Reformed gangster has fallen in love with city

The nephew of cop killer Freddie Sewell and the son of bare-knuckle boxer Jimmy Tippett Snr, he counted gangland A-listers the Kray Twins and Frankie Fraser as family friends.

He held his first gun aged 16 and the result was a life of money, drugs, violence and crime.

Tippett Jnr was also intermittently on the run and has a long history of theft, burglary, violence and public order offences.

But his gangster highlife came to a halt when, while behind bars, he discovered his father had dementia.

While he may have the appearance of a Jack the Lad who can joke about his past, Tippett Jnr is immediately sincere when asked about his father.

He said: “I’ve always looked up to my dad. I found out he had dementia when I was in prison. It was really upsetting. He can’t remember things so much anymore and is confused.

“I want to make the most of my time with him and raise money for dementia charities. It made me realise I needed to leave my past behind me and I have a better life now.”

Following his release from jail the 43-year-old claims he is using Born Gangster, a book that initially incriminated him, to turn over a new leaf with philanthropy and launching a legitimate business.

Speaking exclusively to The Argus in Amor Tattoo in Preston Street, Brighton, he openly admits money was the main attraction to publish tales of his time in the underworld.

But he said he also found confessing his actions on paper had a sobering effect and served as a lasting reminder of a life he should never return to.

He said: “I don’t ever want to go back to prison, it was horrible, I was away from my family, I wasn’t allowed to eat the food I like. My lasting memory of prison is the sound of the keys – I’ll never forget it. I am totally reformed.”

He is determined to be a better role model for his 13-year-old daughter Masie Medici to rectify the shame and awkwardness he felt when she used to be quizzed in the playground about her father’s past.

In 2000 a hit was taken out on his life and he was moved by police to Hull – something he called “part and parcel” of his situation. During his four years there he became associated with known criminals and a stabbing at a party landed him with a 33 month sentence for grievous bodily harm.

At the time he described himself as a sociopath, a one-man destruction unit leading a life mired by cocaine and paranoia.

In interview he remains particularly tight lipped about pleading guilty to duping jewellery dealer Anita Cotton out of £250,000 of gems at the Bromley Court Hotel, London, on August 29, 2012.

Reports in 2013 said he made off with the jewels after posing as a representative for his accomplice disguised as a Saudi businessman.

He went on the run and was eventually arrested at a Travelodge in Ramsgate. The jewels have never been recovered but Tippett Jnr got caught because he boasted about the crime in his autobiography.

Initially he claimed he was forced into the heist by violent thugs, but abandoned the defence after learning the prosecution planned to read book extracts to the jury.

During the court case the prosecution claimed Tippett Jnr made no apology for his crimes and had never done an honest day’s work in his life.

He and accomplice Mark Spink, who was 52 at the time and from Beckenham, both pleaded guilty. Tippett Jnr was jailed for two years and three months and Spink went to prison for 22 months.

A separate charge accusing Tippett of stealing £48,000 of jewellery from a woman in Brighton while on the run was dropped by the prosecution.

Now he is remorseful but believes he has paid his dues.

He said: “I don’t have anything to say to my victims now. I have paid the price and did my time. My life went a certain way and I took that choice.

“My dad was a professional boxer and I was too. Maybe that made me violent, I don’t know. It was me or them, it was survival of the fittest.”

He described the £60 million Hatton Garden heist as a “well-planned operation”. Tippett Jnr said the theft was not typical of the modern criminal underworld.

He said: “It’s totally different now – there is no honour among thieves. There are no morals like there was before. It’s more drug related now. The older generations, which were involved in more traditional crimes like theft and robberies, are dying out.”

He said his family had a “hierarchy”. Tippett Jnr added: “It’s a bit like the mafia or similar to the show The Sopranos. It was just life. As I was born my uncle Freddie Sewell was a cop killer in Blackpool.

“Reggie and Ronnie Kray used to regularly visit our home. I saw them as family friends. I did not know what they did or think they were bad people. You just came to see their work as an occupational hazard.”

Jimmy Tippett Snr – nicknamed the Guv’nor of Lewisham – was also friendly with feared gangland enforcer Frankie Fraser who died in November. Tippett Jnr attended his funeral to pay respects on behalf of the family.

