Dave Courtney

Jim Dawkins: Harlow-born Jim Dawkins left home in Eltham at the age of sixteen to pursue a career in the army and served with the Royal Green Jackets from 1985 to 1991, including tours of Canada and Northern Ireland. Upon leaving the army, he joined the Prison Service and spent the next seven years training and working in Wandsworth, Wormwood Scrubs and Belmarsh prisons. In 1999, Jim left the Prison Service, ill with stress and disillusioned by the abuse levelled out to inmates by many of the staff. Jim eventually settled down with his childhood sweetheart, Natasha, and has two daughters, Lauren and Morgan and one son, Thomas. One of Jim’s goals in life is to fight for the rights of long-term high-security inmate, Charlie Bronson, with whom he has struck up a remarkable friendship. He wants the prison service to pull itself out of the Victorian mentality and give Charlie the chance he deserves to work towards his release and lead the normal life he yearns for. Jim is the author of the widely acclaimed best-selling exposé on the UK Prison System 'The Loose Screw'. Dave Courtney OBE: ‘Dodgy’ Dave Courtney OBE (‘One Big Ego’), also known in the past as ‘the Yellow Pages of the Underworld’, is a self-proclaimed former London gangster with links to notorious hard men such as the Krays, who has since achieved celebrity status as a best-selling author of six books, as a film producer, director and actor and as an entertaining guest speaker, and will also be releasing a gangster rap single and album in 2007. In addition to his popular book signings and ‘Audience with’ spectaculars, he is also involved in the Prince’s Trust and raising funds for various charitable causes, and is patron of ‘Misunderstood’, a charity that provides support for children suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and their families.