This is the story of Bernard O’Mahoney’s two crusades on behalf of, and then against, two sisters accused of murder. Michelle and Lisa Taylor were found guilty of killing Alison Shaughnessy, but released after an exhaustive campaign by O’Mahoney—who then came around to an opposite view of their innocence.
Bernard O’Mahoney was born in Dunstable in 1960. He served for three years in the army and saw a tour of duty in Northern Ireland’s so-called ‘bandit country’ when republicans were dying on hunger strike. His book about that period, Soldier of the Queen (also written with Mick McGovern), was published by Brandon books in 2000. Since then he has travelled extensively and worked in the building and security industries. Renouncing a criminal past, he wrote about his experiences of the dark side of the nightclub world in the best-selling So This Is Ecstasy?, published in 1997 by Mainstream. This was updated and reprinted in 2000 under the title Essex Boys to coincide with the release of the film of the same name. Mick McGovern was born in London in 1962. After studying Politics at Leicester University, he trained as a journalist on the Wolverhampton Express and Star, then worked as a casual reporter on the current-affairs TV programme This Week. Since then he has made documentaries, written for The Observer and New Statesman, and spent a period in the BBC’s Drama Serials Department. He was co-author of Killing Rage – the autobiography of former IRA supergrass Eamon Collins – published by Granta Books in 1997. (Eamon Collins was subsequently murdered by the IRA.) He was also co-author of Soldier of the Queen with Bernard O’Mahoney.
“Trouble in Mind” is Bernard O’mahoney’s unblinkingly honest account of his eventful life so far. Growing up in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, O’Mahoney regularly bore the brunt of his father’s psychotic violence. After a spell in the army, he served two prison sentences for wounding, before moving to Basildon and forming the Essex Boys firm, one of the most successful and violent criminal gangs in British history. When O’Mahoney quit the firm, he received death threats from his partners, who were murdered less than a fortnight later. He was arrested in the aftermath of the triple murder but was never charged. As he began to distance himself from his shady past, tragedy struck when his young wife died suddenly and, grieving, he spiralled out of control and ended up serving another spell in prison. “The Essex Boys” firm has been the subject of three films and numerous books, but the gang’s infamous activities are only one remarkable aspect of O’Mahoney’s extraordinary life story, which he candidly recounts in this gripping memoir.
Bernard O’Mahoney is the bestselling author of Essex Boys, Essex Boys: The New Generation, Bonded by Blood and numerous other acclaimed true-crime titles. He lives in Birmingham.
Product Details
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing Company (July 1, 2011)
This chilling insight into the world of violent criminal gangs is a follow-up to the bestselling Essex Boys. Here, former gang member Berhard O’Mahoney returns to the scene of the crime to exorcise his ghosts, and looks at the truth behind the Rettendon Range Rover Murders.
As per Amazon
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Bernard O’Mahoney is the author of a number of true-crime books, including the bestselling Essex Boys, The Dream Solution and Wannabe in my Gang? He has also written of his experiences in the army in Soldier of the Queen, and of his transition from Nazi thug to Nazi opponent in Hateland.
For more than fifty years, two ruthless gangs have dominated the Tyneside underworld. Initially, the Conroy and the Sayers families lived side by side in relative harmony in the West End of Newcastle, but the birth of the drug-fueled rave culture in the late 1980s changed everything. Drunk on power and with an intense desire to take complete control of the north-east, the families went to war with one another and with anyone else who stood in their way. What followed was an orgy of mindless violence. Many were savagely beaten, tortured, stabbed, and shot, while others were murdered. The most infamous crime committed during the long-running conflict was the execution of Viv Graham, who was gunned down on New Year’s Eve in 1993. Graham, who provided security at many of the city’s pubs and nightclubs, made the mistake of excluding drug dealers from the premises he oversaw. His murder, like so many of the other crimes committed during this period of turmoil, remains unsolved. Allegations made by the Conroy and Sayers family members have hampered and confused police investigations. They have shrouded the facts that could prove their guilt in a fog of half-truths and lies in order to evade justice, and, as a result, the names of the guilty remain known only to themselves. In Fog on the Tyne, bestselling true-crime author Bernard O’Mahoney will clear the fog that has engulfed the origins of this gangland war and reveal for the first time how and why it spiraled out of control, leaving many injured and others dead.
