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George Cornell
"fat poof!"
During the early 1960’s, the Krays twin ruled over the East End of London, while their, the Richardson Gang, held court in South London. The two opposing sides kept an uneasy truce, however conflict was brewing for some time before an all-out war began. One of the first to fall was George Cornell, a brutal enforcer for Richardsons.
Known for his violent temper, Cornell initially joined the Krays, but later switched sides and became involved in the Richardsons many criminal activities. After an altercation with the Richardson Gang, the two sides began a brief but lethal conflict, that would eventually lead to the murder of George Cornell, who became the first victim of Ronnie Kray.
George Cornell: Street Thug
Born as George Myers on the November 13, 1927, in the old boundary of St George In The East, in Stepney, London, as one of seven children to unwed parents. At some point during his adolescence, George’s father left their mother, Mary Ann Garrett, and she later met and married Joseph Cornell. As a result, the siblings changed their surname by deed poll during the 1940’s to that of their step-father.
From the age of twelve, Cornell worked as a Billingsgate fish porter, and later at the nearby docks. There he ran credit rackets and became acquainted with criminals Lennie Hamilton and Billy Frost. Cornell’s first criminal conviction, as George Myers, was for stealing chickens at the age of seventeen in October 1944.
In May 1945, he was charged with garage-breaking and larceny after stealing goods. When he came of age, Cornell was called up for his National Service, which he did with Billy Wiltshire, a cousin of the notorious Kray twins’. His first prison sentence came in 1950, when he was convicted at the Central Criminal Court for unlawful wounding and malicious damage.
After serving eighteen months, Cornell continued his petty criminal career, and received fines for assault and wilful damage in 1952. The next year he was imprisoned again for breaking into a shop and stealing cigarettes and razor blades. Around the same time he assaulted two police officers and used insulting words and behaviour, but was let off with a 40 shilling fine.
Cornell, as he was now always known to friends, associates and rivals, left the East End of London in 1955 after he married Olive Hudd from The Elephant and Castle, and together the pair moved to Masterman House In Camberwell, South London, where he set up his family of three children, including a son Billy, in two flats. As a result of his lucrative criminal activities, the couple also owned another house in the countryside.
Despite being a family man, Cornell continued committing a variety of criminal acts. He served one spell in prison for malicious wounding when he is believed to have slashed a woman’s face with a blade. At that time hs was a member of the Watney Street Gang, one of the more notorious gangs in the East End. His last sentence in prison was in 1963.
The Watney Street Gang mainly consisted of dockers, and was based around the Poplar and Shadwell areas south of Whitechapel. Another gang at this were the young Kray Twins, who were well-known in the area, and had met Cornell during one of his many stints in prison. At around 6ft, physically strong and good with his fists, Cornell was known for being totally fearless, as well as an experienced and feared fighter.
When the Krays formed expanded their own gang, which later became known as “the Firm,” Cornell joined them as muscle, but was never close friends with either Ronnie or Reggie Kray. By 1964, Cornell had drifted away from the Krays and the Firm, and after moving to South London became involved with their rivals, the Richardson Gang.
George Cornell and the Richardson Gang
Based in South London, the Richardson Gang were led by brothers Charlie and Eddie Richardson, scrap metal dealers who were also involved in a number of criminal ventures, including narcotics, extortion, money laundering, loan sharking, illegal gambling, smuggling, contract killing, hijacking, racketeering, murder and torture.
Cornell was alleged to have been heavily involved in drug dealing, in particular, purple hearts and dexys, uppers, downers and cannabis. He was also involved in the pornography trade, and was possibly associated with Jimmy Humphreys, who later exposed many corrupt police officials, including Commander Ken Drury of the Flying Squad.
Owing to his prowess as a fighter, Cornell, along with his friend “Mad” Frankie Fraser, and Jimmy Moody, other Richardson Gang members, who became an enforcers for the Richardsons. They would often accompany the Richardson brothers during talks with the Krays, and these meetings were often held in pubs such as The Grave Maurice.
