How My Gang Got JAILED For 43 Years: Danny Harkins

27:29Right, look. Look what he's done, right? And then you don't go get your money, right? He's a fucking mug. He got bumped. So you're not going to win either because it's jealousy, right? How long did your winning streak last for? I wouldn't say. Quite a while. Years? Yeah. And how did it all come on top? I don't know how it did come on top, so no. You know what I mean? Was you not subtle? It wasn't top. No, I wasn't subtle. I wasn't subtle. I was never around anything. So talk to me about the nicking, because I know that the jury had to be changed a couple of times, didn't they? Yeah. So what did you get nicked for?

28:04How did you get nicked? How did you feel? And then talk to me about the trial. Well, Jim had been set on fire, right? And it didn't even sweep through. So, down the reception, didn't go no further. Right. But it was quite frightening. I was with my daughter at the house. And, you know, I was a good dad. Always had the kids. And always do stuff and support them. So, in fact, I was with my daughter when this was... And my neighbours, if I went down to the gyms before, so I was very standing. I got my daughter in the back of the Range Rover. And that's not nice. You know what I mean? And baby's here.

28:39I'm going to have a look. and luckily someone phoned the fire brigade, got put out pretty quick. But they all know what you're about. Do you know what I mean? So they're looking at you like a bit of fear, a bit of nervous and a bit of disrespectful, which they can't hide from their faces. And do you know who burnt down your gym? Yeah, yeah, I'm saying. He's no longer with us. As in dead? Yeah, I know for a fact the guy they alleged my ex-partner was the guy who had a gym set on fire. It all come about to me. And what was his motive to set your gym on fire? Well, I'd say we didn't want nothing to do with him.

29:16And he felt scared. The firm had got quite big. He felt scared. He thought he was going to get hurt. That might well have been the case. And because he was a thieving fucker. So he's fucked off up north. And I thought, well, it's gone. Don't worry about it. I couldn't find out where he was anyway, because he used to put everything in his missus' name and no one knew who his missus was. So, you know, if he's renting a gaff somewhere or he's driving a car, it's in her name. So we wouldn't be able to find out where he was. I mean, I had people who could literally find out who every single person who lived at his mum's address was, going back right through 100 years.

30:00I mean, but that's no good to me. Because if you've got an enemy out there who means to you harm, you haven't really got a lot of choice. you've got to go find them before they find you. And if they know where you are, because you're in a settled house, and they're not, you're in trouble. Do you know what I mean? So that was quite worrying, right, because you're in a bad situation. Did you think somebody was going to kill you? It was a possibility, yeah. For instance, he'd wanted my best pal, one of my best pals. He wanted him offed because he'd fucked off with a lot of... all the numbers, all the lists of road, what and what not.

30:39And I said, that's not going to happen. I said, I'll break his legs. I didn't break his legs, but I did break him up quite bad. Very bad. And I said, that's it. I took photos of it. Ego. You know what I mean? And so, you know, he had his mob. She would get his stuff off because that was his end. So if you're making someone that kind of money, and a big mob up north and do what you want to do, if that makes sense. So, you know, but then we can all go that way. You know, both had similar amounts of money. So they're nicking? Right, so he gets the gym set on fire. I think to myself, right, I need to find this guy fast.

31:23I can't find out where he lives because every reason he's missing his name, we don't know. So I thought, is there anyone around here who hasn't come over who's still working with him? thought of someone, right, we'll nab him and we'll extract the information from him. And that was the plan. Of course, like, people were getting nabbed so often. Like, you know, kidnapped or taking someone or bashed up, like, literally almost daily. So, no big deal. So your firm were a complete fucking handful? Yeah. Uncontrollable? Yeah. Too much? Too much. Too noisy, too loud. You know, I figured, like, you can always get blood out of a stone, so I didn't give a fuck if I put money out too because I thought I'd always get it back one way or another.