Wannabe in my Gang? spans two decades and involves the most infamous names and crimes in British history. It gives a unique insight into the Kray brothers’ firm, revealing that its public image was a far cry from the truth. Also uncovered is what happened to the remaining members of the Essex Boys firm following the death of Ecstasy victim Leah Betts and the murder of three of its leaders, who were found dead in their blood-spattered Range Rover one winter’s evening. For the first time ever, O’Mahoney will expose the gangland myths that have made legends of those who claim to be responsible for mayhem and murder. He reveals the sordid secret of one of Britain’s most infamous gangsters and tells the truth about the impostors who make a living selling stories and writing books about events that have never even happened. Wannabe in my Gang? is the book that many in the underworld never wanted the public to read. A crime expose of the highest order, it is shocking, revelatory, and gripping from beginning to end.
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Bernard O’Mahoney is a former Essex Boys gang member and is the author of the bestselling Essex Boys: A Terrifying Expose of the British Drugs Scene and The Dream Solution, which reveals who murdered 21 year old Alison Shaughnessy.
Lew Yates began boxing at the age of six and as an adult he was ruthless in pursuit of his dream of becoming world heavyweight champion. But when his license was revoked following an assault on a referee, he turned to the murky world of unlicensed boxing. Documenting how Yates rose to the top of his bloody profession amid extremely turbulent circumstances in his personal life—which resulted in him raising his three children alone while struggling to make ends meet—this biography traces days of training in order to become king of the unlicensed ring and nights dealing with the gangsters and drug dealers in the nightclubs where he worked. His remarkable story includes surviving being shot at and stabbed, while two of his associates were executed, shot through the head at close range. Their murders remain unsolved but Yates now imparts controversial information about the assassins and reveals why both men were killed.
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Lew Yates is a former unlicensed boxer who has also worked as a nightclub bouncer and civil engineer. Bernard O’Mahoney is the author of a number of true-crime books, including the bestsellingEssex Boys and Wannabe In My Gang?
In December 1995, three key members of the infamous Essex Boys firm were executed in their Range Rover after being lured to a deserted farm track by the promise of a lucrative drug deal. The police predicted that the void left as a result of the murders would cause a gangland war that would extend across London and much of the south-east. Essex Boys: The New Generation tells the chilling true story of the gang that destroyed everything that stood in their way to take control of their fallen predecessors’ drug empire. With a reputation for ruthless violence, the gang expanded and protected their drug-dealing operation with a terrifying combination of bloodshed and intimidation. In February 2001, tensions within their circle boiled over and resulted in one member being shot dead. The police investigation was met with a wall of silence and for three years it seemed as if the case would remain unsolved. A leading member of the gang was eventually charged, but in an unexpected twist he became the prosecution’s star witness. While a murder conviction was finally secured, the real truth surrounding the murder and the gang’s psychotic crimes has never been revealed. Now, for the first time, former Essex Boys member Bernard O’Mahoney tells the full, extraordinary story of the rise and fall of the gang that took over the Essex underworld from him and his associates.
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Bernard O’Mahoney is also the author of the bestselling Bonded by Blood, The Dream Solution, Essex Boys, and Wannabe in my Gang?
A new edition of a book formerly known as So This is Ecstacy?, this is the true story of the rise of one of the most violent and successful criminal gangs of the 1990s. The author of the book was a key member of that gang, and this is his inside account of their violent ways. Their reign ended when the three leaders were murdered.
Having already read a few books on this subject matter I was delighted by the new perspective offered by the author. O’Mahoney takes us right inside the Essex drug scene of the early nineties. From the gangs who control the door security on all the major nightclubs to the drug dealers that pay them for the exclusive rights to sell drugs in the same clubs this is a real page turner.O’Mahoney takes the reader on a nightmare journey of cross & double-cross in the Essex underworld. The astonishing level of violence used by the gang to maintain control of their business is both frightening & compulsive. You really get a feel for his fear & tension as the drama builds to a terrible triple murder.
I found this book impossible to put down & kept reading until I had finished it whereupon I finally closed the cover & said “Wow!”.
This is one of the best accounts of this incident that i have read & I wholly recommend it to anyone who loves a real gritty true-crime story.
