Notorious former gangster Dave Courtney found dead at home

A notorious former gangster has been found dead at his home at the age of 64. Dave Courtney - who was affiliated with the Kray brothers, Roy Shaw and Lenny McLean - was pronounced dead at his home in London on Sunday morning.

"Details about funeral arrangements will be provided in due course. His family ask for respect during this period of mourning."Despite only being nine when one of the UK's most notorious criminal double acts were locked up, Courtney lays claim to having arranged the security for Ronnie Kray's funeral in 1995. He also claims to have been shot, stabbed and had his nose nearly bitten off before it was sewed back on during an eventful criminal career.

The Bermondsey-born Plumstead resident first became infamous as a debt collector - who often wore a brutal knuckle-duster. Courtney claims he has been found not guilty in a whopping 19 different trials - but was once convicted of possessing live ammunition in January 2009. "Dave had a heart of pure gold and would help anyone that genuinely needed it. I will miss my Christmas eve call this year. Such a sad loss and one that has broken many hearts too. God bless you sir you will be so sadly missed."

In the trial, he was named as 'Tommy Mack', a registered police informant. But Courtney insists he has "never been a grass" and that he was trying to take advantage of the system - to disguise his relationship with a corrupt detective. His mansion was once a school, and stands separate from the residential street it sits on. With gold lion paintings, Union Jacks, a sniper statue and a replica of King Arthur's Sword in Stone, it showed Courtney felt pride in the country he called home. A royalist, he queued for 13 hours with his mother to see the late Queen lying-in-state.

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