IN a long career Ronnie Field built up a fortune and once joked his “Barclays, Midlands and National Westminster” were behind his success.
But he wasn’t a banker or stock market trader, he was a highly successful armed robber who had wreaked havoc on the institutions.
Now Ronnie, 77, is lifting the lid on his life inside the criminal underworld, which saw him rub shoulders with Britain’s most notorious prisoner Charles Bronson and befriend the Kray twins.
Although a feared criminal in his own right, he says the senseless violence of Ronnie Kray, witnessed by him in Parkhurst Prison, shocked him to the core.
In an exclusive extract from is book, Nefarious: A Life In Crime, he reveals a horrific attack over a cup of tea.
He wrote: “Ron scared me, I do admit. One afternoon we were sitting in the lounge area of the hospital wing where Ron now lived, drinking tea and half-heartedly watching television.
A young red band – an inmate who the authorities trusted – was charged with the job of refilling our cups.
He’d walk around with his stainless-steel bucket, politely asking if we wanted refilling. It was his first day on this job.
The lad refilled us one by one and got to Ron. He nodded, the boy poured and walked off to the next group.
Ron glared into his mug and then jumped up, shouted something, and snatched the urn from the lad and poured the scalding water over his head.
The warders pulled Ron away and ushered the traumatised trusty out of the room.
‘What did you do that for, Ron?’ asked Reg, shocked and cross. ‘He was taking the p*** out of me.’
‘How was he taking the p*** out of you, Ron?’
‘He only poured me half a cup, Reg.’
‘But you only have a half a cup, Ron.’
‘Yeah, but he doesn’t know that, does he? He’s new, Reg. He was trying to mug me over.’
‘He wasn’t, Ron. Don’t you think they’d have told him you only have half a cup?’ “
Born in Epsom, Surrey, Ronnie Field was raised by a violent family. As a child, Ronnie was subjected to beatings from his vicious grandmother and nearly killed his uncle after he raped Ronnie’s sister.
After leaving school, Ronnie worked in the building industry but was soon turned to crime – robbing shops, banks and bookmakers with a sawn-off pump action shotgun as part of a gang.
It earned him a fortune, with Ronnie able to buy a South London home with cash and a flashy Rover V8 – as well as having enough funds, through ill-gotten means, to open a bank account at Harrods.
But soon his luck would run out, Ronnie had three stints in prison and served nearly 25 years.
His first was for 12 years on robbery and firearm offences after a child jotted down the licence plate of his getaway vehicle after looting £100,000 from a factory in Leeds, West Yorkshire.
Within a week of being released from prison, Ronnie was back to crime and soon was caught trying to steal £10m-worth of diamonds from Gatwick Airport, leading to a four-year sentence.
Ronnie’s last job, which saw him serve nine years behind bars at the age of 49, was as a result of getting involved with Charlie Kray – Ronnie and Reggie’s elder brother.
They were jailed after unknowingly supplying cocaine to undercover police officers as part of a drugs ring that was reportedly worth £39million.
In the extract from the book, which comes out on May 23, he reveals the notorious Krays welcomed him with open arms on his first encounter.
“AT about 2 am we approached the forbidding gates of Parkhurst Prison on the outskirts of Newport on the Isle of Wight.
They opened, and we drove into a forecourt from where I was escorted into the reception area.
Ron glared into his mug and then jumped up, shouted something, and snatched the urn from the lad and poured the scalding water over his head.
Ronnie Field
‘You must be very important, Mr Field,’ said the booking-in officer, looking down at the clipboard with my paperwork attached.
‘I don’t think so, guvnor. Why do you say that?’ ‘Because there are two gentlemen here to see you.’ ‘Really?’
I didn’t know what to expect.
‘Hello, Ronnie. I’m Reg Kray and this is my brother Ron.’ As if I didn’t know who they were.
The twins stood up from where they’d been sitting patiently while I was processed and enthusiastically shook my hand.
‘Welcome to Parkhurst,’ smiled Ron. They then proceeded to shower me with gifts – tobacco, sugar, tea, coffee, biscuits and chocolate.
I was elated at my VIP welcome, at the friendship the twins had extended to me and about the gifts, which mean so much inside. I’d never met Ron or Reg before.
The twins continued to make a fuss of me, introducing me to all the inhabitants of C Wing (where Reg lived) and D Wing as a good friend, and as promised we drank tea together the next day, they showed me around their own separate cells and took me to visit others in their cells.
The warders were more like butlers around the twins than captors. There was talk that some officers did well financially by accommodating their wishes. “
Nefarious: A Life In Crime, by Ronnie Field with Martin Knight, is available from May 23, (HarperNonFiction, £22).