32:08And, yeah, the orders were a bit crazy sometimes that I would give out. I mean, I was going through a divorce at the time. I was pretty angry and I think that would affect my decision making, if that makes sense. And, like, you've been getting away with shit like that for so often. You walk in a pub and, you know, do some crazy shit and just get away with it. You know, I remember one time I thought I'd get away with anything. you know I walked into a pub I got a guy there I broke his nose it snapped there it's moved under there it's squirting all over the place I said you're fucking bleeding all over the floor push his head back without standing I put in his stomach you know he'd he'd owed a bit of money he'd bumped this and there's a bit more to it than that but um so I've got two lads with me I've gone go give the owner there's a one go give that to the owner so I'm sorry about the mess right there's a few people in the pub just at the bar acting like they haven't seen all this right and he's walked up give the owner the hundred quid and the owner of the pub's gone tell Danny what I'm worried about you know and I've gone I've heard it so I've gone take the fucking money you know he's making a right mess in your carpet over here mate and he's gone God bless you Dan so I thought any time I'm on a bass I'll bring him here I'll get him brought here it was crazy really you just think you'd get away with murder you know I've gone and I've said see that You know what I mean?

33:31No one gives a fuck about you. I'll open you up about one and no one's going to say nothing. So it's not very nice. I'm not proud of it, but it ain't a nice line of work. You're either the force or you're the one being pushed about. You kind of lost concepts of reality. Definitely lost concept of reality. Do you know what I mean? 100%. There's paranoia kicking in left, right and centre, starting to use coke at this point. What was your relationship with cocaine during this whole... Because it sounds like you're a wild man, sniffed off your head, just committing megavirly. I went from being a family man to getting involved in that.

34:07And I suppose the old me just suited it just straight away. Well, I'll be more than a force than all of you, whatever that takes. And the old man had raised me to be that, you know. So let's go back to the day you get arrested. You said you knew it was coming. Where were you? How did you get nabbed? So we thought, I need to find him. So let's nab someone who's doing a bit of work for him. Right.

34:33And I've gone around to see a guy who's got a paint repair shop, does people's cars and that, like, you know, traders' cars.

34:44And we're supposed to get another guy, actually, and speak to him. He went about, so I thought, well, there's another one. I know he gets bits of them, so we'll go here. And the other guy, the first guy, he was doing grows for him. so he had like some lockups where he was doing grows so we thought we'll get hold of him and we'll say you know tell him there's spider mite and they've got to cut down all the fucking grows right he'll soon he'll soon come out right and then we'll do what we've got to do at the grow which would be a nice setting for that sort of thing and there was a lot of fucking hate he set fire to my gym my daughter's in me when it happened you know that could have been my house there's more to it there's a lot more I won't go into all that but it was fucking hate so he would he would have got it bad you know what I mean and there were some very vicious people with me.

35:29So just as well it didn't happen because vicious and stupid are a good mix, you know what I mean? And if you've got stupid people around you, you act stupid. That's a fact. You degenerate, you know what I mean? And so we went and saw the other guy. And to be honest, I just thought he'd just give up the name, give him a call, do whatever he said. But he didn't. I kind of felt outraged, like, are you fucking mad? you know, just, mid-temper just went, oh, fucking hit him with a body shot, um, and then the others just started getting involved, and it weren't bad though, like, it was more like intimidation, um, just like, I said I'd give him three grand, you know, if you set him up, tell him you want some bits off him, because he was selling gear for him, and, um, then the others started sitting about him a little bit, more like, you know, does a moat around his neck, I don't know, his hand and advice, but it didn't actually hurt him much.

36:29It was more... Pressing him for info. You've got to do this. Yes, it sounds horrific but it weren't really that bad and not compared to some of the stuff we were doing. Do you know what I mean? He never really got hurt. He wasn't a hard man and I'm not really a bully. I was just like, you're going to fucking do this and I've got no choice because my gym's been so involved. I need to find this guy. I've got no choice because I don't know where he's going to hit next. So there's also an element of panic. like I have to fucking find this guy to keep my family safe you mean so he said yeah yeah okay okay okay right now he had a number on his phone but he decided and fair play to him you know he had some kind of loyalty to the guy to not give it he come up with some elaborate plan to take us somewhere to make out he was gonna get a number off someone else he didn't have a number which turned out he did and um I think he phoned him at some point I can't remember and the guy didn't really offer any help.

