A cache of documents relating to the Kray twins that were kept by the detective who helped lock them up are going on sale this week.
Det Chief Supt Leonard ‘Nipper’ Read compiled meticulous reports as he tried to find evidence to bring down the notorious East End brothers.
He kept the documents and other papers long after Ronnie and Reggie Kray were jailed for life in 1969.
As well as his reports, the documents include court files and transcripts relating to two trials involving the Krays.
Read spent years investigating the twins.
They were eventually jailed, along with other members of their gang, for the murders of Jack ‘the Hat’ McVitie and George Cornell.
It was the longest and most expensive murder trial in British criminal history.
Read’s documents include transcripts covering every day of the 39-day hearing, as well as his additional reports, statements and evidence.
In his reports to bosses, he documents his efforts to bring the Krays to justice and his frustrations are very clear throughout.
He talks about attempts to tamper with witnesses and get juries dismissed.
From July 1964 he headed up a special squad at Scotland Yard to establish if the Krays were operating a protection racket in the East End.
While he reports that many were reluctant to talk and refused to make a statement, he did eventually get a witness.
Hew McCowan, owner of the Hideaway Club in Soho, agreed to testify that the Krays had demanded protection money.
They were charged with demanding money with menaces and faced trial at the Old Bailey in March 1965.
A first jury could not agree on a verdict and a second eventually found them not guilty.
Read died of Covid in 2020, aged 95, and his widow Pat, 84, who also worked on the case, has now put the documents up for sale.
She said: “I was the first women detective constable on the Kray investigation.
“I was born in Hackney and brought up in the right area, I didn’t know the Krays but I knew their names.
“It’s where I met my husband, I was assigned to drive him around.
“I loved every minute of my time working on the case. I think he did a marvellous job.
“I had no idea he had kept it all until my brother and I had to go through his office. He kept a lot of stuff and stored things away.
“It will be interesting to see the sale. Everybody knows about the Krays and are still interested in them to this day.
“My husband thought they were bastards but he did like their mother.”
Mark Wilkinson, from Sworders Auctioneers of Stansted Mountfitchert, Essex,
said: “This is probably our best Out of the Ordinary sale.
“The documents relating to the Krays are fascinating - you just never see this type of document at public auction.
“And that provenance, to have it come direct from Read’s estate is very exciting for us.”
Ronnie Kray died in 1995, aged 61. His brother Reggie died in 2000, aged 66.
The sale takes place on Tuesday.
