Dave Courtney

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David Courtney
Born	17 February 1959 (1959-02-17) (age 50)
Years active	1990-present

"Dodgy" Dave Courtney (born 17 February 1959) is a self-proclaimed former British gangster who has become both an author and celebrity-gangster figure. Author Bernard O'Mahoney and the former member of the Richardson gang Frankie Fraser have accused Courtney of embellishing and fabricating his criminal record and position in the underworld; however, Courtney has denied overstating his past.

Dave was educated at Forest Hill Comprehensive, where he was an active member of the drama group, taking the lead role in several plays.

Personal life

Born in Bermondsey, London, Courtney often focuses on his links with hard men such as Reggie Kray and the infamous Lenny McLean, though in the case of the former, he was nine years old when Kray was imprisoned. In his time, he has claimed to have been shot,^[1] stabbed, had his nose bitten off, and stated that he has had to kill to stay alive himself.^[1] He also makes the claim that unarmed police officers were behind a car crash on the M20 in an attempt to kill him.

Courtney claims to have been involved in debt-collecting, minding clubs,^[2] assault, contraband, and murder^{[citation needed]}. He also claims he has spent time in the notorious Belmarsh Prison as a high security prisoner,^[3] which has been backed up by ex-prison guard Jim Dawkins in his book "The Loose Screw";^[4] however, investigations have failed to find any evidence of significant criminal convictions in Courtney's past, furthering the perception of him as a Walter Mitty character. In his book F**k the Ride, Courtney claims to have been found not guilty in 19 separate trials. Dave has cultivated a reputation for using the knuckle duster when debt-collecting and was known as "The Yellow Pages Of The Underworld".

Courtney is now an author, having had six books published: Stop The Ride I Want to Get Off^[1], Raving Lunacy^[2], Dodgy Dave's Little Black Book^[5], The Ride's Back On^[3], F**k the Ride^[6], and Heroes & Villains^[7]. He has also starred in, directed, and produced his own film, Hell To Pay, and took on the leading role of Mad Dave opposite Manish Patel in cult British film Triads, Yardies and Onion Bhajees. However, Dave is probably best known for organising the security at gangster Ronnie Kray's funeral in 1995. Courtney has claimed to be the inspiration for Vinnie Jones's debt-collecting hard man in the movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Largely making a living from television(documentary) and personal appearances, Courtney ran his own website, was involved in charity work, and worked on the films Six Bend Trap and Clubbing To Death alongside Craig Charles and Nick Moran. He is also featured in the 2008 film The Dead Sleep Easy, filmed on location in Mexico.

He often refers to himself as Dave Courtney OBE–"One Big Ego"–but is not an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. His house in south London, called 'Camelot', is decorated with Union Flags, a painted depiction of himself as a knight and a large knuckle duster.^[8][9]

In June 2004, The Sun newspaper reported that Courtney had been cleared of beating his wife during a row over her lesbian lover.^[10]

In January 2009 he was given an 18 month conditional discharge at Bristol Crown Court, on a charge of possessing live ammunition without a firearms certificate. His defence of not knowing that the single live pistol round was live rather than a stage prop prompted Judge Ticehurst to comment, “It perhaps undermines your street credibility and your stage performance that you cannot distinguish between a real round and a fake round. But perhaps that’s not for me to say.” ^[11]

In May 2009 he was made bankrupt, owing £400,000 to creditors, including taxes of £250,000.^[8]

On the 29th July, 2009, he was arrested and charged^{[citation needed]} with possession of a prohibited weapon, specifically a Brocock Air Cartridge pistol, and possession of a firearm whilst being a prohibited person. He was sent in custody to Woolwich Crown Court for trial.^{[citation needed]} Although the Brocock pistol was previously legal as an air-weapon (and would have been legal for Courtney to possess), past police concerns (unconnected to Courtney) over the "ease" with which they might be converted as cartridge-firing firearms led to a ban on this specific design.^[12]

Courtney was on remand in HMP Belmarsh, concerning the aforementioned Firearms offences. On 10th December, Courtney was cleared after the jury took just three hours to find him not guilty on all charges. ^[13]

In popular culture

• In 1990, he had a small role in the gangster movie The Krays.
• In 1999, he addressed the Oxford Union Society at a speaker meeting of the prestigious student debating society.
• In 2000, Courtney was profiled in a three-part observational documentary series called Dave Courtney's Underworld, produced for Channel Five. The series followed the launch of Courtney's celebrity career, as well as his trial for involvement in a police corruption case. The series ends with Courtney being found 'not guilty' and his celebrations with friends. The story of the making of the series is featured in Courtney's book The Ride's Back On.
• In 2003, California punk rock band Rancid featured a song entitled "David Courtney" on their 2nd last release, Indestructible.
• Artist Tricky samples him on the song "Dave Courtney", which appears on the album Product of the Environment (featuring a number of British gangsters).
• He performs the spoken intro and outro to the song "Hell 2 Pay" by Oi! band The Business.
• He recorded a version of "I Fought The Law" with Scottish pop-punks Mute in 2001 which gave himself and the band exposure in the daily tabloids. The song re-written by Mute frontman Jay Burnett (now with Wendigo) is a hybrid of the original Sonny Curtis track and the more recent story regarding Dave Courtney's infamous court case featured in Stop The Ride.
• He is currently involved with various movie projects in the UK, and in 2005 became involved in a development deal with a California film and television production company. He continues to perform his Audience with.. events.
• He was featured on the UK science show Brainiac: Science Abuse where he was enlisted to attempt to break into 'The unbreakable safe'.^[14] He didn't succeed.^{[citation needed]}
• He made several appearances on Channel 5 show The People vs. Jerry Sadowitz.
• In 2010, he played a leading role in the movie Killer Bitch. ^[15]

Publications

• Dave Courtney (1999). Stop the Ride I Want to Get Off. Virgin Publishing. ISBN 0-7535-0462-6. 
•   (2000). Raving Lunacy. Virgin Publishing. ISBN 0-7535-0504-5. 
•   (2001). Dodgy Dave's Little Black Book. Virgin Books. ISBN 0-7535-0685-8. 
•   (2003). The Ride's Back On. Virgin Books. ISBN 0-7535-0860-5. 
•   (2005). F**k the Ride. Virgin Books. ISBN 1852272279. 
•   (2006). Heroes & Villains. Virgin Books. ISBN 0753511770. 
• Jim Dawkins, Charles Bronson (foreword), Dave Courtney (2008). The British Crime and Prison Quiz Book. Apex. ISBN 190635801X. 

Filmography

• Killer Bitch (2010) ... Dave
• The Dead Sleep Easy (2008) ... Tlaloc
• Clubbing to Death (2007) ... Harry Dench
• Six Bend Trap (2006) ... Gordy Metcalf
• Hell to Pay (2005) ... Dave Malone
• The Baby Juice Express (2004) ... Baxter
• Triads, Yardies and Onion Bhajees (2003) ... Mad Dave
• Dave Courtney's Underworld (Documentary) (2000) ... Himself
• One in Something (1999) ... Judge
• The Krays (1990) ... Bill

External links

• Official Site
• Dave Courtney
• Dave Courtney at MySpace
• Dave Courtney at the Internet Movie Database
• The Londonist: London Hard Men Part One, trailer for "London Hardmen"

References