Film Scripts
Australian Televison films Frankie Fraser Tours
The Fantasy Fight between Freddie Foreman and Frankie Fraser
A Plea On Behalf Of Ronnie Biggs
Fundraising and Benefit night for Ronnie Biggs
Web site of the month

Fim Scripts

There has been some rumours regarding Leslie McCarthy and his film script about my life story.
I would like to make it quite clear that Leslie has never asked me for any money or funding in any way regarding the script.
Leslie's script, in my opinion is good. You must remember that a lot of what Leslie has written has been from some experience and is someone I have known for quite a while.

I would also like to thank Debbie Oakes for the work she has done for me, organising my TV, magazine, radio and documentary work etc plus my tours and other stuff and she has never taken a dollar from me for it.

She is quite happy to have and welcome to use any of my contacts in television and the media that she may come across in her work for me.

And not forgetting Mick Gallagher, who created my website and has run it for over ten years now and he too has never asked for a penny.

I have good people around me, a big thank you to them all.

Frankie Fraser

Australian Televison films Frankie Fraser Tours

Frankie Fraser's gangland tour is to be filmed for Getaway TV, Australia's foremost television travel show.
Filming will take place on 20th June.
Getaway is Australia's highest-rating and longest-running TV travel show. The program airs in Australia and New Zealand and is also broadcast via the ABC’s Asia Pacific Service to 33 countries including: Japan, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and India. Getaway is also aired on Sky's Travel Channel and on Qantas Airline's in-flight service.

LIES, LIES AND MORE LIES
The Fantasy Fight between Freddie Foreman and Frankie Fraser

A Challenge To A Rogue Reporter And The People National Newspaper!!!

I am able to confirm through personal bad experiences that there is truth in the statement that you should 'not believe what you read in newspapers'.

However, despite these personal bad experiences over many years, which were most unpleasant, and often caused serious damage, the lies contained in 'The People' national newspaper article last Sunday, 20th September, 2002, on a fantasy fight between Fred Foreman and myself, has to rank with the worst.

The article, written by a Neil McLeod, is ten paragraphs long and there was at least one LIE in every paragraph - including the headline.

PARAGRAPH 1: There was NO PUNCH-UP! Yes, there was a scuffle.

PARAGRAPH 2: My age is NOT 76 it is close to 79.

PARAGRAPH 3: I was NOT 'laid into'; I was NOT 'floored by a right hook'; I was 'NOT dragged along by the ankles'.

PARAGRAPH 4: "One onlooker said"... There was NO ONLOOKER the cafe was empty of customers.

PARAGRAPH 5: There was 'NO SCENE', as far as I am able to recall, in the Kray film where an unaware man was grabbed when seated, and a short scuffle ensued.

PARAGRAPH 6: Again there was NO UNIDENTIFIED 'ONLOOKER'. The people there were the cafe staff. 'ONLOOKER' is supposed to have said: 'WE'. Who are the 'we'? Surely if it were true there would be one person who would be prepared to stand-up and be identified.

PARAGRAPH 7: There was NO SHOUTING from me, or anyone else.

PARAGRAPH 8: Fred Foreman does NOT have 'a good reputation in the crime world'. There are unanswered questions.

PARAGRAPH 9: Foreman did NOT 'STORM OUT OF THE CAFE'.

PARAGRAPH 10: THERE IS NO BACK EXIT TO THE CAFE! AND THERE WAS NO 'BLOODSHED'!!

The lies continue when they say that I refused to comment on the incident.

Neither McLeod or anyone else from 'The People' has asked me for a comment at any time.

Had they called me, and I was not available they would have left a message on my voicemail.

When I phoned 'The People' to set the facts straight they declined to put my side of the story.

I spoke to a member of the editorial team at 'The People' and he carried on with the lies when he said the 'he' in the final paragraph meant Fred Foreman.

