Wannabe in my Gang? by O'Mahoney Bernard

Author:O'Mahoney, Bernard [O'Mahoney, Bernard]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Mainstream Digital
Published: 2011-04-14T23:00:00+00:00

9

MURDER AND MAYHEM

On Thursday, 23 May 1996, my old friend and Raquels colleague Larry Johnston fulfilled my grisly prophecy and murdered a man. Larry always had to go over the top and it was inevitable that it was going to happen one day. Larry had gone to a theme pub in Rush Green, Romford, called Big Hand Mo’s. He had got into a dispute with a 31-year-old doorman named Steven Poultney. After refusing Larry entry, Poultney had been stabbed in the side. An ambulance was rushed to the scene but the doorman was pronounced dead on arrival at Old Church Hospital. Larry was arrested the following day and charged with murder. He was subsequently convicted and given a life sentence.

Two lives wasted and for what? Stupid fucking bravado. But that is what these gangsters think it’s all about: being a face, being a somebody. Preferring to murder a man rather than face the ‘humiliation’ of not being allowed in a pub.

My decision to assist the police had been met by them with relief and caution. Their investigation now had few loose ends and would appear neat and tidy, but my life, they warned, was now in danger of being ended prematurely. My home became a virtual fortress care of Essex Police. Debra and I were told to carry small pager-sized panic alarms and electronic boxes tuned into the local police headquarters were in every room of our home. If the telephone wires were interfered with, an alarm would be activated and an armed-response unit would come running. It was an awful way to live, not so much for myself but for my family.

On Thursday, 20 June 1996, two detectives, whose job it was to escort me to court for the committal proceedings concerning Packman and Smith, picked me up from my home. The night before I could not sleep.

I had sat at the end of my bed in the dark, wrestling with my thoughts. I’d made the agreed statement about my meeting with Packman, but I knew that today was the day that mattered. If I didn’t turn up the case would collapse and I could face three months’ imprisonment for ignoring a witness order. It almost seemed worth it. It would solve many of my problems and I would be back on-side with my associates. I looked in at my sleeping children and realised I could betray my associates but I could not betray them. Any chance I had of making my life worthwhile lay with my children. I had to do what was right despite the fact that doing right felt so wrong.

I walked out to meet my escort. I wasn’t stupid – it wasn’t there solely for my protection, it was also there to make sure that I turned up at court. On the journey to Southend Magistrates’ Court, the detectives made casual conversation, most of it about Tucker, Tate and Rolfe. One of the detectives had been present at Broomfield hospital in Chelmsford when the three had been laid out in the morgue.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.