Gypsy Jane - I've Been Shot Four Times and Served Three Prison Terms?This is the Incredible Story of (14 page)

But now it was time to move on. I'd been in this prison nearly a year and, although it was the best I'd ever been in, I needed to be thinking about home leave and I couldn't do them here so my aim was to get back to an open prison. I needed to get a move on. I could only get one home leave visit a month and I could claim them after I had done half my sentence. I put in an application for a transfer and, because I had done courses in anger management, reason and rehabilitation, I was allowed to go back to East Sutton Park. I was sad to leave all my good friends at Cookham Wood, especially gypsy Sharon. We were so close but I had to think about myself and getting home and being back looking after John. I went back to East Sutton Park with a few other people and there were others from Cookham Wood who had got there just before us, so I was well pleased.

I went straight on to doing a catering course to help me get a job on the outside because I had decided I wanted to go straight for the first time in my life. I loved the course. I worked eight hours a day for five days a week and passed NVQ levels 1, 2 and 3. Now I had something to show for my time locked up.

I began home leave and my first 12-hour visit was mad. My brother picked me up and we drove past an Essex pub, which had been taped off with yellow tape used by the police at scenes of crimes. It looked like something serious had happened there the night before. We reached my house and my John was waiting for me.
He was so excited to see me and there were a few tears and a lot of hugs. Then some of his mates turned up looking worried. I asked John what was going on and he told me that him and his mates had been to that pub the night before and there had been a big row. He said it didn't have anything to do with him but he got dragged into it when a coke dealer in the boozer threatened him. John said he didn't understand why this bloke turned on him and I believed him.

He said, ‘I thought he liked me, Mum, but when it kicked off, he turned on me in the car park. So I picked up a brick and hit him with it. It took his ear off, then his mate come at me and I done him as well. A couple of them ended up in hospital and now all their crew are coming after me with guns. My mates have said their wives have got together to talk about what their husbands are planning to do to me.'

Now I knew why the pub was taped off and I was not amused by these fucking coke dealers. Another bunch of Essex boys. Well – they were actually men and my boy and his mates were kids. John was still only 16 and these men were in there 30s. I could have done without this grief on a day out of prison but it was my boy and it needed sorting. ‘Don't worry,' I told John, and I went to dig up my guns. They were well hidden somewhere nearby. Armed with my Browning pistol and my 9mm automatic, I went to find the wives. They didn't expect to see me at their get-together. I pulled out my gun. ‘Get your fucking husbands here
now,' I said. ‘Anyone who thinks he can harm my boy is going to get buried today.'

They started panicking because they knew they were dealing with the Gran and, unlike Jane, she had zero sense of humour. So they phoned their blokes and told them to come over. As they arrived, I got them all at gunpoint. I'd got guns in both hands and I told them that my boy was off limits. ‘If anyone lays one hand on my boy, I'll wipe their name from the fucking phonebook,' I said. ‘So who's the big fucking gangster who's going after my boy?'

It was pure fear on their faces. They were out of their depth and they knew it. They could not believe how far I was prepared to go and they could see from my eyes that I meant every word. ‘I will blow yous all away here and now,' I said as they stood there shitting themselves.

They soon begged me to ‘calm down, calm down'.

‘I've been in prison for over a year,' I said. ‘I come out for a day and my son's at war with a load of fucking wannabes. Just because you sell coke, you think you're gangsters. Picking on kids… you should be ashamed of yourselves. Well, let's see how fucking brave yous are.'

They quickly agreed and said they shouldn't be arguing with John but looking out for him instead. ‘We don't want to fall out with you, Jane,' one said and everything calmed down. I went home with their promise to leave John alone.

It was lucky I was home that day. I let them apologise but I warned that, if I found out that anyone said so
much as a bad word to my boy, I would go after them and they wouldn't get a second chance. I put my guns back in their hiding place and spent the last few hours with my son. And it turned out to be a good day after all. I told John to keep away from pubs because what had happened scared me. Yet I also knew I wasn't setting him the greatest example.

When it was time to go back to prison, I was very sad but I knew John would be OK now, as each and every one of those blokes from the pub had phoned him and apologised. They even offered him their help if ever he needed it. So my mind was at peace when I went back inside. Or as much as my lifestyle would allow.

When I got back, all the other girls who had visits were in the TV room discussing their day. When I walked in, they asked me how my leave had gone. ‘What did you get up to, Jane?' one asked.

