Reformed hitman, dubbed “one of the worst men in Britain”, has revealed how he used think of his targets as “rats” to dehumanize them before killing them.
Some 40 years ago, Bobby Cummines, now 69, ran ‘The Chaps’, a gang that used armed robbery, extortion, racketeering, extreme violence and murder to rule over a patch of North London taking in King’s Cross and Islington.
In 1978, he was sentenced to eight years imprisonment. He also served time in Parkhurst prison, where he served as a mediator in a dispute between Charlie Richardson and Reggie Kray.
Speaking to LADbible, Cummines, who turned his back on a life of crime and was awarded an OBE for his services to reformed criminals, explained how he fell into crime after an encounter with a corrupt police officer as a teenager.
Bobby Cummines (now 69) was the Gang boss of ‘The Chaps’. This gang used armed robbery and extortion as well as racketeering and extreme violence to rule over a section of North London that included King’s Cross, Islington and Islington. Cummines, in a 1973 photo
Cummines, pictured, spoke to LADbible about how he fell into criminality after a confrontation with a corrupt cop officer as a teenager
Cummines was strolling through a park along with two schoolfriends and one of them opened fire. Two police officers approached the pair and’started getting heavier with them’.
I went “oi you cannot do that.” “You have to have a responsible adult there. He said, “What are your options?” A lawyer?” I said, “no, but, I know my rights.” He said, “Okay”, walked away, and then he came back with a razor. He cut-throat and said, “We’re nicking your pocket, that came out from your pocket.”
Cummines pleaded guilty after being told that he would be sentenced to jail if he resisted his innocence. He was also convicted of a number of criminal offenses, and he lost his job.
“I thought, ‘If you’re going making me a bad guy I’ll show your how bad you can be.”
Cummines, the son a builder and a mother-of-two, began his career as a heavy for criminals. He ‘bashing up people who owed him money. He was 16-17 years old when he was recruited to an armed robbery. He spent six months in a detention center.
He said, “When I got out, my own firm was formed.” Over the years, the gang became more violent.
Cummines, shown right, is the son a builder as well as a stay-at home mum. He started out working as a heavy for criminals and ‘bashing’ people who owed them money.
He stated, “We were coming against violent people.” “There were violent gangs who wanted what we got.”
Cummines was once at a rival’s “lock-up” with his sawn-off shotgun, ‘Kennedy”, to threaten gangsters that were threatening the owners his parents’ fish and chip shop.
He explained that the gang had gotten the daughter of the owners hooked on heroin and were trying force her to prostitution.
Cummines promised that he would make them ‘goaway’ in exchange for fish suppers for his and his family’s lifetime.
He said, “We went to this lockup.” “I got out of my motor, got the sawn off,” he said. [shotgun]. One’s [gang member]I found him under a car and walked in to shoot him through the leg using the rock salt. He was screaming.
The ex-gangster was awarded an OBE for services to reformed offenders. He described how he and his fellow gangsters made their victims feel inferior in order to kill them.
‘[I] walked straight into the office, threw my coat back, and said: ‘I’ll blow your f****g head off, how about that?’
Cummines and others used ‘Rock salt’ bullets, which were normal ammunition that was filled with rock salt crystals. They ‘left no trace’.
When fired at close range, the rock salt did enough damage to injure and even kill but it disintegrated when it came in contact with blood.
The ex-gangster, who was awarded an OBE in recognition of his services to reform offenders, described how he and others dehumanized their targets in order for them to kill.
He continued, “How they do it so you don’t feel bad about them, they’ll say “we’ve got a rats”, so dehumanise then, they’re not a human being any more, they’re a rats. What I’m shooting are vermin. That was no problem for me.
They did horrible things and did bad things to people. They knew the name when they were playing it. If you are a rat and roll over, you will be killed. It didn’t seem important to me in those days.
“If you think about the people you are going to shoot, they’re wives and kids, grans, moms, and all that stuff, it’s impossible to do it.”
Cummines described how he’stalked’ his victims to figure out their movements and then took them somewhere isolated to commit suicide.
He stated, “It’s like any other, whether you are photographing them or cutting them. Once done one half dozen, you don’t have to do too many because if that’s your life, you become bitter.” It’s difficult to show love and emotion.
It’s like an ever-evolving thing. You move from one step into the next, becoming more violent and aggressive. It doesn’t really matter, because you’re only doing rodents and rats.
Cummines, who was 35 at the time of his release from prison in 1987, settled in Kent with the wife and their daughter and turned his back to a life in crime.
“I made it a rule that my daughter would never be allowed to sit on another side of a prison table. She would never have been to prison. I lived a quiet and peaceful life.
‘I’d stop and look at squirrels. I’d also look at trees. I didn’t have these experiences. [in prison]. I was buried in a concrete grave. I was buried alive for years in a concrete grave.
“Now I have a sweet life…” I’m known for being a nice guy and I like that.