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his relationship with Conservative peer Bob Boothby as well as an ongoing
Daily Mirror investigation into Lord Boothby's dealings with the Kray brothers.

Deaths

Ronnie died on 17 March 1995 at the age of 61 at Wexham Park Hospital in
Slough, Berkshire. He had suffered a heart attack at Broadmoor Hospital two
days earlier. Reggie was allowed out of prison in handcuffs to attend the
funeral.

During his incarceration, Reggie Kray became a born-again Christian. He was
freed from Wayland on 26 August 2000 on compassionate grounds, on the
direction of Home Secretary Jack Straw, following the diagnosis of cancer.
He had been diagnosed with bladder cancer earlier that year, and the illness
had been declared as terminal. The final weeks of his life were spent with his
wife of three years, Roberta, in a suite at the Townhouse Hotel at Norwich,
having left the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital on 22 September 2000.

On 1 October 2000, Reggie died in his sleep. Ten days
later, he was buried beside his brother Ronnie in
Chingford Mount Cemetery. During the funeral,
crowds of thousands lined up to applaud. There were
signs of relief from his threats. Others wept at the loss
of a patron who had protected them from police
harassment and prevented crimes which in that
place and in those days, the police appeared less
interested in pursuing, such as child abuse and rape.
The Kray twins commanded both fear and
admiration from the community.

Fig 92 Ronnie and Reggie Kray's grave, Chingford

Ronnie and Reggie's older brother Charlie Kray was released from prison in
1975 after serving seven years for his role in their gangland crimes but was
sentenced again in 1997 for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine in an
undercover drugs sting. He died in prison of natural causes on 4 April 2000,
aged 73.

Death had written ‘finis’ to the Kray brothers, who had for so long created a
reign of terror in the East End.
The Last Word From Nipper Read – The Man Who Brought The Krays To Justice

“Whilst that may be the end of their earthly existence, I have a feeling that they will be
perpetuated in some fashion by their fanatical band of supporters. I fear we have not heard
the last of the Krays.
Looking back on the question of the sustained projection of the Krays as having been well- Page201
mannered, socially acceptable young men who were misunderstood by the majority of the