‘I went to war,' I said. ‘My boy was having a bit of trouble so I sorted it.' I think they thought I was joking. I had to laugh myself. That was the way my life was. My first visit home in over a year and I had to go to war but at least I won, so it was all good.

I had only got a couple of months left to serve and was well excited at the thought of going home. I phoned John every day to make sure everything was OK before being released in August 2001 after serving 16 months – half of my sentence. I was so happy to be back with John and to look after him properly. I thank God that, when I got home that day, he was in one piece and as
healthy and strong as ever. By now he was a strapping six-foot-tall young man. He was 16 but he was a man. He had taken everything that life and I could throw at him and come through strong. I pledged there and then that I would go straight for the rest of my life.

I
was home and found that, not only had the bills been paid but my dogs were healthy and John had even managed to save ten grand. A lot of men can’t survive in today’s world but my boy had not only survived but turned a profit.

Matt stayed around for a while because he was so used to helping out John. But one day he said he was going away and we said our goodbyes. He encouraged me to go straight before he went. He didn’t want to see me inside again so I promised him I would stay out of trouble. And, believe me, I really meant it because I’d had enough. I so wanted a normal life. I prayed for things to get boring, believe it or not, because I knew John and I needed that sort of stability.

Now, I’d never had a proper job but I had some qualifications from prison and I thought I might have a chance. I applied for a job as an assistant manager in a coffee shop. They didn’t ask about my convictions so I kept quiet and got the job. I absolutely loved it from the start, even though it was actually costing me money to go to work. Each week, when I was signing on, I got £100 rent, £25 council tax and £70 living expenses for a total of £195. Now I was taking home £180. Take off the £100 rent and £25 council tax and I was left with £55 – down £15 a week. But it didn’t matter because, at last, I felt like somebody. I felt like a normal person and it was such an honest and good feeling. It was funny because armed robberies as a 14-year-old girl had made me feel like somebody. Now things had turned full circle.

Going straight wasn’t as easy as you might think it would be, not when you come from a background like mine. One of the managers in the coffee shop was bad news because he was never there. Yet he put down on the wage sheets that he was doing 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, when it was unusual for him to be in for an hour a day. I was doing all the work with the other staff. He was a miserable man, who picked on the others, and I grew to hate him. I didn’t care that he wasn’t there, as it was a happier place without him. The truth was, though, he was fiddling the owners out of thousands of pounds and I just turned a blind eye because I’m not a grass.

I wasn’t tempted to do the same thing. I loved my job and my new life. I was home every night for John and I wasn’t worrying about being nicked or anything like that. So I suppose you could say the game had changed for me. I never stole a coffee bean from that place. And that was another thing. I might have been an armed robber but, as soon as someone put their trust in me, I was proper. I was doing everything in that shop, from the wages to delivering the takings to the bank. Can you believe it? I was on cloud nine and revelled in what I was doing. Then one day I noticed £30 was missing from my purse. I told the other manager and he asked me if I knew who was responsible but I didn’t. I suspected it was one of the lads who worked in the shop but I had no proof so I kept my mouth shut. I went off that boy but I didn’t do or say anything.

Christmas was coming up and I had a grand with me when I went into work one day. I was going to buy John a present. I gave the bundle of cash to the other manager to put it in the safe for me until closing time when I planned to go shopping. But when I came to ask for the keys to the safe to get my money, he told me he hadn’t put it away but had left it on top of the safe. Bloody hell, I thought. Luckily, it was still there – or at least it seemed to be. But when I counted it out, it was £100 short. The manager said, ‘I hope you don’t think I took it,’ all insulted when I confronted him about it.

I said it had never crossed my mind that he would have taken it but that, now he had denied it, I knew that
he had because I hadn’t even accused him. He said he was going to call the police. ‘Fuck the police,’ I said. ‘You had better call an ambulance if you have nicked my money.’ How quickly things can change through no fault of your own. Oh, how I wanted to do him but I just walked out of the place that day because I knew I would have ended up back in prison for killing this man if I hadn’t left there and then. He didn’t call the police and I never went back to work there.

I was so gutted and, when I got home, it was hard to hold back the tears. I didn’t feel like that because of the money or the manager but because of how hard I was trying. I had put in eight months’ work for nothing. This so-called normal person had nicked off me and yet I was supposed to be the villain. I knew I was but this scum was worse than me because he had stolen from his own.

The next day I went straight to the Job Centre to try and get another job. That was how much I wanted to stay out of trouble. You couldn’t say I wasn’t trying. I was doing more than trying. I was putting my heart and soul into going straight. The man I spoke to was really nice and helpful and could see how much I wanted to work. He immediately got me another job as an assistant manager in a fast food takeaway. And it all worked out well because I was on better money. I was getting £90 a shift and I could do two shifts a day. I loved work all over again and I got my head down.

