To ask if you’ve met an infamous criminal?

[Anon778833]

Did they seem ‘normal’? Or did you get a strange feeling about them?

Several years ago dh and I also met a Maltese 'gangster' - lots of drug running, violent crime in his past. He was somehow linked to a part of dh's family and turned up at a family funeral.

By the time we met him he was a 90+ year old man. He looked like someone's elderly great grandparent and in no way threatening. Clearly he had been in his past though and some of his mannerisms showed this.

To the pps discussing Mary Bell, she was a child who had been horrifically abused all her life. Her family described how her mother had made suspected attempts on her life at least twice before she was two.

Aged 2, she started involving her in acts of BDSM with clients (mother was a prostitute). She was an extremely broken angry child who did terrible things.

As an adult she's never reoffended and has a grown up daughter and a grand child

[quote Claymorekick]@ITSSSSCHRISTMASSS there is a well known case like this in Lancashire but it can't be the one you are talking about as the victim was not (from what I have read) at all as you described the victim's father does a lot of campaigning in the local schools about actions/consequences?[/quote]
The one I’m referring to was probably 25 years ago now, maybe a bit longer.

As I said, it’s an all to common occurrence, so there are probably lots of similar stories, most don’t even make the local news.

It is far, far easier for someone to be killed by a head injury than some posters on here seem to think. A single punch can do it, or more commonly a punch that destabilises someone (particularly if they’ve been drinking) and they strike their head on floor/wall/object when they fall.

Thousands of idiotic young men (and some young women) end up in drunken brawls without ever thinking they could cause someone’s death - they may mean to hurt when they punch but they’re not out to kill.

People die of head injuries every day from falls and accidents in which they hit their head but are otherwise uninjured. It’s scarily easy.

I’ve come across rapists and murderers via work (not remotely infamous) and they were just blokes in grey tracksuits gardening and woodworking. One slightly notorious one, who had been involved in organised crime, was a thoroughly unpleasant individual with a lot of demands but no more than other people I’ve met who have no crime to their name!

[quote KittyVonCatsworth]@SommerTen I thought exactly the same when I was introduced to him but I kept an open mind and despite some of his views (he's an anti extreme Islamist) we found common ground on the contradiction on feminism and the Islamic ideology.[/quote]
He is not an 'anti extreme Islamist'.

He's a fucking racist, don't try and minimise it.

When I was 11my class in primary school back in 1983 we went on a school trip. We went to a museum and an unknown man drew a picture of a prison key and gave it to me. When we got back to school I showed the teacher and told him who drawn it, he took it threw it on the bin and said the man had been arrested!! Never said what for but now I’m like OMFG

I worked with the relative of the Shoe Bomber Richard Reid .. worked where you needed security clearance and hers took months to get through as the couldn’t work out if she knew to much about his plans. Lovely woman

@FingersofFish School started with M?

I used to drink with a guy called John, he was on the edge of our group because he worked with a couple of friends. While we knew him he killed and dismembered a 15yr old girl called Rochelle Holmes. When he was arrested it came out he’d been in and out of prison for years for rape and abduction/false imprisonment and none of our group knew about it.

I also saw a gynaecologist once and he gave me the creeps so much I refused to go back. 7 years later he killed his wife by throwing her off a balcony and hitting her in the head with a hammer

@Ringsender2 - I used to know a psychiatrist (socially) who agreed with [I think] John Cleese's suggestion that around 70% of professionals in the the psychiatric professions are, or have been, in need of that treatment themselves - so it wouldn't surprise me that a psychotherapist has a mental health condition.

@Doubleraspberry - yes, agreed. In Australia it was called the "king hit" although that name has been removed in general as it gave it too much "kudos" and is now called a "coward's punch", as it's usually delivered when someone is not expecting it, causing them to fall and hit their heads --> potential death.

There was a whole campaign a few years ago on the UK all about one punch and how it can kill.

My DH went to school with Jeremy Bamber. He has no opinion on whether JB was guilty or not, that is impossible to tell, but for sure JB's extended family (the Boutflours) should have been asked many questions, in view of how they benefited so hugely from the tragedy.

I met Rolf Harris and Fred Talbot as a child/teen, both seemed nice but the latter was a bit aloof, certainly never got any vibes from them.

On the other hand there was a Sunday school teacher local to me who turned out to be a paedophile. I did feel uncomfortable around him, and his wife though his wife was innocent.

There was a massive fraud case in my home town a few years ago and the woman convicted was in the year above me at school. She always seemed rather dim so surprised she managed to pull it off for as long as she did. Another girl I was at school with was done for elder abuse, was surprised at that. She wasn't a particularly likeable person, she was sulky and a bit racist, but she'd never shown any signs of aggression.

snazzynamechangetime As to what the Richardsons actually did - I think they could best be described as being part of the nighttime economy: legitimate concerns such as bars and nightclubs which could merge into shadier deals like drugs.
One of their more interestingly named business enterprises was a night club called "J.Arthur's" in Catford. Clearly, the naive soul in the council offices who granted the alcohol licence was more conversant with cinema history than Cockney rhyming slang...... I believe their reputation derived from their insistence on keeping up to date with their accounts; it was inadvisable to owe them money. I think one of the reasons that so many people know of them, and the Krays, was that they made it their business to be known; a wide reputaion gave credence to their threats.