That has to be a lie for the reason that the paragraph doesn't make sense if it is meant to refer to Foreman.

The truth is that I was sitting with my girlfriend waiting to have a coffee in an upmarket cafe in Maida Vale before going to a Soho restaurant for an arranged meal, when Fred Foreman came in.

We exchanged courteous acknowledgements.Foreman has never been a friend of mine, and the casual acknowledgement was not unusual.

Fred said, " I didn't expect to see you here," or words to that effect. He then went to the counter presumably to order a take-out, which I have now been told he has done a number of times before. He then exited.

He came back to the cafe soon after unknown to me as I was facing away from the entrance, he grabbed me around the throat. I was startled, but by instinct fought back.

How effective did I fight back? Well, when two well built customers sitting outside came into the cafe and intervened they stood between Fred and I. Fred then slunk away while the two guys were talking to me.

If the McLeod version is true why would Foreman 'storm out of the cafe'? Surely, he would have walked out, pleased with himself.

I went outside and stood there waiting for him to come back. If someone said I was glaring, and fuming with anger then they would not be wrong.

An examination of CCTV cameras prove that I stood outside waiting, and the length of time I stood there.

The writer of the lies, Neil McLeod probably didn't make up the lies they obviously came from Fred Foreman anxious for some publicity, but McLeod put his name to a catalogue of lies, and 'The People' published the lies.

Surely, it is some sort of record to publish an article of ten paragraphs, and to have at least one lie in every paragraph. It has to indicate that the writer is either totally incompetent or is an acute sufferer of mythomania.

It is also means that the newspaper that employs such a low grade reporter has a very poor selection process.

If the purpose of Foreman was not to cash-in on some contrived publicity how come within two hours a highly respected underworld figure called me, and asked if I was all right. I was able to assure him I was.

Someone had to put the word around, and given out the telephone number of the respected underworld person.

• If McLeod has respect for his profession how come he did not interview any of the staff of the cafe before writing the rubbish?
• How come he did not check that there was no 'back exit'
• How come he did not check-up on my physical dimensions and age?

Neil McLeod is a disgrace to the profession of journalism, and should be drummed out of the profession. He is a dangerous person for any newspaper to employ.

How is it possible for a national newspaper as 'The People' unquestionably is, to employ such an incompetent apology for a newspaper reporter? Surely 'The People' makes a demand on its reporters to confirm the details of any story. Or don't they care?

If McLeod wants to back-up his lies then let him accept my challenge.

Mcleod says I weigh 12st.3lbs. - 167 lbs). Another lie, today I weighed at Boots The Chemists, and the print-out registered that my weight is 10st. 3lbs - 143 lbs wearing the same clothes, minus a tie, as I wore when the scuffle took place.

If I weigh more than a welterweight boxer, (10st.7 lbs) then I will donate to my favourite charity £1,000 for every pound in weight over the welterweight limit.

If McLeod is right then he has to donate £1,000 to a charity for every pound in weight that I weigh under 12 stone (to allow a 3lbs leeway).

If the stakes are too high then to accommodate McLeod we will reduce it to £5 for every pound, that is unless 'The People' newspaper wants to accept the challenge and back their reporter.

We could also have £1,000, or a £5, bet on my correct age.

IF 'THE PEOPLE' NEWSPAPER WANTS TO BE SHOWN THAT THEY RESPECT THE TRUTH, AND/OR THEIR READERS, THEN I CHALLENGE THEIR EDITOR TO ARRANGE FOR A DOCTOR, OR DOCTORS, TO EXAMINE ME FOR ANY CUTS OR BRUISES 0N MY BODY OR FACE.

If the McLeod description that 'I was dragged by the ankles' and the rest of his description of my 'beating-up' is true then I would have suffered bruises and cuts, and a doctor would be able to see them without too much trouble.

