Freddie Mills

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Stripper

 

'Ive heard this story from a London bareknuckle fighter,I also remember the murders ,and the police making a statement that the perpetrator of the murders was now dead ,and no good purpose would be gained by revealing his name ,then again I've also heard Mills was murdered,the biography by Jack Birtley reveals that Mills was subject to bouts of depression .

 

was the jack birtley book any good? Have you read "the strange death of freddie mills" by bill baven?

There is also talk of Mills having been a homosexual but from the james morton book "fighters: the sad lives and deaths of freddie mills and randy turpin" only criminals had given evidence of this.

 

The bareknuckle fighter told me Mills was bisexual, and the Morton book confirms it, postulating that he had" liasons" with his friend the singer Michael Holliday

 

Bert Gilroy killed him! :hat

 

Yes he also commited suicide, I have an old bbc documentry on mills it had some good interviews with his step son, widow and daughter. To them he was a great family guy but it was obvious freddie also led a seperate life away from home - who knows. I think it was suicide because I cant see gangsters killing him with a fairground air gun.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/nov/04/sport.tonythompson

 

definitely think he was murdered.

hands on knees when he was found...fire a rifle to you eye and see where your hands land...doubt it would just slump into a perfectly relaxed position.

as someone said before on the brit forum. he seemed TOO nice in every sense. possibly why they thought he was gay. once his boxing career ended, i could see why he cou.....actually bollocks. too highly pronounced case for him to just dissappear into the darkness like that. like the ripper murders a decent 80 years before. there where copy cat murders....i dont know why i think that means he didnt do it. but it's a ripping yarn to say the least.

 

I too believe he was murdered, most people you talk to from that time and especially involved in Boxing think murder as well.

His business, both as a fighter and Soho Night Club operator attracted and was controlled by some of the most notorious 'Lads' of the bent nose underworld types, he undoubtedly was put to rest by one of these good ol boys for anyone of a number of reasons.

Suicide - sure, possible, and IF some of the claims against him were true, yes, why not. But murder, more likely.

I have also been told that Solomons was responsible for having Turpin done over for a £20K debt, which in the 1960s was a helluva lot of money. It is true Randolph was worked over at least once for such a debt, But did they eventually finish him off??? Who know?

I did meet a life long friend and former fighter that said "No Way, he was finished with it (his circumstances) and fed up, and that he definately took his own life!"

So who can say in either case!

 

One of my Mother's closest work friends was a good friend of Freddie - apparently she knew Freddie very well, went to the funeral. She always said, and this was a view apparently shared by those who knew him, that there was no way that Frddie took his own life.

But there again, we often hear of suicides today where the deceased was percieved by those around him/her to be very happy and most unlikely to kill themselves.

The feeling from my Mother's friend (and those that knew Freddie) was that Mills must have been murdered.

 

I have a book called 'Fighters' by (I think James Morton) basically is all about Freddie Mills and Randolph Turpin - it goes over all the Jack The Stripper thing and I wonder I really do but there is also a lot in the book about his connections with the KrayTwins - the notorious gangster brother from Bethnal Green in London and I have also read a heck of a lot more in other books about the Kray Twins about his connections with them and other groups of London gangsters but yeah the nature of the way he was found makes it a 100% murder for me - although over what is anybodys guess?

 

On the bbc documentary I have jack birtly -a friend of mills who wrote a book on mills - recalled asking Charlie kray point blank (over a drink) about Freddie’s death. He said Charlie remained polite but did not answer, later - on leaving the bar, birtly was knocked out from a blow from behind. later he either found on him or was handed a note with £50 in cash. The note said something like "don’t be a silly boy".
　
The james Morton book was good but all the sources of Freddie being either gay or a murderer were all a bit unreliable or criminals themselves. The most credible was Denny mancini who said Freddie went a bit soppy/lovey dovey when he took up with the celebrity sect. I remember Fred nosher Powell (a fascinating character himself but totally unreliable) as being one of those interviewd as well as bob monkhouse of all people.

 

Good story's.