The Kray Twins Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Francis Samuel Mitchell, also known as "The Mad Axeman", was an English criminal and friend of the Kray twins who was later murdered at their behest.

Biography

Early life and prison

Mitchell was one of seven children born into a working-class family from Limehouse, East London. At the age of nine he stole a bicycle from another child, for which he was taken before a juvenile court and put on probation. As an adult, Mitchell possessed great physical strength and liked to demonstrate it by lifting a grand piano off the floor or picking up two fully-grown men, one in each hand. He also had a short temper and, according to Martin Fido, "the mind of a child of 13 or under". From the age of 17 Mitchell was regularly incarcerated in borstals and prisons, mostly for shop-breaking and larceny. During a brief spell of freedom, he fathered a daughter with a girlfriend, but never knew about her.

In prison Mitchell was "a thorn in the flesh of authority". His prison terms were characterised by violence against guards and fellow inmates, and he was punished with the birch and the cat o' nine tails. He was one of the ringleaders in a riot at Rochester borstal. He slashed a guard across the face, and was charged with attempted murder after attacking an inmate he believed had informed on him. He was later acquitted. In 1955 he was diagnosed "mentally defective" and sent to the Rampton psychiatric hospital. Two years later Mitchell escaped with another inmate, and they attacked a man with an iron bar before stealing his clothes and money. When he was recaptured Mitchell attacked police with two meat cleavers, and was sent to Broadmoor.

While serving time in Broadmoor, he escaped and broke into an old couple's house and held them captive with an axe he found in their garden shed. He forced them to watch television while he drank tea with the axe neatly balanced across his knees, for which he was nicknamed "The Mad Axeman" in the press. In October 1958 he was sentenced to life imprisonment for robbery with violence.

Madaxe

Frank Mitchell, the Mad Axeman, who escaped from Broadmoor Prison is led away from Hartley Wintney police station after being recaptured on a London bound Bournemouth coach in Hampshire. He would later escape from Dartmoor Prison in 1966 with the help of Reggie and Ronnie Kray. 9th July 1958.

Mitchell was sent to Dartmoor prison in 1962, and whilst there his behaviour improved. He kept budgerigars and was transferred to the honour party, a small group of trusties who were allowed to work outside the prison walls with minimal supervision. Mitchell was permitted to roam the moors and feed the wild ponies and even visited nearby pubs. On one occasion he caught a taxi to Okehampton to buy a budgerigar. The governor of the prison promised Mitchell that if he stayed out of trouble he would recommend to the Home Office that he be given a release date. Four years later, Mitchell was aggrieved that he had still not received one.

The Krays and escape from Dartmoor

Ronnie and Reggie had already met Mitchell years before. Mitchell befriended Ronnie Kray when they served a sentence together at Wandsworth prison in the 1950s.  Frank kept up this relationship and often wrote to Ron telling him of his frustration at not being given a review date for his case. During Mitchell's trial for attempted murder, Ron hired a lawyer for him and paid for him to have a new suit fitted. Ron was keen on breaking Mitchell out of prison, thinking it would help him to publicise his grievance and earn a release date, as well as enhance the Krays' standing in the underworld. Reg Kray recalled that he was reluctant, but finally reasoned that "if nothing else it would stick two fingers up to the law". Reg visited Mitchell at Dartmoor in disguise and informed him of the plan. On 12 December 1966, while with a small work party on the moors, Mitchell asked the sole guard for permission to feed some nearby Dartmoor ponies. His request was granted, he walked over to a quiet road where a getaway car containing associates of the Krays – Albert Donoghue, "Mad" Teddy Smith and Billy Exley – was waiting for himBefore the escape Reg Kray had visited the prison (in disguise) with the boxer Ted 'Kid' Lewis to show some boxing films. A good time was had by all and he was invited back 'anytime' by the prison Governor.

Frank was picked up by Albert Donoghue, 'Mad' Tommy Smith and Billy Exley. As the car sped back to London, Frank changed into some clothes provided by Tommy 'The Bear' Brown an ex-boxing champ. They were all elated at how smoothly things had gone, all except Frank Mitchell who didn't show any emotion at all. It was arranged that he should be taken to Nobby Clark's flat but when they got there he had second thoughts and said that the plans had been changed and that he had to be taken to Lennie Dunn's flat in Canning Town, 206a Barking RoadIt was over five hours before Mitchell was reported missing.

Frankmitch

Mitchell's escape made national news, led to a political storm over the lax security around a man described in the press as "Britain's most violent convict", and was debated in the House of Commons. A large manhunt ensued, with 200 policemen, 100 Royal Marines and a Royal Air Force helicopter searching the moors. With the aid of Teddy Smith, Mitchell wrote to national newspapers and his plea to be granted a release date was printed in The Times and the Daily Mirror. However, Home Secretary Roy Jenkins was not willing to negotiate with an escaped felon and would not review his status until he was back in custody.