37:25And so he's burping this goose. We were going to the pub, we'd just get a drink and he said to us, he's going to meet us at the lock-up. I don't know what he was thinking later. So we'd gone down the lock-up thinking this guy's going to come over and we had some tools on us in the back of the motor and that. I said it was like that, we had kettle sugar. I said, you sit for it in my gym, that ain't going to be pretty. um you know gaffer tape all that sort of stuff um so when i said put the kettle on he thought he's gonna get kettled he wasn't we just i generally wanted a cup of tea so that's a fact but he thought he's gonna get kettled and um so he's fucking shit himself and i was fucking down up watching him and he's fucking got free so it gives you kidnapped escaped Yeah, and hid under a fucking caravan or whatever for ages.

38:21And he phoned up a drug dealer that we were looking for. His supplier, who told him to find the police? So he got a Ferrari driving drug dealer, fucking saying to find the fucking police. That's the problem with this game now, isn't it? That's the problem, isn't it? You want to be a cowboy and an Indian? Star Wars, The Mandalorian and Grogu is now streaming on Disney+. What are you waiting for? Hop on. The must-see galactic adventure comes home on Disney+. This is the way. Our only chance is to work together. I like this kid. Always wear your seatbelt. Star Wars The Mandalorian and Grogu. Now streaming on Disney+.

39:02Read PG-13. At ZocDoc, we know you care about your health. You wouldn't do that early morning cardio if you didn't. So the fact that your annual physical is overdue just shows how hard it can be to get seen by a doctor. Sorry, that doctor's not a network. Press 1 for more options. You've reached us outside normal business hours. The next availability is in three months. But ZocDoc makes finding the right doctor easy. Download the app and search by specialty, insurance, and availability. Read real patient reviews, then book instantly. ZocDoc, ready to be seen? Uh-huh. That's right. I can't help you.

39:40I'm over here. So he was told to phone the old Bill. And give a full statement. Yeah, and they put him in witness protection that night. They pulled his family out of the house while they had him there and then, and then they all joined up north or whatever. My solicitor said, I don't know how he'd have known this, that he was given like£20 ,000 or something. But that wasn't allowed to be brought up in the court case, which to me means how can you trust anything you're saying? Where were you when you got arrested? I was at my missus' house. And did you think it's coming tonight? Yeah. I kind of had a feeling.

40:13Yeah. And did you go peacefully? Yeah. Did the whole firm get nicked the same night? Most of it. Straight on remand? One of the other guys, let's just say he said, look, this is on top. We're going to make sure you get rid of everything, right? Like, he's having a joint, wherever he goes, and didn't fucking bother. So they found fucking six balaclavas and fucking gaffer tape, kettle sugar, weapons, all that in the motor. You're only as strong as your weakest link. So you're banged to rights. Yeah. So who was the weakest link out of you all? Well, I'd be as obvious, because if you're fucking choosing to let people at work for you, you're a fucking weak link yourself, and I've got to take it on the chin.

40:55And is that because you were sniffing too much? I think so. And that's all right. You know, although I'm running all these businesses and the other thing, big names, so no education, I've read nothing. So you're doing it all off instinct. and the only instinct you've been taught is force, I will, you know, do what I've got to do. So you're not really equipped to be a leader without some knowledge. Do you know what I mean? What I learnt in jail would have served me a good stead. Every book I read, I think, fuck me, if only I knew all this before, you know. So talk to me about, so you've got nine years.

41:29Yeah. So what was it? So during the trial, you're hearing the statements, you're thinking to yourself, fuck. We fought it. We fought it. Did you try and intimidate anyone? No. Because I've been with this objection. He's gone, right? They expected all that. To be honest, I'd wanted it out before it got to this point. I'd met a lovely girl. I thought, I'm happy. Although I was married, I was in a very unhappy kind of marriage. Like, you know, which would have been my fault because she didn't sign up for that. She married a legitimate geezer. And, you know, I'm coming home covered in claret. Or there's someone getting fucking half-tortured in the garage.

