MONSTER 'ATTACKED'
West Ham hooligan claims he ‘beat up Babes in the Wood killer in prison toilet after lags egged him on’
Bill also inspired a cult film
A FORMER West Ham hooligan claims he beat up the Babes in the Wood killer in a prison toilet after other lags egged him on.
Hammers fan Bill Gardner - who inspired the cult film Rise of the Footsoldier - says he gave evil Russell Bishop a "good hiding" at HMP Brixton.
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Bishop, then 20, sexually assaulted and murdered nine-year-olds Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway in woodlands in Brighton in 1986.
The roofer was tried in 1987 but acquitted and was not convicted of the heinous crimes until 2018.
However, he was jailed in 1990 for abducting, molesting and attempting to murder a seven-year-old.
He was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2020 and died in January 2022, having never admitted to the murders.
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Bill, now 70, was arrested in 1987 as part of the Met Police's Operation Fulltime where hooliganism was cracked down on.
Speaking on the , he said: “When I was there I did give the Babes in the Wood killer a good hiding in the toilet.
“When he was in there the first time he was on remand in Brixton in what they called Fraggie Rock where all the monsters are.
“But he had to come into our bit in the hospital because I was in the hospital bit to go and have a p*** and all the boys in there were geeing me up [saying] ‘go on, give him one’.
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Meet the machete-wielding football hooligan gangs who chop off each others’ HANDS
By Graeme Culliford
PREMIER League fans are well-aware of the dangers of going to a game given the number of thugs hell-bent on violence.
But our hooligan problem pales in comparison to the one in Poland, where wearing the wrong colours outside a stadium could lead to you being MURDERED.
As part of our new series, League of Shame, The Sun examines how football hooliganism is seeing an unwelcome resurgence across the continent - and poses a worrying threat to fans ahead of this summer's European Championships.
Krakow has been dubbed the ‘City of Knives’ because of its 30-year long history of violence, with supporters having been killed, stabbed and mutilated outside games.
The two main hooligan firms there are said to be manned by 100-strong teams of highly trained UFC fighters that refuse to drink alcohol in case it impacts their combat skills.
And both gangs, supporting rival teams Wisła Krakow and MKS Cracovia, routinely carry weapons having become deeply entrenched in organised crime, according to experts.
The rivalry reaches boiling point every year during the annual derby match, which has been dubbed the ‘Holy War’ as the clashes are so extreme.
"The coppers won’t go in because I was on crutches.
“So in the toilets they have like the top so you can look over and I’ve gone through the door like a western and I’ve done him on the pan, you know what I mean? And the coppers came in and pulled me away.
Machete-wielding football hooligan gangs who chop off each others’ HANDS
"Russell Bishop was his name - I copped him one.”
Bill went on to say after a tough upbringing he became a football hooligan for the East London club's firm, recalling how he once got involved in a 600-man brawl with Millwall fans.
After his arrest, he vowed to quit the thuggery, saying he would end up either “dead or mad”.
Rise of the Footsoldier was released in 2007.
It follows the rise of main character Carlton Leach from football hooligan to a member of a notorious gang of criminals in Essex in the late 80s and early 90s.
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