Reggie Kray letters fetch hundreds of pounds at auction... despite being mostly illegible

 
Sale: Reggie Kray and one of the more legible letters in a set of four that went for £750 at auction (Picture: William Lovelace/Getty/Hendy Aldridge & Son/PA)
William Lovelace/Getty/Hendy Aldridge & Son/PA
Ramzy Alwakeel25 July 2015

Letters penned by notorious east London gangster Reggie Kray have fetched £750 at auction - £250 more than expected - despite the fact they are mostly impossible to read.

One of the few intelligible passages in the four papers, written while Kray was serving a life sentence for murder, hints tantalisingly at a "sliding doors" moment in the man's life - but doesn't explain what it was.

All four were sent to Kray's friend Maureen Baker from HMP Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: "The letters offer a fascinating snapshot into the mind of one Britain's most notorious gangsters.

"One sentence in particular is fascinating: 'I never did receive the letters in the guard house - if I had it may have changed the direction of both our lives, but it is no good to look back'.

"This letter represents a real sliding doors or 'what if' moment of history on how his life could have been so different if he had received the letters he mentioned."

Henry Aldridge and Son in Devizes, Wiltshire, auctioned the handwritten notes after a relative of Mrs Baker decided to part with them.

"They were bought by a collector from Wiltshire bidding on the phone," said Mr Aldridge. "There was also interest from London, Rome and Sydney. It's half as much again as the guide price - I'm sure the client will be delighted."

The Kray twins were jailed in 1969 for two murders and a string of organised crime committed with their gang The Firm.

More than 160 letters and photos belonging to the pair were sold at auction for £20,780 in 2010. Two years later, two landscapes, one by each brother, sold for a combined £1,200.

Reggie spent time in several prisons before being released on compassionate grounds in August 2000. He died eight weeks later from cancer, aged 66.

Additional reporting by Press Association

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