My older brother was best frenemies aged around 13 with someone fairly high profile who was recently imprisoned for sexual assault, though it would be too outing if I said more. What strikes me was that he was mildly inappropriate at the age of 13 (called me a ‘minx’) and always refused to take no for an answer. Obviously we never predicted it but it was very easy to imagine him doing it.

I met Charles bronson many years ago. I'm a prison setting. He was most taken with my very large pregnant belly. Then sent my baby a card a postal order and a painting when he was born. Although he was lovely, there was a definite undercurrent to him.

Went to the same school as jon venables. Different year group though.

@nancybotwinbloom do you remember him at all?

Dad: grew up on the street that convicted murderer Neville Clevely Heath and his family lived on. He remembers the day NCH was hanged and said everyone felt very sorry for the family. NCH was always a bit full of himself, DF recalls people saying.

Mum: visited Jimmy Saviles flat and got out unscathed . She grew up near to where he lived and the school sent DM and a couple of others along to interview him about his charity work for the school paper. She said the three of them refused to split up/be separated because they'd heard he liked young girls, he was never alone with them- his minder was always there and they did the 3 musketeer bit- and because JS had been in a wrestling match the night before, he was too sore to do any active perving, could barely move. They were also from a nice private girls school and fairly local- too risky. They were very lucky! My auntie was also a physio and said it was common knowledge amongst medical/HC staff that he was a pervert and to avoid him and not be alone/leave ANYONE alone with him.

I went on a lovely date a few years ago and then it fizzled out. Found out much later the man in question went down for rape 2 months later. He was out on bail when we met- he lived a way away so I'd no idea. The local papers called him a monster. He was sent down at the session as some paedophiles and two blokes done for GBH who stomped on someone's head. I had such a nice time and felt so safe with him. You honestly don't know what anyone's like. A friend of a friend was devastated to find out a mate of hers- and her ex flatmate- was a paedophile and the laptop he'd had when they lived together was exhibit A with stuff going back years.

Also live nearish to Levi Bellfields known stamping ground. We're further out but he got around. A friend reckons he tried to beckon her and her (tiny, gingery-blonde) mum into his van one day when she was about 8. They're sure they recognised him. I believe them.

DP had a terrifying run in with a housemate at uni but nothing has stuck to this fellow. Yet. I tell DP to remember him as I'm sure he'll get done eventually. He certainly deserves it. Similarly I turned off a Ted Bundy documentary because his social climbing and resentments, fixation on an ex and split personality reminded me too much of an ex. An ex who, when I mentioned him on a "dp/dh hobbies" thread awhile back, was deemed to have the sort of hobby that suggested he'd be a serial killer!

@DoraMaude

I knew Jeremy Bamber. Very charming, good looking and confident. Very good manners. Hindsight is a wonderful thing (so many people on here saying people were 'creepy' etc) but I didn't get any negative vibes and certainly had no idea he would do what he did.

I so agree about hindsight, I wonder how many of us have had feelings which have turned out to be totally unjustified?

I've met the nephew of a very infamous murderer- who unshockingly ended up going down for rape.

That's as scary as it gets.

A family friend of mine is married to one of the Richardson's. He's been in prison a fair few times.

[quote HintofVintagePink]@FingersofFish School started with M?[/quote]
Yes @HintofVintagePink! I always really liked him whereas she wasn't nice to me at all, I feel bad about that now though. They had children didn't they?

My late mom was an aquaintance of the wife of John Christie, the Notting Hill serial killer who hid the bodies of his female victims around his house and garden (he also murdered his wife). He had previously given evidence that helped convict and hang innocent Timothy Evans, which was later recognised as a famous miscarriage of justice.

Mom met Christie once and always remembered him as being cold and aloof and she wondered what his wife saw in him.

@Smokeyrobinson

My late mom was an aquaintance of the wife of John Christie, the Notting Hill serial killer who hid the bodies of his female victims around his house and garden (he also murdered his wife). He had previously given evidence that helped convict and hang innocent Timothy Evans, which was later recognised as a famous miscarriage of justice.

Mom met Christie once and always remembered him as being cold and aloof and she wondered what his wife saw in him.

Oh wow! Did you watch the relatively recent drama about the case? It was an ITV one I think. It showed how some serial killers are incredibly mundane and not memorable when people look back, rather than fitting the 'charming narcissist' stereotype. It was fascinating to watch mainly because it seemed he was so forgettable in real life, if that makes sense.

I’ve met a few murders who are normal nobody known though