Now, I don’t know what it was about the straight world but, yet again, the manager turned out to be a
bully. Is there some sort of rule that says bosses can act like Nazis and the workers have to pretend to be stupid? Because that was how it was beginning to feel. This man was sending people home just for talking and stupid little things like that. I was convinced he had been bullied at school and was now getting his own back. Well, as you know by now, I hated bullies. I was working every hour I could but it wasn’t long before I had a run-in with the manager. He tried to send a man home for talking, which meant his money would be docked. Now this employee had a mortgage and a family and by this time I had had enough and stood up for him. I told him to stay at work and ignore the manager because he had no right to be doing what he was doing. So the manager took it out on me instead, by changing my worksheet to make it look like I had done fewer hours than I had. Once again I had ended up being done while doing an honest job. I didn’t know how people put up with this.

Again, after about six months, I had to leave the job before I did something I would regret. Who were the real criminals? I mean, what a joke! I’d gone straight and been robbed by both employers. I gave up and went on benefits. I was so fed up with it. I felt like I had more chance of getting lifed off for going straight than for anything I’d done in the criminal world, where nobody would dare to have me over. I mean, I was going to end up killing someone at this rate. It just wasn’t right. In the straight-and-narrow world I was being robbed blind.

I
had been out of prison for a while now and I was going through all my old prison stuff when I came across a letter from an old friend of mine called Frank. He had sent me a letter and a Valentine’s card quite a while back, when I was in prison.

I was disappointed in receiving the card, as Frank had been with a friend of mine at the time. Being a woman of loyalty, I didn’t like betrayal in any way so I had replied to his letter and just ignored the Valentine’s card. Since being home again, I realised Frank hadn’t been with his girlfriend for a few years now. She had made a new life with a new man and they had a couple of kids. It was well and truly over with Frank, who was still inside. He had got a life sentence for murder. I
understood why he had sent me the card now and wrote back to him as a friend. We had grown up together in Silvertown and he had become a good mate. Within a week he phoned me and we started to write to each other regularly.

Then there was Matt. I hadn’t seen him for about a year now and I hadn’t been in a relationship with him for over five years but he was still my best friend and soul mate. What he had done for John and me in our times of trouble created a bond that would last a lifetime. He had been there when I needed him the most. For that I would always be truly grateful. I would die for Matt, yet I was used to him not being around anymore. He had gone back home to Ireland and I was used to the idea of being on my own. Matt had his own life to get on with.

And so, in time, Frank’s letters turned into declarations of love. He was ten years older and he had a way with words. He made me feel so special. You could say I fell in love with a letter. Frank was getting towards the end of his time and was now in Ford open prison in West Sussex and starting to get home leave. On one visit his mum had a party in Silvertown. Frank invited me and I was so nervous but I still went. It was like a blast from the past. I knew everyone there and Frank and I danced all night. It was lovely. That night Frank came home with me and slept on the settee. It was so nice and old-fashioned and in the morning his dad picked us up and we went to his parents’ for Sunday
dinner with all his family. John didn’t come with me as he was now 18 and wanted to be with his own mates but he was pleased for me and liked Frank. He was happy that I was happy.

After lunch we had drinks, caught up and chatted about old times for ages. Then it was time for Frank to go back to prison so I went with him and his dad and dropped him off at the prison gates. It had been lovely – the first weekend I had spent with a man in many years and I was on cloud nine. At the prison gates Frank had kissed me for the first time. He caressed my face with his hands, kissed me on the lips and I just melted and fell in love.

Frank started coming home most Sundays and his dad and I would pick him up, spend the day with him and then drop him back at prison. As the months went past I fell deeper and deeper in love. Then one day, on one of his visits, we made love for the first time. I hadn’t been with a man in so long and I had mixed feelings of love, betrayal and guilt. I felt I had betrayed Matt, even though we hadn’t been together in over five years. I hadn’t even seen him for almost two years. Yet the guilt was overwhelming. He was my soul mate and, although we were not a couple, I always felt I was still his girl. So it felt so wrong when I made love with Frank. Yet somehow I had convinced myself it was right. I seemed to need the sweet, comforting words of a loving man. So I put the guilt to the back of my mind and enjoyed the beautiful feeling of someone caring for me and loving
me. Oh, how I felt good in one way and so bad in another. I had wanted to be everything Matt had wanted me to be. I just wasn’t able to do it. How I wished I could turn back the clock and be all those things and avoid the heartbreak and betrayal. Oh, how I wished for that!

