Читать книгу Ultimate Hard Bastards - The Truth About the Toughest Men in the World - Kate Kray - Страница 17

I’ve had many tough moments. There have been ten attempts on my life. I’ve been attacked with crowbars and hammers and stabbed twice, in the back and in the leg. I’ve been shot and wounded three times, once by the IRA. They ambushed my car and opened fire with an assault rifle. I was hit in the side of my body. But the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my life was being shot at close range in the back of the head. It was the most petrifying moment I’ve ever had.

It was Autumn 1999 and I’d just been released from Ulster’s top-security Maze prison on parole. I’d promised to take my wife to a UB40 concert. We’d been looking forward to our first night out in many years. The kids were safely tucked up in bed and the babysitter was due at any time. As we were getting ready, there was nothing to suggest that this night was ever going to be anything out of the ordinary.

The atmosphere at the concert was electrifying. UB40’s rhythm was contagious. My wife and I swayed to the dulcet tones, ‘Red, red wine …’ It was good to feel normal again, if only for a moment.

BANG! The panic, the fear, the confusion. My wife screamed. I slumped to the floor with a bullet lodged in the back of my head.