SLAVERY STREETS FACE NAMES AXE
HUNDREDS of streets named after British slave owners may be rebranded in a racism purge.
Eighteen local authorities in England and Wales are reviewing the names of 24 streets, a study has found.
Others may be under review by the nation’s councils due to possible links to racism and slavery.
The Government yesterday “applauded” the study by right-wing think tank Policy Exchange, and said it backed street name changes if local people are in favour.
Roads such as Nelson’s
Row in Clapham, southwest London, may change.
It is named after alleged slavery supporter Lord
Horatio Nelson, Britain’s most famous naval officer.
Black Lives Matter protestors last year called for the toppling of Nelson’s
Column in Trafalgar
Square, central London.
Communities Secretary
Robert Jenrick wants local people, not councils, to decide street names.
He said: “I applaud Policy Exchange’s research and will examine its proposals to help protect our heritage and ensure local people are at the heart of decision making.”
SHE was one of the mo ous gangsters in Lond End – and nicknamed Widow because every was involved with ended
And after Linda Calvey was of killing her lover Ronnie Co sent down for 18 years and UK’S longest-serving female p
Now a 72-year-old great-g living a quiet life, Linda, who a getaway driver before tak armed robberies, admits look her former existence is “surre
“I look back and think, ‘W me?’” she says.
“It’s surreal. It’s like look the life of somebody else, be imagine how I did do the thin
“These days, I wouldn’t ev a shop and pinch a sweet, b rob banks and security vans.
“I was scared about going t I still did it. We saw gettin being part of the job.”
Linda was drawn into crim first husband, Mickey Calvey the back by a policeman durin robbery in 1978.
And she says taking over h gang was easy. “I always got o the men than the women,” sa
“After Mickey died, it was a gression that I stepped up a place, and I was treated with
In 1985, Linda was senten
years in prison for armed robbery, serving three and a half.
Then, in December 1990, 18 months after she had left jail, Cook was fatally shot. The jury found Linda guilty on the basis that she had paid hitman Danny Reece £10,000 to kill Cook, then fired the final shot when he lost his nerve.
But Linda says she was simply a witness to Cook’s murder by Reece, and says serving 18 years in prison for a crime she didn’t commit was “very hard”.
She adds: “I didn’t commit that crime. I was the second case in British legal history where a judge referred me straight to the Court of Appeal.
“His recommendation was seven years, but I ended up doing nearly 18 because I wouldn’t say I committed the murder. Being in prison for such a long time, not only did I lose so much, but my children lost so much too. I wasn’t there for big events such as my daughter’s wedding and my grandchildren being born.”
Linda was inside with notorious lag Myra Hindley, who she said “oozed evil”.
“The very first time I came face to face with Myra I walked up to her and gave her a slap,” recalls Linda.
“I got worried about what I’d done, but I was glad I did it. She was a really horrible person.”
Linda was always respected by the other inmates. “My reputation as the Black Widow stood me in good stead,” she says. “In some weird way I was looked up to, like a mother figure. The women in jail wanted me to be their friend.
“I never experienced bullying personally, and I would step in and stop people doing it to others.”
One of the things that shocked Linda in prison was the number of suicides and incidents of self-harm.
She says: “I once had to look after an inmate who had sliced her cheek off with a dinner plate until the nurse arrived. It was awful.
“Some of the women’s stories were so horrendous. They shouldn’t have done their crimes but they were victims as well.
“I was in the minority of women who hadn’t come from broken homes.”
While in jail, Linda was romanced from afar by gangland boss Reggie Kray, who proposed twice over the phone, and Charles Bronson, who said he didn’t like Linda’s Black Widow nickname and
called her “my black rose”. She also married – and then divorced – Reece while in HMP Durham.
In 2008 Linda left prison, moved to the outskirts of east London and found love again with her third husband, retired businessman George Caeser.
And she “regrets” getting involved in the criminal underworld. She says: “I’ve always really regretted it. I would say to anybody, ‘Don’t go for a life of crime.’
“Rarely does it pay, and there’s a lot of heartache with it.”
Linda published her memoirs in 2019, and has now turned her hand to fiction.
Proud
First novel The Locksmith is out this week, and has won rave reviews from crime writing legends such as Martina Cole. The book tells the story of East End crime matriarch Ruby Murphy. But while there are parallels between Ruby and Linda, most of the book is fictional.
Linda was inspired to write after George told her to “tell her stories” as he was dying from cancer in 2015.
“Writing has become a legitimate career and it’s given me a new lease of life,” she says. “At this point in my life I’ve been able to do something that’s honest, and that my family can be proud of.
“My story shows that it’s never too late to turn your life around.”