Then one day Frank phoned me to tell me the parole he was hoping for had come through. He was a free man and was coming home for good in the next couple of weeks. I couldn’t believe it. He said he wanted to come and live with me and I started to panic. Matt would kill us both. I knew I hadn’t seen Matt for a while but I also knew that, when I did, he would expect everything to be just as he had left it. That was Matt. He wanted to disappear for God knows how long and then return as if nothing had changed. But when he did come back, he would never accept another man in my life. So I told Frank, ‘No.’

I said, ‘I haven’t signed up for this, Frank.’ I realised then that I wanted to have a long-distance relationship with Frank, not a full-on relationship. I was being unreal and selfish, I knew, but if Matt found out about Frank, he would kill him. So I told Frank I didn’t want to see him again. I ignored his calls and letters. I was so worried about Matt finding out and that meant it was a no-go with Frank.

Then Frank upped the emotional stakes. On one of his final home leaves he said that, if I didn’t want to be with him, he was going to do a runner from prison. He
threatened to go on the run there and then. I told him he had to go back or he would lose his parole. He had already done 15 years and was nearly out. I told him to think about his family. ‘They have waited fifteen years for you to come home to them,’ I pleaded. ‘Don’t do something crazy now. See sense.’

But he just said he didn’t care. I felt I was the only thing on this earth at that moment that could save him from himself. I couldn’t let him do it, for the sake of his family. How could I let him ruin his parole? So I agreed to let him come and live with me in Essex. It was a moment of weakness I would come to regret.

When Frank left prison, his family threw a big party in Silvertown. My dad came as well and Frank went up to him and said, ‘Ron, while Jane’s with me, you’ll never have to worry about her again. She’s safe now.’

My dad replied, ‘I’ve never had to worry about my Janie, Frank. And now you’re with her, it’s you who is safe.’ And, before I could stop him, he added, ‘She will protect you from anyone… well, except Matt. I’m not sure on that score, son.’

Frank asked, ‘Who’s this Matt?’

I said, ‘No one,’ but Dad had already planted the seed. I took Frank to one side and told him that Matt was my ex and a very powerful man. I told him not to worry and I gave my word of honour Matt would never harm him. Well, Frank gave it the gangster bit that he would do Matt if he came for him but my dad and I just exchanged a knowing glance. Matt could deal with Frank, even if
he had one hand tied behind his back and was
blindfolded
. By now my dad had realised he shouldn’t have mentioned Matt’s name.

Apart from that incident, the party went well. But I knew I had some explaining to do when we got home. I told Frank all about my relationship with Matt. But Frank just gave it the big ’un and held it against me that I had never told him about Matt. Why, I didn’t know, but jealousy played a major part in his annoyance, I suppose. To be honest, it ruined our relationship. No matter how much I tried, we always rowed over it. It got so bad that it was impossible to live together, so I told Frank to move out. He got a flat in the East End. I used to go and stay at his on a weekend but our relationship became on and off – more off than on. When it was good, it was really good but, when it was bad, it was really bad. Frank wasn’t the man I had known all those years ago. He had changed and we ended up having many more rows. I don’t know if it was prison that changed him but those 15 years certainly hadn’t done him any good. I wanted to believe we could make it but, in my heart, I knew we couldn’t and we just grew further apart.

Then one day Matt knocked on my door again. He stood there with a new Alsatian dog called Baron – a gift for John – and a bunch of flowers for me. I was so excited to see him but so nervous as well. Oh, but how good it was to see my Matt – my soul mate. Within minutes it felt like he had never been out of my life. John
was over the moon with his dog. It was fully trained and there to protect us. John and Matt were so close that John was as excited as me about his return. But Matt knew something wasn’t right and, when I called him Frank by accident, he knew what was wrong.

I could hardly believe I had said ‘Frank’ but I had. I wanted to tell him calmly and break it to him gently but I had ruined that and he went mad and we started to argue and fight. I told him it had nothing to do with him but he wasn’t having any of it. I said he must have had other women in the last six years but he said he hadn’t. He said there hadn’t been anybody since me. He had always said that, if he couldn’t have me, nobody else could and at that moment in time I knew he meant it. He wanted to know who Frank was and where he lived but I wouldn’t tell him. I told Matt I had given my word of honour that he wouldn’t harm Frank and Matt knew I’d die protecting my word of honour. If he tried to hurt Frank, he would have to kill me too or I would kill him. That was the way it was.

