I was jailed at 14, then a mobster with sawn off shotguns – I loved the buzz but prison with Charles Bronson changed me

Scottish Sun

01-05-2025

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WITH the loaded gun pointing in his face, Stephen Gillen barely flinches.
Rather than begging for his life, Stephen, then in his 20s, simply eggs his assailant on knowing it's all part of the job.
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Stephen Gillen operated in the underworld of London's East End in his early 20s
Credit: Supplied
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The former gangster was involved in organised crime for 28 years
Credit: Lorna Roach
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Stephen grew up in Belfast during the Troubles and witnessed his first murder aged seven
Credit: Supplied
From the age of 14, he was embroiled in crime becoming a member of an infamous East End gang before landing himself a 17-year prison sentence in a high-security unit, serving alongside the likes of Charles Bronson.
Armed with a sawn-off shotgun, Stephen admits that despite being faced with daily death threats, he often chased the 'thrill' of danger.
But the reformed mobster has now put his violent past behind him, having earned himself an International Peace Prize nomination thanks to his work mentoring youths going down the wrong path.
'My life was about the pursuit of power, wealth and money,' he says.
'In that environment, you will do whatever you need to do to reach your goals and that's a very destructive way to go through life.'
Born in London in 1971, Stephen was just six months old when he was moved to Belfast to live with his catholic aunt, whom he refers to as his surrogate mother.
It was during the height of the Troubles, with riots happening on his doorstep, that Stephen found himself exposed to extreme violence at a young age.
Speaking as part of Life Stories, The Sun's new YouTube series that sees ordinary people share their extraordinary experiences, he says: 'I was about seven years old and I had gone to the corner shop to get some bread.
'And all of a sudden a riot just erupted. Armoured cars were on the streets, petrol bombs were being thrown and the riot police had shown up, it happened in moments.
'I got trapped in the melee and then the shooting started, I was right in the centre of the killing zone, and like everyone else I began running for my life.
Ex-mobster Stephen Gillen on life as a gangland enforcer and being set up to be killed by former associates
'I hid in this hedge, and I looked to my right and could see a pair of Dr Marten boots no more than 6ft from me, he was obviously IRA of the time.
'He took a couple of shots before he was wiped clean off his feet. He was no more than two metres from me and I watched as the blood came pouring out of his mouth.
'I was rooted to the spot and I watched this man die, crying for his mum.
'I had seen a lot of violence but this felt very personal to me because of how close I was, that event shadowed the world for me.'
Two years later, Stephen was faced with more turbulence as his surrogate mother died after a short battle with cancer and he was sent back to London at the age of nine.
TROUBLED UPBRINGING
After initially moving back in with his maternal mother, Stephen ended up moving from various foster homes and quickly found himself falling in with the wrong crowd.
He explains: 'I seemed to get in trouble a lot, I felt like everything I loved I lost, so I was very, very angry and I think that really set me on my journey.
'The homes were so bad that we'd often run away to get away from them and that would mean we would have to break into places to sleep.
'We would take things from shops, it was just petty crime but we would be arrested to be brought back to the homes.'
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Stephen was exposed to the violence of Belfast's streets during the Troubles
Credit: Getty
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During his years as a gangster he operated in the underworld of London's East End
Credit: Alamy
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London twins Ronnie (right) and Reggie Kray were among the most famous gangsters of the East End
Credit: Hulton Archive - Getty
FIRST TIME INSIDE
Stephen was first behind bars at the age of 14 after getting caught in a knife fight and was convicted of GBH and sent to a detention centre.
'It was like a military camp and it was very violent, a lot of nasty fights went on in there,' he says.
'It was a fertile breeding ground for some of Britain's most notorious gangsters including cop killer Gary Nelson, and of course it led me down the same path.'
After three months in the detention centre, Stephen was released but immediately found himself back in the world of organised crime.
'The lifestyle is very beguiling and attractive in a strange way,' he admits.
'The money, the glitter, the power, the influence, you know, you're like an outlaw, you're different, you're unique. You're not the same as everyone else.
'There's a unique feeling of being part of a group within that, a brotherhood, and that was something that I was really missing from my life.'
I've had guns pointed at me, I've been shot at but it was just my reality
Stephen Gillen
Stephen says he found himself doing the 'donkey work' for East End gangs, which consisted of carrying guns, keeping look out and delivering packages as well as 'some violence'.
As the years passed, Stephen made his way up the ranks, graduating to extortion, counterfeiting and armed robbery.
'I loved it, but I didn't know anything else,' he says.
'My life architecture and everything I had been through had been violence, and being surrounded by very tough, violent characters who had been through the same and said this was the way out - I believed them.'
A LIFE ESCAPING DEATH
Acting as part of a criminal gang meant that Stephen often found himself in potentially fatal scenarios, with the former mobster estimating he escaped death more than 100 times.