42:07which, you know what I mean, it's not what she signed up for. So, you know, we were pulling apart, I suppose. And she wasn't a bad wife, but I met a nice girl. I was a bit of a womanizer at that time, but when I met this one, I thought, wow, this is happiness, you know, I'm going to settle. And that kind of tore me apart a little bit, because I've got kids over here, nice house, life, jobs and businesses, and then the girl you've fallen in love with over here. And that's a tough thing. Do I stay with the kids and their mum? Or are I've got a shot being really happy over here? And I think a lot of people go through that at some point.

42:51But if you're not happy in a relationship, you're not happy. You shouldn't stay in a relationship with the kids because the kids can tell. And obviously, from being a perfect family man to doing all this, you take someone at work home with you. You just fucking bash someone up. in a locker, you're taking something out with you. Like, not as in being violent, but you're hyped, you're amped. Constantly. It's not nice. How long was the trial? Trial? 18 months. We had two trials. The trial went on for 18 months. No, the first trial collapsed. They'd all heard of us. So many people were dropping out, so it was very hard for them to put a jury together.

43:26I can't remember how the first one collapsed, but people make up stories and bullshit, don't they? So people thought we'd got to the jury, which we hadn't. Right. By the bollocks. Second trial, the foreman fucking got nicked for, I can't remember, doing his own investigative work into us and trying to push them all into a conviction, these are bad people. He got arrested and charged. He should have gone to jail apparently. I'm embarrassed to say he would, but he didn't. Wanker. But yeah, so that trial got fucked up as well. So there was going to be, although we did before he got nicked for that, there was a conviction for one part of it.

44:12So there would have been some jail anyway. So eight months of remand and then there was the third trial. And the third trial, I can't remember the words, but we'd had the same judge all along. We were trying to get it moved to London where we thought we'd get a much fairer trial. What did your brief prep you for, servants-wise? Well, he was saying, you know, you're going to get six years. and we got nine but then I think I'm very well within I think I I said something about yuppies like fucking in the jury I think and of course that rubbed him right up the wrong way because he's a fucking yuppie they're all fucking yuppies and the third trial moved from Sampton to Winchester which is even worse so we got to move in the wrong direction because it's like the second highest court on land and someone got me nine and I was fucking ecstatic Was ya?

45:06Yeah I don't know if it's what they do They build them up to The guy's been telling me Six for the last eight months Why on the day Are you telling me fucking 15? They give me a nine So I was literally Shadow boxing the dog I was ecstatic And also you got the You got the fucking Reporters there And You in gallery All that And you thought One thing I'm not going to show you Is there any fucking weakness Nah You know what I mean? But what about when you got into your cell? I was right I was generally Yeah It's over For me that's good I know who I am I know I've done 18 months of it already I'm good yeah one of the Cody's was crying like that baby was he yeah but I mean to be fair to him he shouldn't have been he's only a fucking driver I can't give him a fucking eight fucking you know tried making him the right hand man or something they just make up whatever they want do you know what I mean and I did feel for him he'd been down for a good night before so I got put in front of him so did you take your violent streak into jail with you?

46:05Did you have any trouble in there? A little bit but not too much. Didn't someone come in your cell and try to top you? No. He was doing hits around the jail but I mean he was just smashing them to pieces for people for a few quid and big old lump 6 '3", 6 '4". Why were you the target? I shagged his mate's missus or somebody who was seeing or saying something like that and then got back to him but fucking I didn't even know because she was seeing him just something like that. So what's he done coming to your cell? Yeah, I'm literally, just like a missus, I was having a bit of a down day over that, and I put my shoes on, and put my shoes on, and more punches landed before I had no doing well.

