EXCLUSIVE: ‘We all deserve that second chance.Well done to McDonalds for allowing prisoners to work-Chris Lambrianou

Former east end gangster Chris Lambrianou talks to the Havering Daily about the vital need of giving people a second chance.

An article highlighting how prisoners are working in McDonald’s on their day release in a tabloid paper, yesterday caused a stir. The article seemed to focus on the so called ‘shock’ of how these prisoners work in the fast food store on their day release.

However, it appears that the majority of anger towards this article, was ironically not on the prisoners, but rather on the focus of the story itself and the poor slant it took towards a group of people being given a chance to reform by working in the community.

Chris Lambrianou tells the Havering Daily-“Surround yourself with fools and you become a fool, surround yourself with wise people and you become wise.”

For people questioning just who Chris Lambrianou is and why he should comment on the reform of prisoners, we will introduce you to Chris.

In 1968 the country saw the biggest murder trial it has ever seen. Ten men stood in the dock at the Old Bailey charged with murder. These men were known as the country’s biggest mobsters, east end twins Ronald and Reginald Kray who ran the organisation known as ‘The Firm’. Chris was not part of the so called firm, but under the law of joint enterprise, was sentenced for 15 years for a murder he did not commit.

For the record, Chris was not even present at the time Reginald Kray murdered Jack McVitie, he left the flat on Evering Road in Stoke Newington and returned to collect his brother Tony, when he learned of how the notorious gangsters had killed Jack ‘The Hat’ McVitie.

He is one of the few left from this infamous murder trial and is sadly still known for all the wrong reasons. He has for the last forty years since walking out of prison and never looking back, changed his life and proudly changed the life of many he has helped on his way in the hope that they never have to go through what he did.

“We went inside in 1968 and I came out in 1983 after serving 15 years for murder. We were sent to some of the toughest prisons in the country, the Isle of Wight, you name and we were there. We were actually considered double AA category prisoners. Everytime I left a wing, I had a guard dog and two screws with me.”

Chris was inside with other well known names such as the Great Train Robber’s Bruce Reynolds and south London gangster Charlie Richardson. He is for those intreseted in the 1960’s crime world a legend.

However, for those that know the real Chris Lambrianou, they would agree that he is a legend, but not for those reasons.

When Chris walked out of prison with nothing but the clothes on his back, he knew his life had changed and now was his time to give back to the community.

“My father sadly had died whilst I was inside and all he ever wanted me to be was a decent human being. I knew then that it was my chance to be that and let my dad live through me.”

This was exactly what Chris did, he really dedicated his life to helping others and for forty years has done this.Even now, Chris spends his time campaigning against knife crime with bereaved mothers and raising money for them to buy bleed kits. He is the legend people speak of, but not as a gangster, but as the decent human being his dad wanted him to be.

“I don’t understand the motive behind the article here complaining about prisoners working on their day release. We should be giving people the opportunity to do this, isn’t prison based on the fact that we are helping people to reform? Would people prefer that they go on to the dole then?

“We don’t understand the choices people make, why they choose certain paths, but if these people are being given the chance to reform, then we should be encouraging that, not knocking them.

“Well done to MacDonalds for giving them the opportunity to work. We don’t want people sitting on the sofa and picking easy street, we want people to fit back in our community and be given that second chance.

“When I left prison, the best thing that ever happened to me was getting a job and stop me from going behind that wall again. To be given the chance to have a place back in society is the biggest gift you can give people looking for that second chance.

“I have been on the outside for forty years now and met so many good people that have allowed me to develop and grow.

“Giving people that opportunity is saving a person and you never know just how much you are helping someone rebuild their life after it fell apart.”

Chris has spent his years now working at the Ley Community in Oxford, helping drug addicts reform, giving people a chance in life where the doors may have been closed previously. Places such as the Ley Community have saved endless lives and provided vital help for those who society frequently shuns.

You can now find this legendary individual known as Chris Lambrianou, standing alongside bereaved mums, or at fundraising events, hoping to raise as much as he can for those in need.

“All I wanted to be, was a decent human being as my father wanted,” he states. Not only has he definitely achieved this, but he as also helped change the lives of so many around him.

“We all deserve that second chance,’ he finishes.

Chris with anti knife crime campaigners April Hayden and Sue Hedges from the Ricky Hayden Memorial.

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