“Willing To Murder For £5000”

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31754, 10 August 1968, Page 13

“Willing To Murder For £5000”

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) LONDON, Aug. 8. A self - confessed criminal told television viewers tonight that he is willing to commit murder for £5OOO.

The unidentified gunman—seen only in silhouette—talked about London’s underworld in a crime documentary. The gunman said he is willing to maim someone by shooting off a leg, or to “cut somebody up,” for £3OO.

“I have been doing violence all my life,” he said. “I like it.”

Criminal “X” appeared on a controversial television programme originally banned by the lawyers for Britain’s Independent Television Authority (1.T.A.). The lawyers approved the film after some amendments, the cuts following a special screening of the programme before it went out on a London television network.

The man smoked calmly in a darkened room as he made his public “confession” of a lifetime ■ in crime—he spent

28 of his 43 years in gaol, and detention centres for various offences, including the shooting of policemen. Of his claimed £5OOO fee for murder, he said: “If I get away with it, that’s it. If I don’t, it might be worth it because you only do life.” Until 1965, convicted murderers could be hanged in Britain. With the abolition of capital punishment, life imprisonment meant only 10 or 12 years in gaol, the man said.

The programme, entitled “You Only Do Life,” described him as twisted, and

perhaps mad, a man pathetically unable to make contact with ordinary human beings. The man said he was' one of 10 professional gunmen in London who were called in by crime bosses “when someone is causing trouble.” He said: “If the money is enough, I will do it. I will kill anybody for £5OOO. I will maim them for £2OO or £3OO, shoot their legs and so on.” Asked how far he was prepared to go in dealing with a victim who was a stranger to him, he said: “All the way. I’ve got nothing I care about.”