Kray silenced other jailbirds by playing Please Release Me

JAILED gangster Reggie Kray played the Engelbert Humperdinck song Please Release Me at top volume to annoy other inmates, previously unseen letters revealed yesterday.

The East End criminal ran a feared gangland empire in London in the 1960s with twin brother Ronnie before he was jailed in 1969.

He apparently got a kick out of annoying his fellow convicts with Humperdinck's aptly-named song after the record was sent to him.

In a newly released bundle of extraordinary letters, Reggie opens up about life at Parkhurst jail on the Isle of Wight.

The letters, written to a friend known only as Cheryl, are on HMP Parkhurst-headed notepaper, and span from January to October 1970.

In one, he writes: “I just had a laugh, Cheryl.

“I could hear a lot of idiots shouting from different cells to each

Reggie, left, and Ronnie Kray other a few minutes ago which was rather distracting, so I put on the record Please Release Me, by Engelbert Humperdinck.

“It is much quieter now. Walk Through This World With Me has just been on too. I think it's a good record.”

The collection of about 50 letters is now being sold by Fieldings auctioneers, of Stourbridge, West Midlands. The bundle, which includes a letter and painting by Ronnie Kray, goes under the hammer on February 2. The Krays built a fearsome reputation in London's East End. Ronnie was jailed for life for shooting dead George Cornell, while Reggie was jailed for the murder of Jack McVitie. Ronnie died after a heart attack in 1995, aged 61. Reggie died in 2000, aged 66, shortly after being released on compassionate grounds due to ill health.