Jack McVitie

Jack Dennis McVitie (19 April 1932 – 29 October 1967), best known as Jack the Hat, was an English criminal from London during the 1950s and 1960s. He had acted as an enforcer and hitman for the Kray twins before being murdered by Reggie Kray in 1967.

His murder is famous for having triggered the imprisonment and downfall of the Krays.

Life Jack McVitie was born in 1932, the son of a labourer and charwoman. McVitie married Marie Marney in Surrey in 1950. He fathered one son named Tony. The nickname "the Hat" is said to be because of a trilby hat that he wore to cover up his hair loss.

Criminal history McVitie's first criminal conviction was in October 1946, when he was convicted of stealing a watch and cigarettes at Buntingford Juvenile Court. Associates from his early career described him as affable with flashes of cruelty.

Death With McVitie's drink and drug use growing ever greater, he started going around the pubs of London taunting the Krays and saying that he was going to kill them, which both twins soon heard about. Joey Pyle, a friend of McVitie since childhood, contacted him half a dozen times to tell him to stop: "If you carry on like this," he told him, "one day you're gonna get it".

On 29 October 1967, McVitie was lured to a party at the home of Carol Skinner at 97 Evering Road, Hackney. Also invited were several of his underworld associates and their families. The Krays had secretly arrived at the party first and had spent an hour clearing away guests. A drunk McVitie arrived just before midnight. Reggie Kray's initial plan to shoot McVitie upon entry failed when his gun jammed. McVitie tried to escape through a window, but he was pulled back in by the legs.

When the Krays discovered the whereabouts of the corpse, they ordered it to be immediately moved, probably because of the proximity of friend and associate Freddie Foreman. The body was never recovered, although in an interview in 2000 (which featured Reggie Kray giving a frank account of the activity of the Firm 12 days before his death) Foreman admitted to throwing McVitie's body from a boat into the sea at Newhaven, Sussex. "Jack got silly," reflected Pyle. "He knew he was going to get it. At the end of the day I can't blame the Twins for what they did. If someone goes around saying they are going to kill you, then you don't have a lot of choice – you have to do them first. But Jack should never have died the way he did. He died like a fucking rat." The Krays' elder brother Charlie, together with Freddie Foreman (who helped move the body) and Cornelius Whitehead, were all found guilty of being accessories to McVitie's murder.

The glamour associated with the Krays grew with both writing best-selling books about their lives while in prison. In 1990, a full-length biographical film entitled The Krays was released (featuring real-life brothers Martin and Gary Kemp as the Kray twins). Jack McVitie was portrayed by actor Tom Bell in this film before also featuring in the 2004 film Charlie, this time depicted by Marius Swift. In the 2015 film about the Krays, Legend, starring Tom Hardy as both Kray brothers, McVitie is played by Sam Spruell.