Paul Ferris & The Krays

Ferris shares jail with Kray.

From: Daily Record
Date: May 29, 1997


Hardman Paul Ferris is sharing a jail with gangland figure Charlie Kray.

Ferris, of Provanmill, Glasgow, was held in London on a gun-running charge.

He has now been moved amid tight security from Pentonville to Belmarch jail near Kent – Britain’s most secure prison.

Yesterday, a close friend said: “We’ve no idea what is going on. All we know is that he was moved early yesterday morning.”

Ferris, 33, was remanded in custody when he appeared with three others charged with a guns smuggling plot.

Earlier this week, detectives filmed inside his mother’s Glasgow home and the house he shares with his girlfriend, Sandra Arnott.

Belmarch, where Ferris is likely to be held until his trial, is the only jail in Britain with its own court linked by underground passages.

The public gallery is separated from the dock by bullet proof glass.

Charlie Kray is on trial there on charges of conspiracy to supply cocaine.

https://paulviking.websitetoolbox.com/post/show_single_post?pid=23303985&postcount=343&forum=0

4th DEC 2015

Newcastle hardman enjoyed a ‘cuppa and natter’ with London gangster Charlie Kray

In the latest extract from his new book, Newcastle hardman Stephen Sayers recalls some advice from one of the Kray brothers

Kray Twins Ronald and Reginald seen here at home after helping police with their inquiries into the Blind Beggar Pub shooting in 1966

Hardman Stephen Sayers enjoyed a cup of tea and a chat with notorious gangster Charlie Kray, according revelations in his new book.

In the third part of our serialisation of ‘The Sayers: Tried And Tested At The Highest Level’, he recalls the advice handed down to him by one half of the infamous brothers while in Durham’s Frankland Prison.

He said: “One night we invited Charlie Kray over for tea. There was me our Michael, Charlie and Paul Ferris.

“We had a great night and it was nice to have such a good friendship with people like that – they were a much better class of criminal than the usual vagabonds and ruffians that would call by.

“Being Category AA meant I wasn’t allowed to work during the day, so the screws would let Charlie out of his cell and he’d automatically come to my cell and we’d have a cup of tea.

ALSO READ: Stephen Sayers tells how a suitcase full of cash made him a ‘millionaire’ aged eight

“They’d open the door from 2pm-4pm and I had the chance to spend a bit of time with him and get to know him better. He would tell me stories about London and the night life and I found them all very interesting.

“I told him that my family originated from the east end of London from a place called Stepney. He knew the manor well and it was great to have some common ground like that. With meeting so many villains over the years, a lot of it can be a kind of ‘false friendship’ and you get wise to it from the off.

“To spend time with someone like Charlie who’d been there and done it was different altogether. Sitting two hours at a time where it’s just the pair of you with a screw bringing you tea and biscuits, well, you get to know someone properly.”

Launch of the Stephen Sayers book at the Tyneside Irish Centre

Sayers recalls how one day Charlie received a visit from brother Reggie, who had some bad news.

He said: “He’d been in Frankland for about three and a half months now and was due a visit from his brother, Reggie.

“We were having our usual cuppa and natter when a screw popped his head round the cell door. He told Charlie that he had to go with him as he had a call from Reggie.

“It seemed a little strange and when he returned he looked shattered. Reg had been diagnosed with cancer and Charlie took the news badly. His own health was also deteriorating and this news seemed to speed up the process. Doctors were called into see him and they advised that he be moved to a more suitable prison.”

On his last day in the prison, Stephen Sayers recalls how Charlie gave him some advice.

“I’ll never forget his last few words of advice. ‘Stephen, don’t let what’s happened to me and my brothers happen to you and your brothers. Don’t let them get you. Don’t die in prison. God bless ya, mate.’

“Charlie knew he was dying and we knew we’d never see each other again. He passed away three weeks later.

“They knew plenty and used their strengths to become very influential people in London in the 60s.

“When I was a kid and I heard stories about the Krays and their like it wasn’t the infamy and reputations I was interested in; I was more interested in where they had failed because I had no intentions of making the same mistakes.

“Although I liked him as a person, there was nothing glamorous about poor Charlie Kray in his latter days. He died a sad and lonely man in prison with nobody to support him and I can honestly say, hand on heart, that if this is where a life of crime leads to then I’m glad I’ve retired.

“Because of their crimes but mainly because of their name, the authorities were able to make examples of them. If there are any similarities between us and them, I’d like it to end with crime and name only.”

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/newcastle-hardman-enjoyed-cuppa-natter-10547918 https://archive.is/FlxPZ

https://spidercatweb.blog/2017/04/28/the-king-rat-the-godfather-the-krays-massey-domenyk-paedophiles/ https://archive.is/VAzBf

16 Jan 2013

“I’m very proud of the film. People may have their opinions about it, but i think the cast have delivered superb all-round performances. I think it will have wide appeal, like The Krays did. I always get it thrown at me that I am glamorising violence, but when you make a film about a subject it tends to glamourise it.”

The brutally violent drama charts Ferris’s rise to prominence in the city’s underworld from the days when he was bullied as an 11-year-old in the city’s Blackhill area. Burdis, producer of The Krays, mounted an outspoken attack against Strathclyde Police and Glasgow City Council last week claiming he was forced to shoot “The Wee Man” in London due to their opposition to the film.

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/film/the-former-gangster-who-nearly-quit-own-movie-1-2738211