Police officers are now no longer encouraged to talk to criminals, and that's a pity.

Wonderful stories once were shared as a result of a quick pint with a snout down the pub, or as a respite during interrogation, when both copper and criminal would stop for a fag.Those were the glory days, where gripping accounts of slashings, fit-ups, dodgy deals, blaggings and petermen would filter through and become folklore. These days such intimacy is frowned upon (and smoking in interrogation cells is of course banned) so it is only here that these stories can be recounted.

In Villains' Tales the reader will be introduced to the bad, the mad and the dangerous to know, recounted in gripping style by those who had intimate dealings with the shady characters, both criminal and copper, from London's underworld, long ago.

All the usual suspects are here - the Krays, the Richardsons, plus a few surprises and several hidden gems. Literally.