Mitchell soon became a problem for the Krays. Owing to his physical strength and short temper, he was difficult to control. He was unwilling to give himself up and return to prison, and was not allowed to leave the flat in case he was recognised. The Krays feared releasing him or turning him in as he could implicate them in his escape. Mitchell felt insulted that Reg had only visited him in person once and was particularly upset that he could not visit his parents, despite them living nearby. He grew increasingly agitated and began making threats against the Krays. To placate him, they brought a woman to the flat: Liza Prescott, a blonde night club hostess from the Winston club, with whom Mitchell soon fell in love, further complicating the situation. She knew who he was and that there was a nationwide hunt to find him but that didn't really matter.

Although Frank had Lisa to keep him occupied he would have very bad mood swings which went from being hyperactive and wanting to play games with everyone to being very depressed and threatening the Firm and the Twins. Ron had been the main instigator in getting Frank out of prison but never ever visited him while he was on the run and Reg had only been there once to sort out a companion for him. Frank saw this as disrespect after all the promises they had given him. He was getting restless being couped up in a little flat after spending many years in relative freedom on the moors. His liberators now taking on the role of gaolers. He and Lisa were guarded night and day by Scotch Jack Dickson and Billy Exley who would report everything back to Ron and Reg.

The Firm were there to stop Lisa from leaving if she didn't get on with Mitchell and to stop Frank from going walk about and getting into trouble. Frank was making more and more threats saying that if the Twins didn't come to see him then he would go to them. It was clear that they couldn't handle him and that a solution to the problem had to be sought. What is puzzling though is what made the Twins think that they could control Frank when all the top prisons and institutes couldn't. The Krays decided the only solution was to kill him. If they had told the police where he was then Mitchell would have implicated them in the breakout. If they had just released him then he would have been caught and he probably would still have pointed the finger at Ron and Reg.

Death

On 24 December 1966 Mitchell was led into the back of a van by Albert Donoghue, thinking he was to be taken to a safehouse in the countryside where he would meet up with Ronnie Kray. There was almost another argument when he realised that Liza would not be coming with him; Donoghue persuaded him that it was safer for her to follow later on. Waiting in the van were several men, among them Freddie Foreman and Alfie Gerrard, who were armed with revolvers. Once the van doors were closed and the engine started, they opened fire on Mitchell, killing him. Donoghue thought that 12 shots were fired before Mitchell died. His body was never recovered. Foreman later revealed that Mitchell's body was bound with chicken wire, weighted down and dumped in the English Channel.

Ronnie Kray's version says that Billy Exley and three greeks offered, for a price, to get Mitchell out of the country. They took him away but found that he was too much of a handful and they ended up killing him. He had three bullets fired into him with Exley firering the fatal shot. Reg Kray cited springing Mitchell from prison as one of his biggest mistakes.

Aftermath

In 1968, the Krays and various accomplices were arrested and put on trial for an array of offences, including the murders of George Cornell, Jack McVitie and Frank Mitchell. Their attempt to cajole gang member Albert Donoghue into confessing to killing Mitchell led to him becoming a crown witness a

Madfrankmitch

Mugshot of Mitchell.

nd testifying against them.Ron, Reg and Charlie Kray and Freddie Foreman were all acquitted of Mitchell's murder, due to lack of evidence and the perceived unreliability of Donoghue's testimony. Reg Kray was found guilty of conspiring to effect Mitchell's escape from Dartmoor, for which he received a five-year sentence to run concurrently with his other sentences. Donoghue and another Firm member, John Dickson, pleaded guilty to harbouring Mitchell and respectively received 18-month and nine-month sentences.

In his 1996 autobiography Respect, Foreman admitted to shooting Mitchell as a favour to the Krays; Donoghue said Foreman was paid £1,000 for it. Foreman was arrested and questioned by police after repeating his confession in a 2000 television documentary, but the Crown Prosecution Service announced that it would not be re-opening the case, due to the then extant double jeopardy law.


People associated with The Krays
Kray Family RonnieReggieCharlieVioletCharles
Shea Family FrancesFrankElsieFrank Sr.
Lee Family Cannonball LeeGrandma LeeAunt RoseAunt MayUncle John
The Firm Albert DonoghueIan BarrieLeslie PayneBig PatRonnie BenderRonnie HartTeddy SmithJack DicksonThe BearChris LambrianouTony LambrianouConnie Whitehead
The Richardsons Charlie RichardsonEddie RichardsonGeorge CornellMad Frankie FraserRoy HallJimmy MoodyBarry HarrisAlbert LongmanTommy Clark
Gangsters & Criminals Freddie ForemanJack SpotBilly HillBert RossiAlbert DimesEric MasonJohnny SquibbGinger MarksLeslie Holt
Civilians The BarmaidBlonde CarolMaureen FlanaganNipper ReadLord BoothbyJohn PearsonDavid Bailey
Victims George CornellFrank MitchellJack the Hat
Advertisement