46:52I managed to get off the bed, but completely disorientated, white bolts of lightning striking through me. Should have took me out, really, but I had a clean shot and something, so they'd gone, jaws in pieces. especially when he went like 70 in stone and but too disorientated to lock on for a shot and for one hour I'm in a headlock from behind getting choked and got like that part of his comb through the neck which is an unsafe choke you know if you like that you'll cut the windpipe off there cut the blood off the brain so I'm passed out but crushing someone's windpipe so I know I'm in a bad situation a big strong and he's literally pulling on for dear life and he's thinking if I let go of this oh I'm fucked and I'm thrown around the fucking room and you feel the energy drains and slumped into the bed and I'm thinking if I go out I might not wake up and panic started to kick in on that one and you know you just come alive don't you got the thumb in his eye bit him fucking it's quite hard to bite through someone's fucking I was doing my best you've got to give it a go don't you I was trying to bite into his neck once he let go.

48:02And did you come out on top? Yeah, yeah. If I'd been able to bite into his neck, he'd have gone. He had some kahunas coming into your... I literally was stamping on him. I was looking for a panda stick in his neck. But coming into your cell without a tool, it's not like you're a small bloke and you can't fight. No. He must have been pretty confident. Absolutely. We've spoke since. He's actually sounded like... No hard feelings. He was very polite. To be fair, he come pretty close to killing me and I'll come really close to killing him because if the screws hadn't come in at that point, three, four more stamps in the head and it'd have been brown bread maybe.

48:38I'm stamping with full force for something like that as the screws grab me from behind and I was only stamping him because I couldn't find a pen. I was looking for one, but the fucking room had been smashed to pieces. Were you going to stab him with it? I would have put it in his neck. 100%. 100%. You've come in my room to fucking... You've come into my cell, you beat me half to pieces, I've got three of it, you've left it, you've buckled, but he's shot. and at that point it's life or death. It seems like a life or death situation. So my exact thinking was I was looking for a pen and the next, the weakest point of entry.

49:08I'm glad I didn't because I haven't really got away with that. But then I spent the next two weeks thinking I wish I had got him in the guillotine. So I hit him with a body shot, he doubled over, pushed his head down, put him in the guillotine and hold him for the deal off. I didn't do that, hit him with a body shot and threw him across the room. Had I pushed him down to a guillotine, I'd just let him go. And I'd already killed him, for sure. That's, yeah, a fact. So you may well not be sitting there. So I know at some stage during your sentence, you decided this ain't the life for me no more.

49:37So what was the light bulb moment? A moment before that. What was the light bulb moment that made you think, I want to change now? And what did you do to change? How did you spend your time in prison? As soon as I got to prison, I said, there were, you know, not all the egos, but you got the father, family man, businessman, and then you've got what I was doing on the other side, right? So I was doing a lot of good things as well, you know? One of my five businesses, always with the kids. And so all of a sudden being in jail, I'm thinking like, you look at all the youngsters in there, they've got nothing.

50:12They've got nothing to live for. They're not too fussed. You know, they're bored. They're acting up. Their life inside ain't that much different from what it is outside, to a degree. So I'm thinking I'm losing fucking thousands, maybe millions here. And this is you in your 30s in jail, isn't it? Yeah, I'm losing fucking so much money. Obviously, you miss your kids. Obviously, you miss your missus. It's funny how you can grow a deeper relationship with your missus inside because you're putting more effort in. You're writing to her. She's writing to you. She's making an effort for a six-hour round trip.

50:45So I got even closer with her inside. But things like kids, my wife wouldn't come up because I'd stayed with the other one. Right. So you have to compartmentalise things, emotions and stuff. But I knew, like, this is a waste of life. Do you know what I mean? A complete waste of life. And it kind of dawned on me. And I had wanted to stop before. So, and also it was like, you know, okay, all the pressure of all what I was doing went. That kind of went. And you're thinking, so I've kind of reverted to being quite a nice guy in jail. I saw all these kids as being vulnerable, and I'd help a lot of people.