At the same time, I really wished I’d never met Frank, let alone given my word to protect him. But, in my world, your word of honour was who you were and Frank was safe. Matt wanted to meet Frank and told me to get him to come over or he would go to him. I knew Matt would only have to make a phone call to find out where Frank lived if he really wanted to. If I wasn’t on the scene to protect Frank, he would be in big trouble. So I agreed and, when Frank arrived, he took one look at Matt and
just crumbled at the size of him. I told Frank I was back with Matt. I wasn’t but that was all it took and Frank left unharmed. I was relieved the whole thing had come to a head and Matt was back and Frank was history. That was the end of Frank. I never saw him again.

So Matt was back and he was in and out like the wind. We weren’t together but we were the best of friends. We were also doing a little business, doing lunch, doing dinner and, on the rare occasion he would stay, we made love. It was almost perfect. I was his, he was mine. It went deeper than any love or any passion. Not being in a couple, I was sometimes lonely but most of the time I was happy, at least to begin with. Yet, as Matt came and went as he pleased over the next two years, I began to feel lost for the first time in my life. My son was now a man of 20 and so handsome. He got his HGV licence and was working as a lorry driver. I was so proud of him. Matt did ask me to get back with him when he was around but I knew the price. He hadn’t changed his dominating ways at all and, much as I loved him, I knew we would destroy each other sooner rather than later.

I had become good friends with a woman named Eileen, who I met in Rainham, and for the next few months she was there for me, And for that I thank you, Eileen, with all my heart. I was breeding Siamese cats to earn a living because I didn’t want to commit serious crime. I just wanted to be like normal women. But life just didn’t seem to want to let me be normal.

Matt told me he was having some trouble with the gypsies in his area down in Kent. He knew that I knew them. My gypsy mate Sharon from prison had been released and she was now the gypsy queen – the top gypsy woman in Kent. Well, in my book, she was the gypsy queen of the land. Matt knew her brother – in fact, they were best mates. I hadn’t known that when I was in prison. It was a small world. Matt did some business with Sharon and it had gone wrong and turned into a war. So Matt phoned me. Being mates with Sharon’s brother, Terry, he knew the last thing he wanted to do was go to war with them.

I told Matt to arrange a meet with Sharon and that I would sort it out. We met in a cafe on the M2. Sharon couldn’t believe it when I turned up. It was so good to see her. I hadn’t seen her since prison. She explained what was going on and I gave her my word of honour that Matt would never disrespect her but, if push came to shove, I’d die for Matt. She knew that anyway, shook hands with Matt on trust and all was well. She invited me to her place and I would have loved to have gone but Matt had other things to do and wanted to get going. Even so, it was good to see her and we promised each other that we would keep in touch. After that meeting I would say to Matt that he was powerful but, when the Irish and the gypsies went to war, I was the only one who could bring peace in both tribes. He didn’t like that but he had to admit it was true.

I might have helped that time but there was far worse
to come in November 2007 and there was nothing I could do about it. Matt’s cousin turned up at my place. She said, ‘Jane, I don’t know how to tell you this so I’m just going to say it.’ She took a deep breath and I could hardly take in the words when she told me. ‘Matt’s dead, babe.’

My knees went weak. I wobbled and thought I was going to faint and I had to hang on to the door frame. Matt dead? He was only 42. The same age as me. ‘How? What’s happened?’

She told me that Ken, Matt’s best mate, had shot him in the chest with a double-barrelled shotgun after they fell out over money. It was self-defence. On the night of 17 November Matt had gone round to Ken’s house to sort out the money and that was when it happened. But that wasn’t all. ‘You have a right to know this, Jane, so I’m going to tell you the rest,’ she added. Matt has had another two women on the go that he never told you about. One has just had a baby and he had been with the other one on and off for seventeen years.’

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I was in shock but, instead of grieving, my mood turned into anger. This might sound mad but in the space of a few moments my love for Matt turned to hatred. He had been my soul mate – my everything. But now it seemed I didn’t even know him. If he had still been alive, I would have killed him myself. Everything I believed had been a lie. Matt’s cousin suggested I sit down but I told her to leave, as I wouldn’t be responsible for my actions.
I had the hump with her because of the way she had told me. She hadn’t spared me at all. In one breath she told me he was dead and that he had betrayed me for years.

I don’t know how I got through the next few days. John knew I was upset and he was grieving too. I tried not to trouble him. My mind was in turmoil. I should have been grieving but I was hating.