I have no bruises or cuts, there wasn't even a mark on me, but I can't speak for Fred Foreman. IT WILL BE VERY INTERESTING TO SEE IF NEIL McLEOD OR 'THE PEOPLE' NEWSPAPER ACCEPT MY CHALLENGES.

Shortly after the incident I walked with my girlfriend to Edgware Road.

Surely if I was in the state described by the writer of lies, McLeod I would have asked the staff in the cafe to dial a taxi for me.

In Edgware Road we hailed a taxi to take us to Berwick Street in Soho. Berwick Street is a market and vehicles cannot drive down the street. So we walked the length of Berwick Street to the restaurant. This was about 45 minutes after the incident

When we finished the meal we walked through Wardour Street, and down to Coventry Street where we caught a taxi to my home.

If the account of my condition by McLeod were true surely the last place I would want to go to would be a public restaurant, and have to walk through busy Soho to get there while wearing bloodstained clothing, and wouldn't my appetite for food have suffered?

And if blood was shed how come my shirt or jacket was not bloodstained, and do you think that a highly respectable restaurant would allow anyone to sit in the restaurant filled with diners wearing bloodstained clothing?

Rather than embarrass other diners they would have, at least, offered a clean shirt or jacket. There was no need to offer fresh clothing because I was not wearing blood stained clothing.

Would I after the meal want to walk again through Soho wearing bloodstained clothing?

During my two walks through Soho people that recognised me said, 'Hello'.

Don't you think that at least one or two would have made a comment had I been wearing bloodstained clothing?

The facts I have quoted will be verified by independent straight witnesses.

Is Neil McLeod able to back-up the lies he has tried to badly portray as the truth, with independent witnesses or any hard facts? I say he won't because there is none.

Time will tell who is telling the truth.

A Plea on Behalf of Ronnie Biggs

OPEN LETTER TO THE HOME SECRETARY, DAVID BLUNKETT

from Michael Biggs

Dear Mr Blunkett, What can the British Government possibly gain from allowing my father, Ronald Biggs, to die in prison? I've been fighting for justice for my father ever since his voluntary return to England. I am making this personal plea to you as all avenues have been exhausted. You are my final hope.

To rule that my father should see out the remainder of his sentence is the easy option. To question the severity of the original sentence and to conclude that he does not deserve to spend his remaining days behind bars is a far more difficult option. However, I pray that you will find the courage and the compassion to do just that, as I have lost all faith in the British Justice System.

My father instilled in me a great British resolve, to fight for what I truly believe in. Mr Blunkett, I am fighting for my father's life. I thank God that I am not alone in my struggle, and the overwhelming support I've received has given me the strength and the belief that the voice of the people is very powerful.

The gang of sixteen who carried out ÔThe Great Train RobberyÕ was made up of two different London gangs. My father was a member of neither. He simply knew a train driver, and was propositioned to take part. Borne out of greed, he foolishly accepted the offer. He never stepped foot on the train, in fact his status was such that he was ordered to sit next to the getaway driver. In contrast, the getaway driver in the recent Dome case received five years for his involvement in the attempted robbery. My father received concurrent sentences of 30 years for robbery and 25 years for conspiracy. A shocking total of 55 years. Mr Blunkett, does that fit the crime? Sadly, The Criminal Cases Review Commission recently decided that it did. If this is British Justice, then frankly, I am appalled.

Had he received a fair sentence, my father always said that he would have accepted it and served his time. He was absolutely devastated by the crushing sentence. At a time when there was no parole system, that meant a minimum of 20 years in prison. Faced with the prospect of losing his family and his life, he was offered the opportunity to escape and took it.

In 1970, my father arrived in Brazil with only $200 to his name and his only thought was of building a new life for himself. He had no intention of going back into a life of crime, and just wanted to put the past behind him and make an honest go of it. In 1974, when the Brazilian authorities realised my father was wanted by the British police, they imposed their own punishment; he was placed on bail, which required him to sign on twice weekly at a police station, imposed a 10 pm curfew and was prevented from working or marrying. He adhered to this for 32 years, notwithstanding the mental torture of having to live under the constant threat of extradition. He was once brutally kidnapped. It was never my father's intention to become known as 'The Great Train Robber,' that was of the British media's making. He was forced to live off his wits. It was a question of survival.