Now he chooses to rub shoulders with celebrities – reeling off the likes of actor Ray Winstone as those he considers friends. George Kay, the husband of Atomic Kitten singer Kerry Katona, accompanied him on his trip to Sussex. Tippett Jnr said: “I am still enjoying the high life but legally now. I stay away from criminal activity. I distance myself from all of that. There are people in my friendship circle who may use drugs but I don’t touch them now. I’ve been clean for some time.”

He is turning his attention to setting up his own media company and publishing a sequel to his book, written this time without a ghost writer.

He added: “I’m working with a Hollywood producer who wants to make a movie about my life and my dad’s life. Filming is due to start in two months but I can’t say anymore than that at the moment.”

l Born Gangster by Jimmy Tippett Jnr with Nicola Stow is published by John Blake Publishing.

Tatts an awesome place to set up home

A NOTORIOUS south London gangster has fallen in love with Brighton.
Formerly from Beckenham, south London, Jimmy Tippett Jnr visits the city most weekends.
He told how he often takes his daughter with him who equally loves the place. 
It was previously suggested he fled to Brighton as a safe haven, which he has never admitted, but now he says he sees the city as his second home. 
The 43-year-old, who was once jailed for duping a businesswoman out of £250,000 worth of jewellery, said: “It’s by the sea, it’s lovely. I spend almost every other weekend here with friends. 
“I’m starting to see my daughter more regularly and she comes down to Brighton with me and loves it.”
Tippett Jnr, who was also handed a 33 month sentence for grievous bodily harm following a stabbing at a party, checked into Myhotel in Jubilee Street last week and was planning nights on the town. 
He was having artwork done at Mark Carling’s Amor Tattoo parlour in Preston Street when he met Argus reporter Flora Thompson.
Mr Carling, 34, of Brighton, who used to be temporarily homeless but fought to turn his life around and opened his own businesses, said it was “great to have Jimmy down”. 
He said: “Celebrities are booking up appointments fast. Everyone wants to come because of our award winning artists.”
One of those is head tattoo artist Winston Gomez who has been in the industry for 35 years. 
During the interview Mr Gomez sketched out and began inking a portrait of Jimmy Tippett Snr on Tippett Jnr’s bicep and an illustration of his daughter Masie Medici on his forearm. 
Amor Tattoo initially opened in Rye and in the last two weeks Mr Carling opened the sister shop in Brighton.

Close relationship with criminal underworld

Jimmy Jnr’s uncle, Freddie Sewell – In one of Blackpool’s most infamous murders Sewell shot superintendent Gerry Richardson at point blank range. 
He was part of an armed gang which bungled a jewellers’ shop robbery and led to a high-speed police chase across the city.
 Sewell turned on Richardson as he found himself cornered by police in an alleyway on August 23, 1971. He escaped but was later apprehended in London and jailed for 30 years. 
On his release from prison in 2001, aged 68, he had reportedly amassed a wealth of around £1 million through property deals made in prison. 
Family friends, The Kray Twins – Brothers Ronald “Ronnie” Kray and Reginald “Reggie” Kray were gangsters at the forefront of organised crime in the East End of London during the 1950s and 60s. 
It is thought Ronnie had paranoid schizophrenia. With their gang, called The Firm, the Krays were involved in armed robberies, arson, protection rackets, assaults, and the murders of Jack “The Hat” McVitie and George Cornell.
They owned West End nightclubs and mixed with entertainers including Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and politicians. 
They became celebrities and were photographed and interviewed on television but were arrested in 1968, convicted in 1969 thanks to a squad of detectives and were sentenced to life in prison.  Ronnie remained in Broadmoor Hospital until his death on 17 March 1995, but Reggie was released from prison on compassionate grounds in August 2000, eight weeks before his death from cancer.
Family friend, Frankie Fraser – The gangland enforcer was better known as “Mad” Frankie Fraser. The hardman died in November after having leg surgery aged 90. He spent 42 years in prison for numerous violent offences and was known to pull teeth from his rivals with pliers. 
He was described as “the most dangerous man in Britain” by two Home Secretaries. 
His final prison term ended in 1989. In 2013 he was handed an ASBO after flying into a rage at a fellow pensioner at his care home in a row over an armchair. 
Some of his relatives are believed to still live in Brighton.