The Richardson Gang became notorious for their methods of dealing with potential traitors and turncoats. Anyone suspected of speaking to the police or a rival firm were hauled in for questioning. This almost always involved the unsuspecting member being interrogated before what was later described as a kangaroo court, presided over by Eddie and Charlie.
During these mock proceedings, punishments were doled out to the accused, that ranged in the form of beatings to more severe methods of torture, such as whippings, teeth being pulled with pliers, a favourite of Fraser, cigarette-burning, toes being removed with bolt cutters, nailing to the floor and electric shocks that were administered until the victim fell unconscious.
The electric shocks were inflicted using an old Army field telephone, which included a hand-crank-powered generator. The electrodes were attached to the victims nipples or genitalia, and they were sometimes placed in a bath of cold water to enhance the electrical charge. Afterwards the often bloodied victim was given a clean shirt by Charlie Richardson, in which to return home, because their own shirt was usually covered in blood.
It is unknown what part George Cornell played in the torture of suspected transgressors, but he was an integral member of the Richardson Gang, and so would have been expected to take part in the rooting out of traitors, and the intimidation of anyone considering turning against the gang. The Richardsons were later indicted over the torture allegations and served prison sentences.
It was during this time in 1965–66, that a feud developed between the Richardson Gang and the Kray’s Firm. This was escalated in December 1965, when Cornell called Ronnie Kray a “fat poof” during a Christmas party at the Astor Club and a fight ensued. This was the start of a personal vendetta between Ronnie and Kray and George Cornell.
On March 7, 1966, there was a gathering of the Richardsons at Mr Smith’s nightclub in Rushey Green, Catford, South East London. Eddie Richardson was present, along with Mad Frankie Fraser and George Cornell, as well as other members of the Hayward gang. Also present was Dickie Hart, an associate of the Kray Firm. The groups were drinking, and initially the atmosphere was convivial.
However, at some point, a disagreement erupted and fighting between the two groups began. At some point Hart took out a gun and started shooting. It was unknown at the time what happened, but someone shot Dickie Hart. Richardson Gang members were soon rounded up by police, all except Cornell, who was not sought in connection with the shooting of Hart.
Richardson member Frankie Fraser was later tried for the murder of Hart at Mr. Smith’s, but was acquitted. Ray “the Belgian” Cullinane, a Richardson member, testified at the trial that he saw Cornell kicking Hart. The murder of Richard Hart would be the catalyst that not only saw the Richardsons and Krays enter into open war, but also saw the destruction of the Richardsons.
George Cornell: Murder at the Blind Beggar
After word of the shootout at Mr. Smith’s reached the Kray twins, Ronnie decided to take action against the Richardson Gang. With most of their members either in jail or the hospital, Ronnie Kray vowed vengeance for the murder of Kray associate Richard Hart. By chance, Cornell was not picked up by police, as he was not present at Mr. Smith, and so escaped arrest.
On March 9, 1966, Ronnie was drinking with other members of the Firm in the Widow’s pub in Tapp Street, when he received a phone call telling him that Cornell was in The Blind Beggar in Whitechapel, only a short distance away. Ronnie went immediately to find Cornell, driven by his brother Reggie’s driver “Scotch Jack” John Dickson, and in the company of his right-hand man, Ian Barrie. On the way, they stopped to pick up some guns at 178 Vallance Road.
That day Cornell was with his friend Albie Woods, who together had visited their friend Jimmy Andrews, who was in hospital, having had lost his leg in a shooting. On the way back they stopped for a drink at the Blind Beggar public house in the Whitechapel Road, in the company of another man, Johnny Dale. The three men entered the pub, ordered some light ales and then sat upon stools next to the bar.
With Dickson waiting in the getaway car, a Mark 1 Ford Cortina, Ronnie Kray and Ian Barrie entered the pub at around 8:30 pm, and saw Cornell and his friends, along with five other customers, that included an old man sitting at the other end of the bar reading a newspaper, as well as a barmaid who was washing glasses and who had just put on the pub’s record player, which was playing ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore’ by the Walker Brothers.
