Gone Shopping: The Story of Shirley Pitts - Queen of Thieves

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The granddaughter of a member of the gang, who said she was taught how to steal in the 1970s, told Ms Marsh: 'My nan was always beautifully turned out. She and her friends looked like film stars when they went out down the pub. The other side of the story involves these feisty women and it is perhaps more fascinating given the limited powers such working class girls had to earn a decent wage.' A taste of freedom! Nine-year-old hostage enjoys first meal of schnitzel and mash and ice cream with his pals before the Israeli football team visit him in hospital to welcome him home after 49 days

A Hoisters' Code of loyalty dictated rules such as having an early night before 'going shopping', handing over all they pinched to the Queen in return for generous weekly wages, and never stealing each other's boyfriends (bad for morale). Fraser himself was charged with pulling out people's teeth with pliers and sentenced to 10 years in prison. The Bank Job, which came out in 2008 starring Jason Statham and Saffron Burrows, was based on the real 1971 robbery of a Lloyds branch in Baker Street in London. a b Campbell, Duncan (9 October 2012). "At funerals old-school gangsters still say it with flowers". The Guardian . Retrieved 23 August 2018. She got her first criminal record aged just 14 and, in 1923, she was jailed after running out of a jeweller's with a tray of 34 diamond rings — straight into the arms of a policeman.By the 1950s, the gang were facing ever-present store detectives and had to rely more on disguises. When Pitts died of breast cancer, she was given an elaborate funeral in south London attended by family and criminal acquaintances that received national media coverage in Britain. The flowers included a six-foot-long arrangement that said "Gone shopping". [3] Early life and family [ edit ] She would send her girls out in teams of three or four at least three days a week, to stores all over London and as far afield as Birmingham and Brighton. The exploits of the women helped to inspire author BEEZY MARSH's new novel Queen of Clubs, which is released later this month. Pitts's architect son, Chris Hawkins, writes of his mother: ``She was the woman who was always in your corner, who never let you down and who was always absolutely genuine. If you hurt, she would hurt twice as bad, and if it concerned her children and it came to a fist fight, she would throw the first punch.

Brian B Clifford mentioned in the record of Katz and Brian B Clifford. Family Search. Retrieved 9 September 2017. When police switched on to the gang's methods they branched out, with trips to Southend, Brighton, Liverpool and Manchester. The violent thugs, the Kray twins, held Eva Fraser in high regard because of her role in the gang and during the 1940s and 1950s and the Soho gang boss Billy Hill - brother of the fiery Ms Hughes - was careful not to encroach too much on their territory because he respected their right to earn their own money, free from male interference.Hamas frees 17 more hostages under ceasefire deal: Nine children among fourteen Israelis and three foreign nationals handed over to Red Cross in third set of releases

What officers didn't know then was that his crime spree would continue over a career spanning seven decades, and his offences only worsened. Reporters claimed she was 6ft tall - despite police records from 1919 putting her at 5ft9in. When caught by police she replied: 'I don't know anything about it.'You could have a field day with the psychology of it all, but she started stealing milk and bread in Lambeth at the age of seven to feed her family. Her father, possibly the most inept criminal in South London, had spent the war years of her childhood in and out of prison, her useless mother had burnt all the furniture and sold all her ration books and there were six children to feed.