Dave Courtney

Personal life

Courtney was born in Bermondsey, London to Teresa (née Dargan) and Patrick W J Courtney, who married in 1954 in Camberwell.

Courtney often focuses on his links with gangsters such as Reggie Kray and Lenny McLean, although in the case of the former, he was nine years old when Kray was imprisoned. Courtney has claimed to have been shot, stabbed, had his nose bitten off, and stated that he has had to kill to stay alive himself. He makes the claim that his involvement in a car crash on the M20 was an attempt by "someone who had a grudge against him" to kill him.

He often refers to himself as Dave Courtney OBE for "One Big Ego". His house in Plumstead, called 'Camelot', is reportedly decorated with union flags, a painted depiction of himself as a knight and a large knuckle duster.

Courtney claims to have been involved in debt-collecting, minding clubs, assault, contraband, and murder. He also claims he has spent time in Belmarsh Prison as a high security prisoner, which has been backed up by ex-prison guard Jim Dawkins in his book "The Loose Screw".

In his book F**k the Ride, Courtney claims to have been found not guilty in 19 separate trials. He has cultivated a reputation for using the knuckle duster when debt-collecting and was known as "The Yellow Pages of the Underworld".

Author

Courtney is now an author, having had six books published: Stop The Ride I Want to Get Off, Raving Lunacy, Dodgy Dave's Little Black Book, The Ride's Back On, F**k the Ride, and Heroes & Villains.

He starred in and produced his own film, Hell To Pay, and took on the leading role of Mad Dave opposite Manish Patel in low-budget British film Triads, Yardies and Onion Bhajees. However, Courtney is probably best known for organising the security at gangster Ronnie Kray's funeral in 1995. Courtney has claimed to be the inspiration for Vinnie Jones's debt-collecting hard man in the movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Acting

Largely making a living from television documentaries and personal appearances, Courtney ran his own website, was involved in charity work and worked on the films Six Bend Trap and Clubbing To Death alongside Craig Charles and Nick Moran. Courtney was featured in the 2008 film The Dead Sleep Easy, filmed on location in Mexico.

He has worked with Director Liam Galvin on 2 DVDs – Dave Courtney's Dodgy DVD and Dave Courtney Even Dodgier – both released by Gangster Videos. He collaborated again with Liam Galvin on the 2010 film Killer Bitch. In his latest movie 'Full English Breakfast', Courtney stars in the lead role, playing the part of notorious gangster, Dave Bishop.

Legal cases

In June 2004, The Sun newspaper reported that Courtney had been cleared of beating his girlfriend Jennifer Lucrea Pinto during a row over her lesbian lover.

In January 2009 he was given an 18-month conditional discharge at Bristol Crown Court, on a charge of possessing live ammunition without a firearms certificate. His defence of not knowing that the single live pistol round was live rather than a stage prop prompted Judge Ticehurst to comment, "It perhaps undermines your street credibility and your stage performance that you cannot distinguish between a real round and a fake round. But perhaps that's not for me to say."

In May 2009, Courtney filed for bankruptcy, reportedly owing £400,000 to creditors, including taxes of £250,000.

On 29 July 2009, he faced arrest and subsequent charges for possessing a prohibited weapon, notably a Brocock Air Cartridge pistol, and for having a firearm despite being classified as a prohibited individual. Following these charges, he was detained and transferred to Woolwich Crown Court to stand trial.

The Brocock pistol was previously legal as an air-weapon (and would then have been legal for Courtney to possess) but police concerns over the "ease" with which they can be converted into cartridge-firing firearms led to a ban on this specific design. Courtney was on remand in HMP Belmarsh, concerning the aforementioned firearms offences. On 10 December 2009, Courtney was cleared after the jury took two hours to find him not guilty on all charges.

In popular culture

Publications