John Massey’s story is unique. Having spent a childhood in Borstals and children’s homes, he was arrested and charged with murder in 1975. At large during the 1960s and early 1970s, Massey was a member of a notorious group of bank robbers, as well as being one half of a criminal duo the Flying Squad dubbed Laurel and Hardy. His career of crime saw him hijack a police car after stealing GBP25,000 from a bank in Romford, steal a huge sum of money from the Sunday Mirror’s weekly payroll, undertake two daring prison escapes, both of which made front page headlines, and live a life undercover in the Costa del Sol working for drug smugglers. He has served time, 43 years in total, in almost every prison in the country and has known every notorious gangster and villain from the 1960s to the present day, including members of the IRA. In Locks, Bolts and Bars, Massey, star of Channel 4’s What Makes A Murderer and Britain’s longest-serving prisoner, reveals the day-to-day realities of spending five decades inside, what it takes to escape, and is a heart-breaking account of what life on the inside can teach us about life on the outside.
AUTHOR: Ghost writer Dan Carrier first met John Massey when he was the crime reporter for the Camden New Journal in 2000 and Massey was in prison. Since then, Carrier has become friends with Massey and his family, and was at the prison gates on the day of his final release in 2018. They have collaborated on his remarkable story. 20 b/w illustrations