reg Kray would remain in Parkhurst until February 1986 when there was another blot on his record. He claimed in Our Story that the authorities moved him so they could see how he handled a new environment and if this proved satisfactory, he would be transferred to a softer prison such as Maidstone or Nottingham. However, the Home Office records show that another lifer sustained a fractured cheekbone when he had been pushed down a flight of stairs by others acting on Kray’s behalf. Kray was transferred to Wandsworth for 56 days as a punishment for ‘disruptive behaviour and strong-arm tactics’. A Home Office memorandum of 14 February read:
‘Information has been received from numerous independent sources (staff and inmates) that Kray, over a period of time, has been intimidating and bullying other inmates… security information in reports submitted since the incident have all indicated that Kray’s behind-the-scenes behaviour has put many inmates on the defensive.’
It was thought several had armed themselves against ‘possible assaults by Kray’s front men’. He was therefore segregated under Rule 43 prior to the transfer to Wandsworth.
By the end of the year it was noted he had ‘outstayed his welcome at Parkhurst’ and other prisons were being canvassed. Of Maidstone it was said, ‘I can see that the whole prison would revolve around him.’ And as for Nottingham, at least two other lifers would have to move before Kray came. ‘He has contracts on both’, with an additional note, ‘He is still a very dangerous man… frankly I would not trust him an inch.’ And so the winner (or loser) in the raffle was Gartree in Leicestershire.91
From 1984 it had been clear that the Home Office had no intention of releasing Reg Kray in the foreseeable future. A memorandum set things out clearly:
‘The expectation is that a prisoner in respect of whom a life sentence has been made with a minimum recommendation will be detained for at least that period unless there are good reasons for doing otherwise. I hope this clarifies the situation.’92
The supposed love lives of the Twins still garnered regular newspaper interest. In August 1986 came the surprising news that Reggie was to marry BBC TV cashier Geraldine Charles. ‘We are both wicked Scorpions. We have everything in common. He’s an evangelist. I’m a Christian.’ She told Th
e Sun she wore black suspenders and stockings when she visited him in prison. She claimed she was prepared to wait for Reggie for as long as necessary, but ended up turning to Ronnie instead. This was all the more odd because by the next month Ronnie was involved with Kissogram girl Kate Howard.93
Reggie never learned that an unguarded remark to the press might become tomorrow’s headline. In 1986 the journalist Paul Callan wrote an article entitled ‘Why I murdered this man’ in the Daily Mirror after speaking to Reggie. Reggie then wrote to the prison Governor complaining he had been misrepresented.94 That year the authorities still regarded him as manipulative and believed he wielded considerable power. According to them, he had changed little during his sentence and was still seen as a risk to the public. In April 1987 a loyal Charlie disagreed, writing to Margaret Thatcher to say his brother had ‘totally changed’.
In the mid 1980s the Kray bandwagon had really sprung into motion. There was more talk of a film to be made by Don Boyd, director of Scum, and in Richard Branson’s Virgin Megastore there were Kray calendars (£2.99) with a picture of the Twins on every page and a caption reading ‘Parole, it’s about time’. There were also t-shirts at £4.99 with 25p royalties being paid to Charlie’s company Krayleigh. The calendars were being marketed by Art Department, which operated out of a railway arch in Camberwell. Spokesperson Barry Porter said, ‘We are trying to bring to public awareness the fact that the twins have been put away for 20 years when they didn’t hurt a member of the general public’.
Kray memorabilia was stolen from Charlie’s business partner in August 1986, but after a quiet word or two it was handed back. Charlie Kray, currently a music agent, said the money was going to charity and that he received hardly any from the sales. Fake shirts were also being made, but what was described as a ‘polite word’ on behalf of the brothers put a stop to that.95
Back in prison, in February 1986 it was noted that:
‘[Reggie] Kray is involved in every racket in the establishment, appearing a disruptive “Godfather”. He is linked to strong-arming and the illicit brewing of alcohol. He has had a series of homosexual affairs with other younger inmates.’
Five months later in July 1986, after Kray had declined to be interviewed by staff and a local review committee member, the Parole Board knocked him back again until 1991. The Board thought he showed little insight into his problem and no remorse. They were right with the former. Over the years he consistently failed to see that he had to toe the line and do what the authorities wanted if he was ever to get out of prison. It was no use saying, as he did, that he would not see the appointed psychologist, but he wanted one of his own choosing. That was going to get him nowhere.
By July that year Reggie had been at Parkhurst for all but two years of his sentence and the Governor thought it was time he was moved. He had by now over 1,000 names and addresses on his record of letters and visits. How this had arisen no one seemed to know but, like Topsy in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ‘it growed’. As a result he was being made to contribute £1 a week to the postage. Prisoners would buy food for him in the canteen and their relatives on the outside would be paid double. That September he was found with a small amount of cannabis, pethadine and other tablets.96 That year at the Twins’ request the sale of t-shirts at Virgin Megastore, now priced upwards of £5.99, were halted.