'My life had become so dark that I was often chasing the thrill of that danger,' Stephen says.
"You'd be waiting for the police to arrest you or even shoot you if you were unlucky.
'You'd fall out with other people and other firms and you'd have to watch yourself because it'd be who catches who first.
'For example, I was in a club in East London one night, and someone spilled a drink over me and so I left much sooner than expected.
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Stephen estimates he's escaped death more than 100 times
Credit: Lorna Roach
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Stephen was cellmates with Charles Bronson during his time at Brixton prison
Credit: Alamy
'I knew the bouncers at this place and they told me that 15 minutes later a group of armed men in balaclavas had shown up looking for me.
'It was crazy because although it was like being in hell, I was so entrenched in that lifestyle, I really didn't care and there were times I would buzz on it.
'I've had guns pointed at me, I've been shot at but it was just my reality.'
Stephen's 28 years of crime would see him mastermind Securitas bank van heists and take on rivals in blood covered street fights.
He would later watch as criminal pals got taken out one by one by cops as his world slowly caved in on him.
LUCK RAN OUT
It was at the age of 22 that Stephen's luck finally ran out after a botched armed robbery and firearms offences saw Scotland Yard's elite Flying Squad foil his plot to rob a bank in the capital's East End.
During the ambush, he had fired two shots from a sawn-off shotgun - which Stephen says happened accidentally as he wrestled with a police officer. Fortunately, no one was injured.
He was sentenced to 17 years in prison at the Old Bailey.
Stephen was moved 25 times but it was during his time in Brixton Prison's Special Security Unit - a "prison within a prison"- that he bonded with notorious lag Charles Bronson.
The crimes of Charles Bronson
By Kieran Davies
CHARLES Bronson has served 50 years in prison - but why has he been kept behind bars for so many years?
The crook - real name Michael Peterson - was first sentenced to seven years in jail after being convicted of armed robbery in 1974 - which was extended by nine months after he attacked a fellow prisoner with a glass jug.
He later attempted to strangle Gordon Robinson while at Broadmoor, before causing £250,000 worth of damage when he staged a three-day protest on a rooftop.
The serial criminal was eventually released in 1987 - it was then he changed his name to Charles Bronson on the advice of his bare-knuckle boxing promoter.
But it was not long before he was back in jail after robbing a jewellery shop in 1988 and being sentenced to seven more years inside.
Bronson was released early from his sentence in 1992 - but was back behind bars 53 days later for intent to commit robbery.
After holding three men hostage in his cell, the Luton lad saw another seven years added to his sentence - although this was cut to five on appeal.
Following further incidents, he was finally given a life sentence after kidnapping prison teacher Phil Danielson in 1999, causing destruction to the prison.
After being held at a number of prisons across the country - including Belmarsh - he returned to HM Prison Woodhill in 2018, where Bronson is still incarcerated.
Locked up in neighbouring cells, the Category A convicts became firm friends.
'If he liked you, you could have no better friend,' Stephen says.
'Of course, he could switch and you wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of him, but he was very kind and that man would give you his last pound.'
Caged for 23 hours a day in solitary confinement, the pair only saw each other's faces fleetingly - mostly through their cell windows when the other was in the yard, or through the cracks in their doors.
'Like me he had old school values and he was a great conversationalist, really funny,' Stephen says.
'He would keep me entertained for hours with his tales of Broadmoor.'
Stephen was released in 2003 after serving 11 years and nine months and has turned his back on crime ever since.
'Initially I took on a lot of volunteer work, I needed to get my humanity back,' Stephen says.
'I was also lucky because my family had a building company and I didn't get any favors and was given the tough love treatment and put right at the bottom.
'I started as a £70 a day labourer and I built myself back up from there.'
I've learnt that life doesn't give us what we want, it gives us what we become
Stephen Gillen
Two decades on and Stephen has gone on to become a successful author and TV personality.
He promotes peace and wants to tell his story in order to stop others from going down the path he did.
His website promotes the Resilience Code, which encourages people to overcome adversity and difficulties in their life in order to achieve success.
He has written a bestselling book, Extraordinary: Stephen Gillen The Search For A Life Worth Living, and is now working with Netflix on a documentary about his life.
He is an International Peace Prize Nominee for his work in preventing violence and was even flown to New York to meet with the secretary-general of the United Nations.
'The metamorphosis really is complete with me,' Stephen, who is engaged to GB News' Nana Akua, says.
'It's been a very profound but painful journey, it's shown me that really, despite the years I spent playing that role as best as I could, I was never that person which is evident in what I have gone on to do.
'I've learnt that life doesn't give us what we want, it gives us what we become.
'After all, I've never liked violence anyway.'
Extraordinary: Stephen Gillen The Search For A Life Worth Living is available to buy on Amazon
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Stephen is now a susccessful businessman and author
Credit: Lorna Roach