51:26Where I could, I'd make sure there was no bullying on the wing quite a lot of the time. Even give people a few digs sometimes. I'd see people bashing people, like bullying people. I'd get involved. I'd stuck my neck out far more than I should have done. How did you manage your ego? Really well, I think. I think because it's a wake-up call. You've just got to drop it in there. Yeah, like, it's a wake-up call. You've got to go ask a fucking screw for a bit of toilet paper. You've got to bang the door. let me out of my fucking cell you know it doesn't matter how high up you are just them letting out your cell I was lucky well I went to Winchester straight away look we're going to treat you right good and if there's 180 people on my wing whatever it is on C-Win just me and me and my Cody out and we'd run the wing for them run the surgery all that but like you're still at their fucking mercy innit so there has to be an air of humility to a degree and that was only because that was our local Once you've moved out of your local, you're not getting that level of respect.

52:24You have to earn it. Like, fucking, you know, I remember being on a, when I first got a bullying, I was mopping the fucking landing, thinking, I'm glad to be out in my cell. There are levels of freedom. We've got levels of freedom, right? We've not got absolute freedom, have we, out here? No. We've got levels of freedom. You go into a tiny cell, that's the least amount of freedom you're ever going to get, right? They open that cell and you land onto the landing. That's a bit more freedom. You can walk another 20 metres. It's not a lot, but it's a bit. Do you know what I mean? And just that. And I was laughing.

52:57Fucking mopping this floor. I was laughing and thinking, a week ago I could have sent two guys around your house and said, I know I was nervous, put a gun in your head. And fucking, now I'm mopping a fucking floor like a peasant. Do you know what I mean? And I started laughing and I thought, you fucking need this. You needed fucking... You need checking. You needed checking. You needed to be here. You needed to fucking be dropped down a pair or two. and I was yeah absolutely and in fact I fucking totally got that I needed to be in jail it probably saved my life probably saved someone else's what steps did you take in there because you educated yourself didn't you it was gradual I mean my temple was through the roof when I got through the jail like literally through the fucking roof found it hard keeping in check like because I was still like trying to hold on to things you know what I mean like and bless my my missus she was like trying to run fucking a load of businesses a gym like you know a real hardcore bodybuilding gym full of fucking meatheads who aren't going to give her the same little respect they're giving me you know she's a really nice pretty nice Kath in Southampton Kath I can't remember what I had a street shop outside the cinema I think I sold the car but she's not trying to run all this and her own business and her kids and that's all I've got left so I'm like you know money's going missing things are going wrong and I'm raging out on the wing, punching the fucking walls and fucking literally going berserk sometimes.

54:24I don't know if she fucking wore it. I remember one guy coming up, I'm mad in the wing. Someone's coming out, Dan, you're right, get back in your fucking cell. And my mate goes, Dan, what are you doing? They're going to fucking seduce you. Calm the fuck down. My rage was through the Richter's Hill, you know. What made you pick up the first book and start educating yourself? This is going to sound silly to some people. But I used to go to church, like on a Sunday and it fucking calmed me down for a few days. And then I started going on a Wednesday to the Alpha course and fucking calm me down. All right, calm me down till then.

54:53And that will give me another fix of being calm. Yeah. And, like, I read everything I'd get my hands on. What books did you read in there? Fucking everything. I read, like, 12 of Dickens' books, six of Jane Austen's, four of E.B. Forsters. No. Yeah, Thomas Hardy. I read so much history, like, looking at Genghis Khan and the Mongols, the fucking Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. History of the British Prime Ministers, like, you know, you name it. All the great leaders, obviously, like Napoleon, Caesar. And I must have read three books on Wellington who beat Napoleon. You know, and I love all that.

55:30But there were so many lessons I took, obviously. Obviously all the Machiavelli, the Prince, and the Fortier Laws of Power. Although that's banned in prison now. I've got a bollocking for having it myself when they spun me. Star Wars, The Mandalorian and Grogu is now streaming on Disney+. What are you waiting for? Hop on. The must-see galactic adventure comes home on Disney+. This is the way. Our only chance is to work together. I like this kid. Always wear your seatbelt. Star Wars The Mandalorian and Grogu, now streaming on Disney+. Read PG-13. At ZocDoc, we know you care about your health. You wouldn't do that early morning cardio if you didn't.