My father is a reformed man. A law-abiding citizen for 38 years, he didn't want to die a fugitive in a foreign country. He is British and wanted to come home. This took a great deal of courage and as much as he expected to be punished, he did not expect to be treated so inhumanely. Where is the British sense of fair play that my father always told me about? Perhaps times have changed and it is a thing of the past.

When I was old enough to understand, my father explained to me that he had made a terrible mistake, one that he deeply regretted. He left me in no doubt that crime does not pay. In my mother's absence, he was always there for me, single-handedly raising me, giving me the correct values and morals, teaching me right from wrong. It is now my duty as his proud son to put the record straight.

His current medical condition is extremely poor. My father has had three strokes and has suffered two epileptic seizures. He is being fed through a tube that has been inserted into his stomach. He suffers from stomach ulcers, gastrointestinal haemorrhaging, is unable to speak, eat, swallow or drink. He is a very sick man, and requires specialist medical treatment currently not on offer to him in Belmarsh.

I find it completely inconsistent with your proposed prison reforms, to keep my father incarcerated. You state that public protection is your priority, yet keep my father imprisoned. If released, do you believe that he would reoffend? That he would be a menace and a danger to the public? It costs the taxpayer in excess of £2,000 per week to hold my father in top security Belmarsh and as you yourself have stated, prison is an expensive way of denying people liberty. Surely it would make more sense to release him under licence into my care, placing less of a strain on the public purse and freeing up space in your overcrowded prisons.

We are now in the 21st century. The powers that be seem intent on punishing a man for his bit-part role in the theft of money. Given the fact that this crime took place almost 40 years ago, the retribution, cruelty and inhumanity demonstrated by the British authorities has no place in a civilised society. It is time to move on.

Has my father become a trophy for the British government? A political prisoner of the 21st century? He is a good, decent man and does not deserve to be turned into a political scapegoat. Politics should not be allowed to get in the way of justice.

My father is not a murderer, a terrorist, a paedophile or a rapist. He was once a small time thief, who, on the day of his 33rd birthday, made the costliest mistake of his life. He is now an extremely frail 72-year-old man and has been punished enough.

In the name of humanity, grant my father the dignity and the right to see out his remaining days as a free man. Michael Biggs

FOOTNOTE: MICHAEL BIGGS IS CURRENTLY FIGHTING HIS OWN LEGAL BATTLE TO BE ALLOWED TO REMAIN IN THE UK TO FIGHT FOR JUSTICE FOR HIS FATHER.

FUNDRAISING/BENEFIT NIGHT

The following letter was sent to me by Mike Biggs, Ronnie's son. I am only too happy to publish it on my web site to help in raising awareness of their difficult situation.

Letter from Mike Biggs

Up until now, I've been running the Free Ronnie Biggs campaign together with Giovanni a close friend of my father's and I from Rio. The campaign has been run from our website www.ronniebiggs.com I have now reached a point where I have exhausted all my funds and must make the most difficult decision of my life, do I throw in the towel and return to Brazil or do I stay and fight for my father's release?

After a great deal of thought I've reached the decision that I owe it to my father to carry on the fight. If I were to leave, I'd be admitting defeat and my father would be left to die a broken man in prison. What could be worse than dying in prison without your family around you? I would never forgive myself if I abandoned my father in such a way. I love him far too much to allow that to happen.

I realise that the only way for the campaign to make a significant impact on the powers that be, is to raise much-needed funds.

The most frustrating thing for me is that unless the Home Office grant me a visa, I am not allowed to undertake any form of employment, not even voluntary work. I can't tell you how totally helpless that makes me feel.

