Christopher Berry-Dee - Gangland UK. The Inside Story of Britains Most Evil Gangsters

I f this book does not wake Britain up, nothing will, for it has been researched and written while gang-related crime in the UK has reached epidemic proportions to become a social disease. Indeed, we are suffering a global pandemic and, like any deadly virus, it causes suffering, death and destruction on a massive scale, in which the un-inoculated suffer the worst. The cause is gangland crime, and it is here to stay in the UK, for there is no current antidote.

The incubation of this social disease goes back a century or more and, despite the warnings, the writing was always on the wall. Ever resourceful law enforcement agencies across the world have been more than eager to stamp it out. There have always been a handful of bent coppers to be bought by the gang masters; the majority of police officers, though, are genuinely dedicated to protect and serve.

Hamstrung is the word to describe law enforcement today in the agencies fight against the criminal underworld and, wherever one looks, the problem is always the same lack of social commitment by government, who offers mealy-mouthed promises to tighten up on gang-related crime. This approach is merely window-dressing whose sole aim is to appease the populace when votes are required. The truth is that police forces up and down the country are shackled by lack of funding, overtime restrictions, top-heavy civilian management and they are managed by pen-pushers and penny-counters who do nothing but extract valuable financial resources from an already restricted law enforcement budget.

At the time of writing, the present Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, is planning to slash the numbers of British policemen and women by some 12,000 officers; British police are fighting over decent pay scales; British prisons have become so overcrowded that magistrates and judges are being advised not to send anyone, other than the most serious of offenders, to jail. And current Government figures show that four out of five people convicted of carrying knives are not being sent to prison.

Until now, guidelines have suggested that a high-level community order should be imposed on those caught and convicted of carrying knives the weapon of choice for wannabe gangsters. Other options are to impose a fine of up to 1,000 or sentence the offender to up to 12 weeks custody. But, according to new guidelines issued by the Lord Chief Justice on 20 February 2008, yobs who slash victims with a knife could receive no more than a community service order; new advice issued to the judiciary said that an offender who carries out a common assault with a weapon should not necessarily be handed more than a community sentence.

In Hampshire, a total of 160 people were found guilty of possessing a blade when they appeared before magistrates in the county in 2006, but only 29 of them were sent to prison, according to Ministry of Justice figures. And this comes after figures were released showing the number of people convicted of carrying a knife in the county rocketing by 65 per cent compared with the previous decade. In all courts, a total of 37 people, aged between 1017, were convicted of carrying knives in Hampshire in 2006, up from 33 in 2005. And thats just Hampshire what about the real, hardcore counties, towns and cities?

The writing on the wall? Today, following the guidelines of their American counterparts in gangland crime, many British inner-city gangs mark the territorial boundaries of their turf with graffiti a bit like street dogs pissing their mark against a pub wall. But the Government has done exactly that, too! This Government, along with previous governments, has consistently failed to address the social disease that is street crime which inevitably leads many of the so-called shot-callers into organised crime. Street crime is, and has always been, the breeding ground of many of the characters featured throughout this book.

Most of the big-time gangsters in this book would pour scorn on the scum who infest our streets today. Many of those from the old school would give the young street hooligans the thrashing of their lives if they overstepped the mark. The Krays, the Richardsons, the likes of Kenny Noye they would take these yobs and chavs and give them a lesson in the subtle art of social communication that they would never forget, starting with, Dont piss in your own backyard.

But the message from the official graffiti the message sent out to youngsters today from Government, and now the judiciary is that street crime, and young gang crime, does pay.

I do not think that there could be anyone above the age of consent in the UK who does not recognise the name Anthony Edward Tony Martin. A small-holder, after being plagued by burglars at his farm in Norfolk, on the night of 20 August 1999, struck back at his assailants using lethal force.

Two yobs, persistent burglars the pair of them, broke in and were surprised by Tony who held a shotgun. Brendon Fearon, 29, and Fred Barras, 16, attempted to flee, being the gutless cowards they were, both suffering gunshot injuries. Fearon was shot in the leg, Barras fatally in the back. A third accomplice, 33-year-old Darren Bark, drove off in the getaway car. All from Newark-on-Trent, Fearon was sentenced to three years in prison, and Bark to 30 months, with an additional 12 months arising from previous offences.

On 23 August 1999, Martin was charged with the murder of Barras, and the attempted murder of Fearon wounding with intent to cause injury to Fearon, and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life. Tony Martin was given a mandatory life sentence.

The case became a cause clbre for some as a result of Tony shooting the two burglars. The issue attracted considerable media interest and polarised opinion in the UK to a greater degree than usual. To some, he is seen as trigger-happy and unstable, who wilfully killed a fleeing boy using an illegally held shotgun. To others the majority of decent citizens anxious to protect their properties, as well as the lives of themselves and their families he is a wronged man and an example of how the British legal system supposedly punishes victims and rewards criminals.

Over the years, Martin had been burgled several times, losing 6,000 worth of furniture. He complained to the police and complained about police inaction over the robberies. Some have expressed doubts that those incidents had, in fact, taken place at all. Police interests are arguably best served by this allegation. But can they always be trusted?

That was in 1999, and again the wheel has turned full circle, with a similar case occurring in Skelmersdale, Lancashire. On 17 February 2008, 25-year-old Liam Kilroe was on bail, and on the run, after having been charged with two robberies. A quick glance at his criminal CV makes one wonder what on earth the authorities were thinking when they let him back out on to the streets.

A 34-year-old storekeeper, Tony Singh, was attacked at 9.40 pm after a 13-hour day minding his corner shop. Kilroe appeared at the window of the businessmans Ford Focus car, smashed it with the handle of his knife and demanded the shops takings. Mr Singh fought back and, during the struggle, the knife ended up embedded in Kilroes chest. He died from this single wound. At the time of writing, Mr Singh was arrested and could have faced a possible murder charge.

Kilroes CV puts this all into perspective: 1999 Assault; 1999 Burglary; 2002 Possession of Cannabis; 2002 Possession of an offensive weapon; March 2002 Robbery of a store in Skelmersdale, threatened a woman worker with a knife and stole 170.00; Robbery of a newsagents in the same town, another female worker threatened, 50 taken; Robbery of a post office in the same town, again using threats of violence, 8,000 stolen; Sentenced to four years in a young offenders institution; October 2006 armed robbery at another Skelmersdale post office, struck the postmaster on the head with an imitation firearm and fled empty-handed; November 2006 Armed robbery in Croston, Lancashire, threatened a woman with a handgun and stole 8,000; February 2008, dies after a bungled mugging.