56:16So the fact that your annual physical is overdue just shows how hard it can be to get seen by a doctor. Sorry, that doctor's not a network. Press 1 for more options. You've reached us outside normal business hours. The next availability is in three months. But ZocDoc makes finding the right doctor easy. Download the app and search by specialty, insurance, and availability. Read real patient reviews, then book instantly. ZocDoc, ready to be seen? So was you also focusing on stoicism? Yes, I had meditations on my bedside table. I just outlined everything. Did you have moments of regret in there, remorse?

56:52A couple. I regretted spunking all my money, which everyone does in there. You'd meet all top boys and they'd all spunk their dough. What about any regret for hurting people, certain people? I know you lived by the sword, you died by the sword. There was one person. Yeah, it was a friend of mine. But that's the one that the other guy had kind of stuck at us that he's got to go. And I said, well, we're not going to do that. I'll hurt him. And I did hurt him to the point where, you know, he's thanking me because he knew he was supposed to be killed. So, you know, I said, you know, he wanted this.

57:30He said, I know. What about remorse for some of the crimes you committed that led to families being upset? Absolutely. I think my greatest remorse was there was a point in Winchester where I realised everyone on the wing was kind of very vulnerable. Not what you'd think. I don't know if that's the right word, but they'd had horrendous upbringings, a lot of people. A lot of the guys, you'd look down at people before going to jail because you never ran no crackheads. And I was never around the bottom level, if you know what I mean. And that's different. That's a different game. Yeah. It's a completely different game.

58:07So when you're meeting all these crackers, you have a preconceived idea of these people being lowest to low, house burglars, and then you meet them and think, they're really nice people. And they tell you about their life and you think, fucking hell, he's had it hard. And I suppose I do have a lot of empathy. I felt guilty that I might have been, because I'm no victim, and I never was, and maybe I was part of the problem. And I thought, there was, obviously, I'm reading fucking Jane Austen books and fucking history, and I'm starting to, I don't know, I want to say culture, it's not the right word, but I'm starting to get a much bigger awareness of life, the bigger picture.

58:44You'll be singing opera next. Right and wrong. So if you read all the classics, what do they focus on? Like Dickens and Austin, they're talking about people's traits and what makes people's character, what causes people to do well and right and wrong. And there was no grey area in the 1800s. So who did you want to be once you'd come out? So I would say there was some confusion, right? Like I started to think all the violence I'd done was quite disgusting at one point. I don't know. I think it was what it was. But at times when I was educating myself, I said, I'd done about 30 courses, got myself in to open university.

59:21Through the open university, I used that as a ticket into actually going to university. I went to Westminster University and I was really grateful for the opportunity that the prison gave me. Stanford Hill were the wicked governor not all the governors at jail were good some of them were absolute scumbags the governor at Winchester was an absolute cumber I said to her what are you doing here because I was on some kind of violence reduction committees and she said I know we're not treating people humanely that's our budget we ain't got no choice locking people up for 23 and a quarter hours a day drives men insane and that's a fact even Dickens wrote about it it's not on did you lose Was your mind in there at all?

59:59Well, I was out all day. But definitely I still, even being out all day of myself, there's an element out there. Still chipped away. Because you're going in on yourself. And I'm a deep thinker anyway. But what was it like coming out educated? You went in a fucking villain and you come out an educated man. How does that feel? Really good. You're aware that your knowledge is a part of your glass ceiling, right? I don't know if that's right. I think everyone's got a glass ceiling. and obviously the more knowledge you gain in life and the more you can apply it, the higher your ceiling goes up. Things like charisma, confidence.

1:00:40If you're quite physical and you're a bit more high testosterone and you're quite capable and people look up to you anyway, then you're going to have a higher level of confidence. But when you start stacking things like knowledge of psychology or history or this, that, that, sociology, you're concentrating on. You can have a conversation with more people. all of a sudden you can have a conversation with anyone. And so you think, okay, I'm levelling up. So I come out quite excited by that. But at the same time, your confidence has been knocked. I don't give a fuck who you are. I don't give a fuck if you're the reincarnation of Genghis Khan.

