Intentions To Murder : The Murder Of Boxer Freddie Mills
On 24 July 1965, Mills was found shot through his right eye in his car, parked in Goslett Yard, off an alleyway behind his nightclub. He was taken to the Middlesex Hospital where he was declared dead. He had told the nightclub staff that he was going for a nap in his car, something that he often did. He had been found at around 11:45pm by doorman Robert Deacon, who was unable to wake him, but an ambulance wasn't called until Mills' wife arrived over an hour later and realised that he had been shot. A week or two previously, he had borrowed a 0.22 calibre rifle from May Ronaldson, whom knew from his boxing booth days, who ran a shooting gallery. Although the rifle was not in working order when borrowed, it had apparently been repaired and was found in the car alongside him.
The investigation into his death initially assumed murder, but within a couple of days the police had decided not to investigate it as such. The coroner’s inquest heard that the angle of the bullet was consistent with a self-inflicted wound, and it ruled his death a suicide.
Mill's funeral took place at St. Giles Parish Church, Camberwell, and he was buried in Camberwell New Cemetery, South London. The pallbearers included boxing promoter Jack Solomons, British heavyweight champion Henry Cooper, secretary of the BBBofC Teddy Waltham, and entertainer Bruce Forsyth (who also gave the funeral address). His grave has a marble boxing glove on it, beneath which is an urn containing a real boxing glove.
Despite the wealth that Mills had gained from his boxing career (estimated at £100,000), and his property investments that earned him around £3,000 per year, Mills died with only a net figure of £387 to his name. His club had been up for sale since June 1963 but he had been unable to find a buyer. At the time of his death, he was heavily in debt to a crime syndicate, which led him to be both depressed and in fear of his life. He was rumoured to be making a stand against protection racketeers shortly before his death, a theory backed up by gangland enforcer Johnny Bradbury, who gave the name of the man he believed was responsible for killing Mills to the police, but they were unable to find evidence to pursue the matter. Two weeks before his death, Mills and Ho had been fined for liquor and gaming offences committed at the club, and Mills had asked for a catering job at a pub near his home.
A star-studded benefit show, The Freddie Mills Night, was staged in February 1966 to raise money to support his widow and children.
Following his death, several lurid theories sprang up, such as that Mills, married with children, had been arrested in a public toilet and charged with indecency, and that his suicide had been staged by Chinese gangsters who were seeking to take over his club. In 2002, a book about Mills by former journalist Michael Litchfield contained allegations that at the time of his death he was about to be exposed as the serial killer known as "Jack the Stripper", the unidentified person responsible for the eight Hammersmith nude murders in 1964–65. Litchfield also claimed that Mills had had a homosexual relationship with singer Michael Holliday, and possibly also was sexually involved with notorious gangster Ronnie Kray.
Mills' family and friends didn't accept the suicide verdict, and according to Bavin, his widow received a phone call some time after his death from a woman who told her who was responsible for killing him. In 1968, Leonard "Nipper" Read began investigating the case again at Chrissie's behest. There were some inconsistencies around the death; Two shots had been fired in the car, one from a front seat which hit the nearside front door, and the one that had killed Mills while he was sat in the car's back seat, the body was found with his hands placed on his knees and the gun placed out of Mills' reach, and there were no fingerprints found on it. Gunsmith Leonard Pearce staged a reconstruction of the shooting some years later and concluded that the fatal shot had likely been fired through the open offside window.
In November 1970 police began investigating again after a constituent had told MP Michael O'Halloran that a man had admitted killing Mills, although the investigation was soon ended.
On 24 July 1965, Mills was found shot through his right eye in his car, parked in Goslett Yard, off an alleyway behind his nightclub. He was taken to the Middlesex Hospital where he was declared dead. He had told the nightclub staff that he was going for a nap in his car, something that he often did. He had been found at around 11:45pm by doorman Robert Deacon, who was unable to wake him, but an ambulance wasn't called until Mills' wife arrived over an hour later and realised that he had been shot. A week or two previously, he had borrowed a 0.22 calibre rifle from May Ronaldson, whom knew from his boxing booth days, who ran a shooting gallery. Although the rifle was not in working order when borrowed, it had apparently been repaired and was found in the car alongside him.
The investigation into his death initially assumed murder, but within a couple of days the police had decided not to investigate it as such. The coroner’s inquest heard that the angle of the bullet was consistent with a self-inflicted wound, and it ruled his death a suicide.
Mill's funeral took place at St. Giles Parish Church, Camberwell, and he was buried in Camberwell New Cemetery, South London. The pallbearers included boxing promoter Jack Solomons, British heavyweight champion Henry Cooper, secretary of the BBBofC Teddy Waltham, and entertainer Bruce Forsyth (who also gave the funeral address). His grave has a marble boxing glove on it, beneath which is an urn containing a real boxing glove.
Despite the wealth that Mills had gained from his boxing career (estimated at £100,000), and his property investments that earned him around £3,000 per year, Mills died with only a net figure of £387 to his name. His club had been up for sale since June 1963 but he had been unable to find a buyer. At the time of his death, he was heavily in debt to a crime syndicate, which led him to be both depressed and in fear of his life. He was rumoured to be making a stand against protection racketeers shortly before his death, a theory backed up by gangland enforcer Johnny Bradbury, who gave the name of the man he believed was responsible for killing Mills to the police, but they were unable to find evidence to pursue the matter. Two weeks before his death, Mills and Ho had been fined for liquor and gaming offences committed at the club, and Mills had asked for a catering job at a pub near his home.
A star-studded benefit show, The Freddie Mills Night, was staged in February 1966 to raise money to support his widow and children.
Following his death, several lurid theories sprang up, such as that Mills, married with children, had been arrested in a public toilet and charged with indecency, and that his suicide had been staged by Chinese gangsters who were seeking to take over his club. In 2002, a book about Mills by former journalist Michael Litchfield contained allegations that at the time of his death he was about to be exposed as the serial killer known as "Jack the Stripper", the unidentified person responsible for the eight Hammersmith nude murders in 1964–65. Litchfield also claimed that Mills had had a homosexual relationship with singer Michael Holliday, and possibly also was sexually involved with notorious gangster Ronnie Kray.
Mills' family and friends didn't accept the suicide verdict, and according to Bavin, his widow received a phone call some time after his death from a woman who told her who was responsible for killing him. In 1968, Leonard "Nipper" Read began investigating the case again at Chrissie's behest. There were some inconsistencies around the death; Two shots had been fired in the car, one from a front seat which hit the nearside front door, and the one that had killed Mills while he was sat in the car's back seat, the body was found with his hands placed on his knees and the gun placed out of Mills' reach, and there were no fingerprints found on it. Gunsmith Leonard Pearce staged a reconstruction of the shooting some years later and concluded that the fatal shot had likely been fired through the open offside window.
In November 1970 police began investigating again after a constituent had told MP Michael O'Halloran that a man had admitted killing Mills, although the investigation was soon ended.
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