Upon seeing Ronnie and Barrie, Cornell smiled and said sardonically, “Well, just look who’s here”. Barrie then fired off two warning shots into the ceiling, while Ronnie Kray walked towards Cornell, took out a 9mm Luger, and calmly shot him once in the top of the forehead, above his right eye. They then walked out and drove away.
An ambulance was called and Cornell was taken to London Hospital, but was soon transferred to Maida Vale Hospital which specialised in brain injuries. At 10.29pm, roughly two hours after he had been shot, Cornell died before any operation could take place. After being told her husband had been killed, Cornell’s wife Olive threw a brick through the window of 178 Vallance Road in a fit of rage.
News of Cornell’s murder soon reached the public, with the Kray overhearing it when Ronnie went back to the Widow pub and told his twin brother what happened. As he got cleaned up, a news report confirmed Cornell was dead. Ronnie Kray subsequently burned his clothes were, while the 9mm Mauser, used to shoot Cornell, was given to the cat-burglar Charlie Clark and disposed.
The Aftermath of George Cornell’s Murder
News of the murder reached both the public and criminal underworld, and it was soon learned that numerous eye-witnesses had seen the killing of George Cornell by Ronnie Kray. However, no-one would testify against the Krays out of fear. Although he had been arrested on suspicious of murder, Ronnie Kray was soon released for lack of evidence.
There has been much speculation over the motive for the crime, and according to some sources, Ronnie Kray killed Cornell because the Richardson Gang member, knowing of his homosexuality, referred to him as a “fat poof” during an alleged confrontation between the two opposing sides at the Astor Club on Christmas Day 1965.
There have been other rumours concerning the escalating feud between Ronnie and Cornell, including an incident at The Brown Bear public-house, where according to Lenny Hamilton, Cornell punch Ronnie Kray, knocking him unconscious. However, this version was later denied by Kray, who claimed in an interview in Broadmoor in 1989, that this was not true, and Cornell had simply threatened to kill Ronnie, so he thought he would kill him first.
The Krays were forging links with the American Mafia at the time, who were unhappy about the Cornell murder, feeling it was reckless of Ronnie to commit such a crime instead of delegating the task to an associate. The Krays were coming under increasing police pressure, because of the number of murders committed by the Firm.
On May 8, 1968, Detective Chief Superintendent Leonard “Nipper” Read of Scotland Yard “Murder Squad,” decided to act, and arrested the Krays and 15 members of the Firm. When several members of the Firm, such as Albert Donohuge, were arrested, they were being cajoled into pleading guilty to crimes committed by the twins. As a result, these gangsters decided to turn against Ronnie and Reggie.
Although Read knew for certain that Ronnie Kray had murdered George Cornell in the Blind Beggar pub, no one had been prepared to testify against the twins out of fear. Upon finding out the twins intended to cajole him, ‘Scotch Jack’ Dickson, Reggie’s driver, also turned in everything he knew about Cornell’s murder.
Although not a witness to the murder, Dickson was an accessory, having driven Ronnie Kray and Ian Barrie to the pub. The police still needed a witness to the murder. Eventually, they managed to track down the barmaid who was working in the pub at the time of the killing, and placed her in witness protection with a secret identity. She then agreed to testified that she saw Ronnie Kray killing George Cornell.
In March 1969, both Kray twins were sentenced to life imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 30 years, with Ronnie jailed for the murder of Cornell. At the time, these were the longest sentences ever passed at the Old Bailey for murder. Ronnie was later certified insane and was sent to Broadmoor Hospital, where he remained until his death in 1995.
Cornell was buried in Camberwell New Cemetery, south London. Years later, in his 1988 memoir, Ronnie wrote about the murder of Cornell at the Blind Beggar pub. “I felt fucking marvellous. I have never felt so good, so bloody alive, before or since. Twenty years on and I can recall every second of the killing of George Cornell. I have replayed it in my mind millions of times”.
Written by Nucleus
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