He was called “the managing director of British crime”, “the mean machine”, “the undertaker” and “brown bread Fred”, but Freddie Foreman, who has died aged 94, would have preferred to be known as just “one of the chaps”. As a member of the Krays’ gang in the 1960s he literally got away with murder, and as part of the team involved in one of the biggest robberies of the 80s he nearly got away with a share of £7m.
In 1965 Foreman murdered “Ginger” Marks, whom he shot dead in revenge after Marks had been involved in the non-fatal shooting of Foreman’s brother, George, over a domestic matter. In 1966 he also shot dead Frank “the mad axeman” Mitchell, whom the Krays had sprung from Dartmoor prison but who had become a threat to them. Although many years later Foreman admitted the killings, he was cleared in court of both.