To raise awareness and to gain some invaluable publicity, we've had the idea of holding a Free Ronnie Biggs benefit night, which will take place in London towards the end of July. We will be inviting celebrity friends of my father to take part in a night of entertainment, and we very much hope you'll be able to attend. From the list of musicians, actors etc who have met my father and are sympathetic to his current situation, we'll be putting together an evening of music, readings and guest speakers. The night will culminate in an auction of some of my father's memorabilia. I estimate the cost of putting the event together will be in the region of £5 - 7000. We are also planning on placing a display announcement in one of the national newspapers to print the open letter, which I sent to the Home Secretary, David Blunkett. The cost involved in placing such an announcement is between £10-15000. This will give public exposure to the unfair treatment my father is receiving, and hopefully generate a swell of opinion behind our campaign.

Our target is £25,000. To achieve this, a £10 donation from you will really help in getting the campaign up and running. Needless to say, if you can afford to, please send more. The campaign will prove to the British Government that there are many fair-minded people out there who object to the inhumane treatment my father is receiving. If the campaign results in my father being freed, then you will have helped to give my father back his human dignity. We need £25,000 to really get this campaign off the ground and realistically you're my only hope of getting justice for my father, Ronnie Biggs.

If you wish to help, please get moving now as the one thing my father doesn't have is time.

Yours truly, Michael Biggs

If you would like to send a donation the address to write to is:

The Free Ronnie Biggs Appeal PO Box 34053
London N21 3WB

Cheques or postal orders should be made out to 'Free Ronnie Biggs'. We have the facilities to receive cheques in whatever currency, for those people living outside of the UK. Your donation, however small, will be greatly appreciated.

If you'd prefer to make a deposit at your bank, or indeed make a money transfer the account details are as follows:

HSBC Bank
The Free Ronnie Biggs Appeal Fund
Sort code: 40-02-17 Account number: 71391925

Web Site Of The Month

On Tuesday March 12, 2002, the Guardian newspaper kindly declared www.madfrankiefraser.co.uk as website of the month.

A befitting accolade from one of our most prestigious broadsheets.

Below are the aricles that appeared in the Diary section written by Matthew Norman.

Tuesday March 12, 2002

By way of marking an unlikely marriage between traditional thinking and modern technology, we are pleased to install www.madfrankiefraser.co.uk as website of the month.

"Dubbed the most dangerous man in Britain by two home secretaries," the home page announces, "here Frankie Fraser gives an insight into the life of a top gangster. Hear about his exploits with the Richardsons and the Krays and tales of murder, extortion and torture.

" Enchanting as it all sounds, even more enticing are the forays into political analysis.

Under the section Mad Frank: A Not So Mad Viewpoint, the man who pioneered anaesthetic-free dentistry before Lawrence Olivier in Marathon Man emerges as a bafflingly underrated social commentator.

"Why is the quality of life for the ordinary citizens of this country not reflected in the modern technological advances that make the quality of life so much better for people in other developed countries?" asks Frank.

"To find the answer does not require a complicated intellectual cause and effect interpretation." In fact it's all frighteningly simple, as we will learn in the weeks ahead.

Tuesday April 9, 2002

The proprietor of website of the month calls for a chat. "I just want to say thanks for all the plugs," says Frankie Fraser. "Very nice." Not at all, Mad F. Our pleasure. And while you're on, I've got problems with a wisdom tooth. I don't suppose you ever... "Well, if it's giving you jip," says Mad Francis genially.

He also thanks us for the idea that he devote the "viewpoint" section of madfrankiefraser.co.uk to the Queen Mother. "I got on marvellous with her," he reminisces. "My sister, who was a famous shoplifter before she married and gave it up, used to supply the Queen Mum with all her stuff. Huh huh. Just kidding." Well, lovely speaking to you, Mad Frank. "And you, son, and you. Be lucky.