Yahoo News Suspect Arrested Over Fake Krays Memorabilia
Detectives are investigating a huge fraud involving the sale of fake memorabilia linked to the infamous Kray gangsters.
Police have arrested a suspect who is thought to have made £100,000 from duping collectors into buying forged paintings, letters, jewellery and watches.
Several auction houses have had to scrap sales after concerns about the authenticity of many items they were offered.
The release next week of the new Kray film Legend, starring actor Tom Hardy, is expected to fuel interest in the memorabilia.
Crime museum curator Andy Jones was recently asked to assess for sale a collection of artwork and verifying letters supposedly produced by Reggie Kray when he was in prison.
"This chap turned up with all this stuff he had paid £10,000 for and wanted to see how much more he could get for his investment.
:: Krays Collectibles Fetch £100,000
"As soon as he started pulling it out of his car I could see it was all fake and had to break the news to him gently. He was devastated, but eventually had to accept he had been conned.
"He had bought it from a guy who claims to have known Reggie Kray in prison and has been producing and selling similar things all over the country for several years."
One of the items is an art book, 'signed' by the notorious criminal, marked with a prison stamp and dated 1999, his final year in Wayland jail, Norfolk.
But an inside page reveals the edition of the book was published in 2011, 11 years after Kray died.
Mr Jones has his own Kray memorabilia on display at his Crime Through Time museum in Littledean, Gloucestershire.
He said: "Some Kray forgeries are easy to spot, but I have been conned myself before I got to recognise the genuine stuff."
Auctioneer Peter Critchley, of Northwich Auction in Cheshire, said he withdrew a 'Kray' collection from sale in May because he could not be sure of its provenance.
He said: "We weren't sure if the memorabilia, which included signed boxing gloves, was genuine, so we contacted the Kray family and they confirmed that it wasn't.
"They actually gave us some other items to sell and quite honestly it was not easy to tell the difference."
Another auctioneer in Norfolk complained to police about another collection of supposed Kray memorabilia and prompted an investigation.
Norfolk police said: "Police are investigating allegations of fraud involving memorabilia in the name of Reggie Kray between April 2010 and December 2012.
"These allegations were reported to Norfolk Constabulary on Tuesday 10 February 2015.
"A 55-year-old man from the Kings Lynn area was arrested on Wednesday 17 June 2015 on suspicion of fraud.
"He was released on police bail pending further enquiries until Thursday 24 September 2015."