In January 1987 Reggie was finally sent to Gartree, but by that June he was already at odds with the staff. ‘Kray does not cope with the prison regime, he gets other people to do it for him.’ He was said to be fomenting trouble on the wing, ‘especially where blacks are concerned’, and ‘to conclude I still feel he is a very devious and dangerous man who should not be trusted one inch.’ Told he would have a review after 17 years, he replied, ‘It’s fucking not fair’.97
But over the next year he did better in Gartree and in a memo of 11 August 1988 it was suggested if he did well in Lewes for five years the Governor would recommend a Category C prison, perhaps The Verne in Portland, Dorset.
However, 18 months, later one view had changed. D.A. Brown, a senior Home Office official, wrote in a memo of 19 March 1990:
‘All the indications are that he has not changed at all and beneath a façade of conformity he is still a subversive and pernicious influence.’
Reggie Kray had indeed moved to Lewes in 1989, where a report says that most of his time was taken up writing letters and books. It recommended he be regarded as a Category C prisoner. There had been problems over his relationship with a young lifer on C Wing, but this had cooled off. ‘He intended to let his unofficial adopted son and his mother live in his home, but whether this is feasible remains to be seen,’ wrote the officer realistically or cynically depending on one’s viewpoint. He was also seen hanging around the door to A Wing speaking to young offenders. The next year it was reported he was sending and receiving 20 letters a day. The officer thought he was ‘a likeable con’.
But there were troubles at Lewes where a firearm was found. No charges were brought and Kray denied any involvement, but in December 1990 after a short stay in Nottingham he was sent back to Gartree.
In January 1991 he refused to see a member of the Local Review Committee as a protest about still being held in a dispersal prison.
After his Parole Board Review in April that year he was returned to Nottingham.
‘His Probation Officer [21 February 1991] doubts if he is repentant and thinks that his arrogance would make supervision difficult; that he intends to live in Sussex.’
It was reported in his parole board review that Reggie kept active mentally and physically because he wanted to maintain his celebrity status. Much of his time was spent dealing with his correspondence. Yet again he cannot have helped himself by refusing to be interviewed by the staff and a local review committee member. ‘He has little insight and no remorse.’ There would be no further review until 1995.
Apart from the regular campaigners, there was intermittent independent support for Reggie. In February 1991 one man wrote to the Home Office to say that he was a truly reformed character: ‘God bless him. He was a victim also and still is a victim of circumstances. He is a man of honour and integrity.’ But for every letter of support there was one explaining in simple terms why he should not be released. In 1999 one opposer wrote:
‘They were no good. The money they had was money that decent people owned. These people were tortured for same. They should have hung years ago by their privates.’
In February 1992 Kray was sent to Blundestone, where he was still held in awe by other inmates. That year he was allowed to spend only £60 on presents for his friends, and was refusing to pay a £12,500 tax bill.
The author Peter Gerrard, who later collaborated on Reg Kray’s East End Stories, visited him there and clearly found the regime allowed Kray a good deal of latitude. Kray had asked him to bring in brandy in a plastic bottle and Gerrard did this on a number of visits. During his first visit:
‘We were constantly interrupted by well-wishers approaching the table to shake Reggie’s hand or give him a hug and every one of them was received with the same patient and friendly demeanour. Autographs were sought, or thanks were given for looking after a certain person. It was obvious that Reggie had a great respect from all and for all.’98
But so far as his release was concerned, he was now thrashing about wildly. In July 1993 he told a Through Care officer, who would help him reintegrate in society if and when he was released, that on his release he wanted to go and live in Canterbury with a former professional landscape gardener, apparently a distant relation, and his wife, but he then changed his mind and said he would prefer to live in Northamptonshire.
Yet another report that year read, ‘Because the events had no direct bearing on members of the public but was aimed at competitors, Mr Kray sees no real wrong.’ Nevertheless, he was not seen as a potential danger to the community at large. It recommended he be moved to a Cat
egory C prison so he could be tested in less secure conditions.99
A probation report in September 1993 recounted three meetings with him; Reggie had halted the third because he ‘didn’t feel like talking’. He did not seem to want to have his early life probed. He showed no signs of remorse, arguing that his ‘activities did not infringe the rights of the vast majority of the population’. As for the young men who surrounded him, he did tell the probation officer that it was his desire to use his position to ‘deflect these young men from a life of crime’. There was another more positive report: ‘It is difficult not to be struck by the vitality, energy and generally good humour displayed by Mr Kray.’ He now had little or no contact with his ‘adopted’ son Bradley Lane, a 10-year-old boy from Doncaster who had changed his name to Kray. The report also said that ‘in the past 18 months he has started to look old’.
He was transferred to Maidstone in March 1994. Concerned about security in his new prison, he was extremely apprehensive about the move, and wrote for help to his friend John Heibner, who had been there since 1989. He wanted everything to be sorted out before his arrival – allocation on Heibner’s wing, a cell next door to him, a wing cleaner’s job – and Heibner arranged all these for him.