This is not the sort of book I would normally read, but having been compelled by a relative, I turned the first pages of what turned out to be one hell of an eye opener. Everyone in Britain knows the fate of Leah Betts, and a fair few know about the triple murder in the Range Rover in the middle of a snow bound lane. Here Bernard O’Mahoney, doorman on the night of Leah’s death and friend to the murdered men, tells the gritty reality of what actually went on in the couple of years leading up to the events that made front page news.Although the subject matter itself is gripping enough, it is pleasing to note that the story itself flows and does not get bogged down in O’Mahoney’s personal opinions or person. The author has written what seems to be a fair fly on the wall account of the life and times, without ever taking any personal pride or glorification for his part in the drama. Indeed it could be seen that by writing this book, he is somehow trying to justify the life that he lived when the opposite seems to be true.
The book almost reads as a warning to the public: this is what goes on in your towns and cities. And from that point of view, it is very frightening. I would have been to the clubs mentioned in the book, and would have been witness to the events that happened if I had lived in that area. I did not because I came from a different part of the UK and one that, in my eyes, had a lot in common with the Basildon in this book. I do not know if Britain is a safer place in lieu of the Leah Betts incident, but I do know that there is less in the papers and less on the news. This can, one would hope, only be indication of the effect the terrible story told in this book has had on opinion in Britain.
Item was as described or better, arrived very quickly, professionally packed. Recommended. If I’d have read the reviews a bit longer, I would have realized that this book is the same book as the retitled “So this is Ecstacy,” by the same author. Oh well, I’ll probably give it to someone as a present or something.
Published in September 2001, it tells of Bernard O’Mahoney’s relationship with Michelle Taylor, a woman in her twenties, who along with her sister Lisa was convicted of murdering love rival Alison Shaughnessy in 1991, only to have their convictions quashed on appeal the following year. O’Mahoney claims that by the end of his relationship with Michelle he became convinced that the pair really had committed the murder he had spent months helping them get cleared of.
O’Mahoney has however changed his description of events several times.[1] In particular the basis for his deciding that Michelle Taylor was guilty after all was originally claimed to be due to finding a letter written by the Taylor’s solicitor Michael Holmes in which he mentioned that Michelle had confessed.[1] O’Mahoney altered his story after Michael Holmes denied writing any such letter.[1]
The Taylors claimed that his accusations were motivated by Michelle breaking off the relationship due to his cheating on her and an argument over book rights.
Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Following Michelle and Lisa Taylor’s conviction of the savage murder of Alison Shaugnessy, Bernard O’Mahoney embarked on a successful crusade to prove their innocence. Michelle – who had been having an affair with Alison’s husband – had been found guilty of murdering Alison in a jealous rage, and her sister, Lisa, was convicted of aiding her in the brutal attack. During the appeal to clear their names, Bernard O’Mahoney and Michelle began a passionate affair. Then, his suspicions aroused by her obsessive behaviour, O’Mahoney stumbled across a letter which could only mean one thing – Michelle was guilty. Following a heated confrontation, she finally broke down and admitted her guilt. The Dream Solution tells of two dramatic legal battles – one to free the sisters, and the other to prove their guilt.
About the Author
Bernard O’Mahoney was born in Dunstable in 1960. He served for three years in the army and saw a tour of duty in Northern Ireland’s so-called ‘bandit country’ when republicans were dying on hunger strike. His book about that period, Soldier of the Queen (also written with Mick McGovern), was published by Brandon books in 2000. Since then he has travelled extensively and worked in the building and security industries. Renouncing a criminal past, he wrote about his experiences of the dark side of the nightclub world in the best-selling So This Is Ecstasy?, published in 1997 by Mainstream. This was updated and reprinted in 2000 under the title Essex Boys to coincide with the release of the film of the same name. Mick McGovern was born in London in 1962. After studying Politics at Leicester University, he trained as a journalist on the Wolverhampton Express and Star, then worked as a casual reporter on the current-affairs TV programme This Week. Since then he has made documentaries, written for The Observer and New Statesman, and spent a period in the BBC’s Drama Serials Department. He was co-author of Killing Rage – the autobiography of former IRA supergrass Eamon Collinspublished by Granta Books in 1997. (Eamon Collins was subsequently murdered by the IRA.) He was also co-author of Soldier of the Queen with Bernard O’Mahoney.
