Krays pal 'felt at home' in Ancoats

London villain joined up with Quality Street Gang

- DAMON WILKINSON

AFTER being released from the high security HMP Garth there was only one place Eric Mason wanted to go.

The Hat and Feathers in Ancoats was a long way from the East London of his youth, but for Mason, a feared former associate of the Kray twins, it felt like a second home.

On November 17, 2004, Mason walked through the doors of his favourite pub for the first time in three years. Soon, with a gin and tonic in hand, he took his place in the snug and began telling stories in his distinctive Cockney accent.

But how did one of the most feared men in the underworld of 1960s London end up recounting tales of his criminal past in a back street boozer in Manchester?

Mason was born into a boxing family in Paddington, central London in the 1930s. And he soon found himself on the wrong side of the law.

As a boy he spent six years in an approved school and borstal. But when he followed his father and brother into the boxing ring, at Kline's gym in Fitzroy Square, he would cross paths with another young fighter by the name of Reggie Kray and begin an association which would shape the rest of his life.

A few years later, on his uppers after serving time in prison, Mason approached the Kray twins for help. He was welcomed into their social circle and soon became part of The Firm.

By 1963, he had opened his own nightclub, the Brown Derby in Kingly Street, Soho and travelled with the Krays as they accompanied American singer, Billy Daniels to Newcastle as a favour to the Mafia.