Kray fans pay £100,000 for memorabilia

KRAY twin collectables have sold for £100,000 at auction after a surge of interest in the memorabilia of London's most famous gangsters.

Sale items owned by brothers Ronnie and Reggie included suits, hand- kerchiefs, jewellery and a photograph dedicated to Reggie by Barbra Streisand.

The most expensive lot - a pair of Ronnie's gold cuff-links - sold for £10,000, while a letter to Ronnie from artist Francis Bacon sold for £7,400.

William Rouse, from Chiswick Auctions, said the sale exceeded expectation mainly due to the "emotional" nature of Kray fans.

"There were a lot of very high prices. It's because they have such an emotional set of fans. With anything related to the Krays we always get a phenomenal result."

The auction house sold 160 lots including clothes, poems by the brothers and paintings by Ronnie.

A solicitor's letter to Reggie Kray explaining his refusal for parole in May 1995 was included in the sale, making £600. He was freed in 2000 aged 66 because of his deteriorating health, and died shortly afterwards.

Ronnie Kray died in Broadmoor in 1995 aged 61.