The Kray Twins at SMP

20 Nov 2020

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Somerset's Fascinating Facts - The Kray Twins at Shepton Mallet Prison

Held for some time at the end of 1952, whilst SMP was a British Military Prison, known as the Glasshouse.

Were conscripted for National Service in March 1952, to serve with the Royal Fusiliers (at the Tower of London). They reported but did not stay; assaulted the corporal who tried to stop them leaving, and were arrested the following morning.
Sept’52 – were absent without leave (AWOL) and assaulted a police constable trying to arrest them. Held at the Tower of London and then transported to SMP
Reports differ about the length of their sentence; some say 1month then transferred to a different prison after being court martialled, others say 3/6/9/12 months – more likely to be a longer time at SMP, but I would recommend being non-specific if you can
The Krays Cell - we cannot say for certain what cells they occupied at the time as we cannot access records from this era yet, and they do not refer to this in their own writing/books.
- Very likely that they were moved around a fair amount but very unlikely they would be held together.
- Warrant Officer Gillanders (posted to SMP) recalls – he was ordered to be on duty, taking charge of the “Special” cells (separated/segregated prisoners who had misbehaved) and remembers one particular morning the 2 men undergoing punishment there both had the same name; Kray.
The photo – Krays hand – taken in cell C1-06
- Photo taken in 2017 on a ghost hunting event – a number of the ghost hunters believe this to be Ronnie’s Cell.
- Many believe that the hand that appears in the photo belongs to one of the twins, making their presence known to these two ladies. On one of the fingers of this mysterious hand there is a ring on a finger, which matches a ring which Ronnie Kray wore.

Fascinating Somerset Facts

The Kray Twins at SMP

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