I kept the kray twins on the road with blood on the bumpers and

It was when Ronnie Kray lowered his voice to a hard, even-toned whisper that you detected the menace.

I kept the kray twins on the road with blood on the bumpers and: Bernie Fineman, the Classic Car Rescue

His eyes suddenly grew black and he leaned forward across the small, plastic-topped table, his face just inches from your own. Me — not my brother. Cornell, a violent gangster who openly mocked the Kray twins, met his end while sitting at the bar of the London East End pub The Blind Beggar, on March 9, Thus Ronnie never hesitated that evening at exactly 8.

There was an icy pause, then a light triumphant smile as Ronnie remembered the scene. Strong memories of my interview with Ronnie returned forcibly to me this week when I watched a screening of Legend, a new film about the Krays in which the brilliant Tom Hardy plays both brothers. I interviewed the twins — Ronnie in Broadmoor in and Reggie three years later in Parkhurst Prison — at a time when they were near to having served 20 years of their sentences.

For anyone, like me, who spent even a short time with these infamous brothers who had held London in a grip with their murderous protection rackets, it was chillingly clear that Tom Hardy has captured their stomach-churning air of murderous intent. The hard stares, the icy tones of their voices, and the manner in which they assessed you — everything was there.

It was like being back in their presence thirty-odd years ago. Ronnie, the older by 45 minutes was 48 when I met him in Broadmoor, the grim, Victorian high security psychiatric hospital in Berkshire.