The murder of George Cornell was preceded by a vicious gang fight the night before in a club in South London.
In the early hours of the 8th of March 1966 a gangland battle took place at a club called Mr. Smiths in Catford, South London between ‘firms’ from East London and South London.
Krays man Dickie Hart shot Richardson gang member Harry Rawlings in the shoulder and in the mele that followed Dickie Hart was shot dead.
Frankie Fraser was charged with his murder but was found not guilty. A popular rumour was that it was Cornell who shot Hart, but he escaped the scene before the police arrived. Subsequent events mean that Cornell can’t answer this question now.
Because at around 8.30pm the following day when Ron Kray heard that George Cornell was drinking a light ale in a nearby pub he jumped in a car with John Dickson Ian Barrie and shot him dead with his 9mm Luger.
George Cornell died in hospital at 3.30am the next morning.
Although Ron was identified by several witnesses at the pub, they refused to testify against him.
