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

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According to its publicity material, “millions and millions of pounds” were stolen but “none of it was recovered. Nobody was ever arrested. The robbery made headlines for a few days and then disappeared – the result of a government D-notice, gagging the press.” The gangster Mad Frankie, who I interviewed before his death in 2014, told me: 'If Aggie said you were buying her a drink, you didn't argue. She had a look in her eye and nobody crossed her.' The best (and WORST) Christmas markets 2023 in Bath, Edinburgh, Manchester, London, Birmingham and more She was known to the police as one of the ‘cleverest of thieves’ and had a reputation for being quite vicious towards officers. On one occasion, she reportedly said: “Police forces are set up by governments to stop others getting a share of what they’ve got!” Members are asked to give the Membership Secretary their consent that their information may be used in this way.

By the 1950s, the gang were facing ever-present store detectives and had to rely more on disguises.Billy Hill was the Boss of Soho during the 1950s but his women weren't wallflowers either. His first wife, Aggie Sullivan, ran the New Cabinet Club in Soho, which acted as an unofficial Labour Exchange for the underworld. a b c d e f Connett, David (26 March 1992). "Mourners say a final farewell to the queen of shoplifters". The Independent. Had her first criminal conviction aged 14 and went on to become Diamond's accomplice. She was an alcoholic and once ran out of a jeweller with a tray of 34 diamond rings and bumped straight into a policeman. After three years in jail she took part in the Lambeth riot at Christmas 1925. In 1938, she was sentenced for stabbing a policeman in the eye with a hatpin. She is thought to have killed herself in the 1970s. 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. At her kitchen table, Alice would teach her girls how to roll furs on the hanger and shove them down their drawers, which the gang called 'clouting'.

Gone Shopping locates Shirley’s career in context of her up bringing in South London. Her dad was a criminal, who died in prison, and she grew up understanding law breaking as part of normal existence, as well as survival. She was shown how to shoplift – the crime she called her “bread and butter” trade – by women in a gang called the “forty thieves” who operated in South London in the post war period. She spent her teenage years in reform school, before moving on to “rolling” (quasi prostitution), shoplifting (her regular trade), bank robbery and occasionally even bigger scams; she was hardly caught and spent only three years of her entire life in prison.It was during the Second World War that he was branded 'Mad' Frankie, after he feigned a mental illness to avoid being called up to the front line. Pitts had several relationships, which produced seven children by three fathers. [6] Five children were from her relationship with Chris Hawkins, who ran a fruit-and-vegetable stall in Hoxton market. Hawkins beat her but stopped after a warning from the Kray twins. [5] After he died, she adopted his name. [2] [7] Career [ edit ] Eva, whose daughter Beverley is still alive and whose husband Jimmy used to beg her to give up her life of crime, was reputedly one of the last Queens of the Forty Thieves shoplifting gang. Brian B Clifford mentioned in the record of Katz and Brian B Clifford. Family Search. Retrieved 9 September 2017.

Pitts was born in south-east London, in Lambeth Walk, Lambeth, [1] to Harry Pitts, who died in Parkhurst Prison in 1962, [4] and Nell Taylor, an alcoholic. [5] One brother, Henry "Adgie" Pitts, became a bank robber who died aged 29 in a car crash. She disowned another brother, Charlie, after he took part in a kidnap plot, for which he received a 15-year jail sentence. [1] [2] Despite her designer clothes and sparkling jewels, she was also violent, once beating a woman with a chair leg in a central London hotel simply because she felt slighted. Tottenham 1-2 Aston Villa: Ollie Watkins fires visitors to victory to condemn Spurs to a third-straight defeat... as Unai Emery's high-flyers go FOURTH after thrilling game on emotional day for the hosts a b Adjournment (Christmas). HC Deb 18 December 1985 vol 89 cc350-92, Hansard. Retrieved 10 September 2017. John “Goldfinger” Palmer, who was acquitted of similar Brink’s-Mat offences – he duly blew a grateful kiss to the jury – was also in reality a fairly ruthless operator, who moved to Tenerife and took advantage of gullible souls, who were conned into investing in timeshare apartments.

After the war he was involved in a smash-and-grab raid on a jeweller's and was given a two year prison sentence.