Monday, November 9, 1998 Published at 21:08 GMT
Kray loses appeal
Charlie Kray must return to jail
The elder brother of the former London gangsters Reggie and the late Ronnie Kray, has lost an attempt to overturn his conviction for masterminding a £39m cocaine deal.
Kray must now return to jail to serve a 12-year sentence.
Three judges refused his application for leave to appeal against the conviction.
But Lord Justice Pill, sitting with Mr Justice Turner and Judge Rant, said Kray can challenge the length of the sentence.
Kray, 72, of Sanderstead, south east London, was found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court last year of offering to supply cocaine to undercover police officers and also of supplying 2kg of the drug worth £63,500.
Former gangland torturer "Mad" Frankie Fraser and a host of other character witnesses insisted Kray was "too nice" to break the law.
But the prosecution told jurors how Kray - with accomplices Ronald Field, 49, and Robert Gould, 39 - were trapped by police officers posing as gangsters interested in drug-dealing.
He denied being involved in drugs and claimed he was the victim of an elaborate "sting" operation by police because he was a Kray.