‘I used to be inside with Britain’s hardest man who was brute and joking was harmful’

An armed robber who was behind bars with the Kray twins says ‘Britain’s hardest man’ Lenny McLean was just as fearsome as the legendary tales suggest.

Ronnie Field, an ex-con who was involved in the underworld of south London’s gangland, said he was an “absolute brute” who reminded him of the Incredible Hulk.

He spoke about Lenny, who died in 1998 aged 49, in his new book Nefarious A Life in Crime. Ronnie revealed that he first met the East End hardman when he was stood alongside his boxing rival Roy Shaw.

READ MORE: Troubled life of ‘Britain’s hardest man’ – who had legs broken by stepdad aged five

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Ronnie was introduced to them by his pal Joey Pyle, a gangster who promoted some of Lenny’s underground fights, and he remembered: “Years before they became nationally famous outside of unlicensed boxing and criminal circles via their hit books and videos, I met Lenny McLean and Roy Shaw, two of the toughest, roughest men in London. Joe knew them well and had invited them to a function. They were both absolute brutes to look at.”

Ronnie was then told that it would be his job to break Lenny and Roy up if they started brawling. And giving his response, he recalled: “‘Are you having a laugh, Joe? Lenny will pull my head off while Roy detaches my f***ing legs.’”

Ronnie, who was a builder by trade, went on to have a colourful life of his own and in 1997 he stood trial with Charlie Kray for an alleged cocaine supply ring.

And the former criminal, who is sharing his story for the first time, also spoke about the two other occasions he met Lenny, with the last being in Belmarsh. But before that he was again introduced to him outside the Hippodrome in London where Lenny was a burly bouncer.

Remembering being up close to him once more, he said: “Lenny looked fearsome. He was in a white shirt that it looked like his body was going to burst out of, ripping it in the process like the Incredible Hulk. I couldn’t see how any punter, any man, would risk getting into an altercation with him.”

Joey Pyle was again there and he made a joke to Lenny about Ronnie being able to beat him in a fight.

Lenny gave Ronnie a half-smile “knowing full well he’d batter” him and he asked whether he was a black belt in karate before Joey replied: “‘No Lenny, Ronnie would shoot you first.’”

Remembering the awkward moment, Ronnie added: “Joey was joking again, of course, but Lenny was a dangerous man to be making jokes with. Especially that sort.”

Lenny always had a penchant for violence, following a horrific childhood which saw his stepdad break his legs when he was five before smashing his jaw one year after that.

But later in life he was accused of the most serious crime of all but he fought to prove his innocence – and was eventually found not guilty of murder.

However, before then, he was sent to Belmarsh Prison where he encountered Ronnie for a third time. The armed robber wrote about the governor telling him that a friend of his was downstairs who was in a “bit of a state.”

He added: “When I got to the reception room Lenny McLean was sitting there, head in his hands. He was in a distressed state, having been charged with murder following an altercation at the door of a club he was bouncing. When a screw came into the reception room this Sunday in the Unit, Lenny jumped up as if to fight him.”

Ronnie said he managed to calm Lenny down before cheering him up with the prospect of lunch in the dining area.

Writing about the unforgettable meal, he added: “Lenny took the tray with around a dozen sausages in it, grinning like a naughty schoolboy, and I picked up a tray of roast potatoes and we went chuckling away to my cell, where we had a feast.

“Lenny eased up then, and I told him that, from what he’s told me, the murder charge would get chucked. When it emerged that police had also laid hands on this unfortunate punter, Lenny’s charges were scaled down to manslaughter and finally grievous bodily harm. He eventually got a not guilty at the Old Bailey.”

Lenny went on to appear in Guy Ritchie’s film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels shortly before he died in 1998. He left behind a son and a daughter who wrote a book called My Dad The Guv’nor.

Nefarious A Life In Crime is available to buy from Wednesday (May 23) and is available to preorder here