The Boothby Affair

The Twins invested thousands of pounds in a doomed project that was to see them catapulted into the media spotlight and led them to believe that they were 'untouchable'. The project consisted of a major housing and factory development in Enugu, Nigeria.

The project had been touted around for quite a while by Ernest Shinwell son of Manny Shinwell, Labour MP, with no takers.
Leslie Payne, the Twins business manager took the project up and convinced Ron and Reg that it would be a good investment if they joined the Consortium.

During negotiations with Shinwell Ron was wined and dined at the Houses of Parliament. It was here that he was first introduced to Lord Boothby . Boothby was a bisexual who had declared that he wasn't quite sure if he preferred young boys or young girls.

The Twins and their fellow members made many visits to the development site during the ensuing months.

In the beginning, they were treated like royalty and met all the local dignitaries and ministers of the region. On one occasion Ron was given a tour of the local jail and even had his photo taken with a warder.

On another trip to Enugu Leslie Payne and Freddie Gore were arrested and Gordon Anderson and Charlie Kray had their passports confiscated until they could come up with £5,000 said to be the amount of money owed to one of the contractors involved in the project.
Charlie contacted his brothers who raised the cash to secure their release.
The problem with this long distance investment project was that the Twins had no real control of the finances and how it was being spent and had to put their 'trust' in others.

As time passed the project and its funds were slowly disappearing.
More investors were needed to keep the project afloat.
Ron approached Lord Boothby.
Lord Boothby and Ron had become great friends through their mutual love of young men and elicit sex.

A meeting was set up by Boothby's gay lover Leslie Holt, cat burglar by profession and Ron Kray with the hope of persuading Boothby to invest in the Enugu project.
Also present was 'Mad Teddy' Smith another homosexual and friend of Tom Driberg MP. Smith was later involved in the escape of Frank Mitchell and his imprisonment until the time of his death.
This meeting, which was photographed, was to have repercussions later on that involved the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson.

A leading newspaper got hold of the association with Boothby and Ron Kray and ran an article about 'The Peer and the Gangster'. They didn't name names but it was quite clear who the main contenders were.
The Mirror newspaper printed the whole story that left no doubt who was involved.

Boothby, on holiday in France when the story broke, knew he was in trouble and telephoned his friend Driberg.

Prime Minister Harold Wilson knew about the love lives of his two wayward MPs and took matters into his own hands to protect himself and his position.
He appointed a top QC who advised Boothby to sue the Mirror.
He won and was awarded £40,000 compensation.

Boothby was also having an affair with Harold Macmillan's wife Dorothy and made her pregnant.
He later got married and pushed his homosexual acquaintances and activities into the background.

Hew McCowan, owner of the Hideaway club and the son of a baronet was also approached for money. The Krays say that he was asked to invest in the Enugu Project but McCowan insists that it was nothing more than an attempt to extort money from the profits of his club.

The Twins were arrested in January for demanding money with menaces and had spent more than five weeks in prison when Lord Boothby stood up in the House of Lords and spoke on their behalf.
They were eventually acquitted.

Months later McCowan's club became Kray property and was renamed the El Morocco.

Leslie Holt later took up with a Dr Kells who supplied him with customers for his cat burglary business.
Things worked quite well until the police became suspicious of the double act.
Holt later died mysteriously while being operated on by Kells for a foot complaint.
Dr Kells was charged with murder but, mysteriously, was acquitted.

And 'Mad Teddy' Smith?...He mysteriously disappeared at the beginning of 1968 never to be seen again.....