Ronnie Kray letters go on sale

Ronnie Kray died in 1995 aged 61

A series of letters written by gangster Ronnie Kray that chart his mental decline are to be auctioned later this month.

The 23 signed letters were written by the London criminal between September and December 1993, and illustrate his problems in a period during which he suffered a nervous breakdown.

Kray, who was schizophrenic, wrote the letters to Robin McGibbon, a friend of the family and biographer of Ronnie's brother Charlie.

They are signed "Your friend, Ron" and "With love, Ron".

Divorce plans

The letters were written in his distinctive, barely legible scrawl and run to 40 pages of Kray's own personal headed A4 notepaper.

Kray was prolific and, on one occasion, wrote 14 letters in a day.

They show an increasing paranoia and you can see his mind disintegrating Auctioneers' spokesman

In one, dated 15 September, 1993 he describes his intention to divorce his wife, Kate.

He wrote: "I'm divorcing Kate as soon as I can.

"What she said about me, I never told her to put in what she did about me in her book."

He wrote to Mr McGibbon on a number of occasions expressing his anger at a book that had been published about the Krays.

In one letter he said: "Would you put it in the press that that book is a load of lies?"

The Kray brothers were eventually both jailed for murder

A spokesman for the auctioneers Mullock Madeley, in Church Stretton, Shropshire, said: "There can be few series of letters which provide such a valuable insight into the thoughts of such a high profile criminal.

"They show an increasing paranoia and you can see his mind disintegrating."

Kray died of a heart attack in the high security wing of Broadmoor in 1995 at the age of 61.

He had been jailed for murder at the Old Bailey in 1969 and sentenced to serve a minimum of 30 years.

The letters are due to be auctioned on 31 July.

It is not the first time Mr McGibbon has tried to sell letters written by Kray.

A batch of letters written to him by Kray and his brother Reggie failed to attract any buyers at an auction in April 2002.