Former gangland enforcer helped to write his book by Sayers brothers after jail hook-up
REFORMED CRIMINALS STILL GOOD FRIENDS
LOCKED up together in the North East’s toughest jail, gangster Paul Ferris and Tyneside’s notorious Sayers brothers formed a special bond.
The reformed Scottish criminal was this week reunited with his former jail pal Stephen Sayers during a trip to Newcastle to launch his new book.
Unfinished Business: Putting the Conspiracy to Rest has been penned with Tyneside-based writers Steve Wraith and Stu Wheatman.
Now Ferris, who turned his back on crime and became an author, has revealed how he would never have been able to write his first book without the help of North East prisoners in HMP Frankland, in particular Stephen Sayers, who served time at the high-security jail at the same time.
And the 55-year-old has told how the friendship formed behind bars has stood the test of time, even after the pair went straight.
He said: “There is always a bond there with people you have spent time inside with.
“When I get an opportunity to come here it’s usually just to visit Stephen and [his brother] Michael, it’s to visit people who had produced a hand of friendship.
“Some people might say: ‘How can you make a commitment to go straight and stay in contact with people?’
“I never said I was going to leave my friends. Saying you are going straight is easy. But, 16 years later, I must have done something right – but I don’t feel like there was enough help.”
Ferris became one of Glasgow’s most feared gangsters in the 1980s and 90s.
From the age of 19 he worked as an enforcer for the city’s underworld figure Arthur Thompson, who was known as The Godfather.
When Thompson’s son, Arthur Jnr was shot dead in 1991, after Ferris parted company with the crime boss, he was arrested and charged with murder.
While he was on remand his suspected accomplices Robert Glover and Joe “Bananas” Hanlon were found shot dead in a car, on the day of the victim’s funeral.
Ferris stood trial in 1992 accused of the murder and other charges,
including supplying drugs and possessing a firearm.
But he was acquitted of all charges, following what was one of the most expensive trials in Scottish legal history.
However, he found himself back behind bars after being arrested in London in 1997 following a two-year surveillance operation by MI5 and the Special Branch.
He was jailed for 10 years after being convicted of conspiracy to sell or transfer prohibited weapons, conspiracy to deal in firearms and possessing explosives, although the sentence was reduced to seven years after an appeal.
And it was while serving this term that Ferris first got to know the Sayers brothers.
He met John Henry when the Newcastle hardman was being transferred from Durham’s HMP Frankland to HMP Full Sutton in Yorkshire.
As a high-risk Category A prisoner, Ferris was not told that his request to be moved to a prison further North had been granted, until Sayers told him.
“When I was being held in Belmarsh Prison I asked for a transfer and they said: ‘Where would you like to go?.’ I said: ‘Can I go as North as possible.’”
Ferris was initially sent to Full Sutton, near Pocklington. Here he met John Sayers in the reception area.
“John Sayers got moved from Frankland to Full Sutton,” said Ferris.
“He said: ‘I think you are going to Frankland little man.’ So he got my cell and I got his cell.”
It was during his time at Frankland that Ferris coauthored his biography the Ferris Conspiracy, with Scottish journalist Reg Mckay.
However, he said this would not have been possible had he not met the other Sayers brothers, Stephen and Michael, who helped prevent his correspondence with Reg being intercepted by prison staff.
As a Category A prisoner Ferris was unable to send and receive mail unchecked, he explained.
“Stephen and Michael played a part in it,” he said.
“What we were trying to do is make sure prison security didn’t get all the information and I was banned from speaking to Reg.
“I got to know Stephen. I said: ‘I’m writing a new book, I need help. I need names that can accept postal correspondance.’
“Stephen and Michael gave us the contacts. They were all Geordie boys, and that’s how the first book was done.”
Ferris also has fond memories of some of the more humorous moments spent behind bars with the Sayers brothers.
He recalls a time when prisoners were required to take part in a role play exercise and Stephen got all the other inmates laughing.
The now-reformed criminal was asked to play the role of a shopkeeper, but simply insisted his shop was closed, Ferris recalled.
“At Frankland the prison courses were mandatory,” said Ferris. “I remember one where we had to do role play. Stephen was the star of the show.”
Reg lost his battle with cancer in 2009, and Ferris was initially reluctant to publish any more books without his long-term writing partner.
However, after teaming-up with Wraith and Wheatman, he decided that Unfinished Business
I never said I was going to leave my friends. Saying you are going straight is easy. But, 16 years later, I must have done something right – but I don’t feel like there was enough help.
PAUL FERRIS
could be a fitting tribute to Reg, and pick up where he left off.
The book explores conspiracies around Ferris’s convictions and acquittals, and lays bare how he survived his life of crime.
“This book presents the evidence and it goes to the court of public opinion. The readers can act as the jury,” he said.
“I tell real stories for real people. I have had feedback from parents. If the book is a vehicle for a parent to say: ‘you don’t want to end up in this situation’ then great.”
Wraith added: “I interviewed Paul for Loaded magazine about the film The Wee Man.
“The trust was built up from that moment. I asked him about doing another book and at first he said ‘no’ but I think that prompted something in Paul to do that tribute to Reg.”