1:01:15If you've done four and a half years in jail and you're intelligent and you're going back out wanting to do one in life without breaking the rules, there's going to be an element of you're going out into the unknown again because you come in with loads of businesses and loads of nice cars and all that. That's all gone and you have to come out and start over again. So the confidence has definitely been smashed. And how did you apply your newfound knowledge once you come out? Not as well as I should have done. So I come out, I end up getting back my wife's job because obviously the guy that was alleged to be my partner that alleged owed me 100 grand that I went to prison for.

1:01:59So he set fire to my missus' car, and we split up, and then there was no one to run the businesses. So I said to her, look, I don't... I phoned her up, I haven't spoken to her for eight months, and I said, listen, obviously there's no one to run the businesses. You, I don't want anything from you, but I'm going to give you the businesses, because they're only going to go down the toilet anyway. And you don't owe me nothing, and she's like, I'm the one to come up and see you. so okay and of course like i think the two of us were um it was a good situation for us both she gets the businesses and some financial stability back in the house and i get to see my kids every two weeks and you know so it was no like love story there i mean it's just like it was what it was.

1:02:50What about some of the betrayal that you've experienced? How did you deal with that and make sense of it? Because the thing is, with your game, you can't trust anybody. And it's a horrible way to live your life. And you will be betrayed at one stage. You know, there was a time where I dealt with things one way, pretty wrong way. And, but now in life, you know, you just accept that. After a few Dickens novels, you deal with it differently. You, yeah, you accept that people do like it's part of people's character. And also sometimes people people lie for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes they lie to impress you.

1:03:21Sometimes they lie because they want to have you over. Sometimes they lie to protect themselves. People lie. I don't lie. Did you cry in jail? I never dropped a tear in jail. Ever. What about when you got released? I had a tear in my eye once. Yeah. A tear in my eye once. My ex-missus had a little meet-up and quite an intense night, talking over him. We both were quite heavy. Not enough to drop down my cheek, because I think maybe the tear ducts don't work. But I can even remember the last time I cried before. That was about 10 years before. I remember my co-d, I said to him, I said, quite a tough guy.

1:04:00Very, very violent guy. A capable, violent guy. And I said, do you ever cry in here? He went on the door. He said, yeah, of course. And I said, I don't. I said I don't feel nothing which isn't true I felt rage but yeah there was no tears dropping down my eyes and Jill no you'd get to the point sometimes where you'd feel emotional and you'd want to and I think you know you just learnt to you have to learn to compartmentalise that because it's not a place to show weakness Do you think blocking things out made you even angrier? Maybe I remember like getting to Decap where it was suddenly allowed to walk around the whole perimeter it was fucking massive getting out of the field and start screaming just letting it out.

1:04:39I remember doing that. And then I got a nice boxing gym at my house, big old boxing gym, about nine bags and up. I remember I come down at six in the morning, the ex-wife would still be asleep, whacking me up all night, I'd be just fucking screaming. So much anger in me, because being locked up does that. It ain't normal. Do you know that? So suicide, it's the main killer of men under 45, right? Mm-hmm. Do you know that prisoners, are five to eight times more likely to take their lives. So it's already the main cause of death in men under 45. But prisoners are five to eight times more likely to take their lives.

1:05:18So no one's coming out there unscathed. They're not. Have you ever lost any friends to suicide? Yeah, my best mate, he hung himself. He had done a bit of time before and he said, big tough guy, I think like 18, 19 stone, also the most popular guy I'd ever met. And he said, He'd only done like five and done two and a half of that. And he said that was, he felt he was a breaking boy, like mentally being locked in a room for a big tough guy like that. But like you're not supposed to lock up lions. They don't like you, can you imagine? So he said mentally his head was gone. And so but like I said, he came out all good.

1:05:53He started using coke again and he stopped. And I think he'd always been a lovely, happy, happy guy. And I think whatever problems you've got in life when using cocaine, it's like you know accelerating those problems they're massive or something problems that aren't that big become big in your head and you're going over yourself like I want to call it like loops looping thoughts totally and I believe I saw him go dark you'd see it in his face like the darkness in his mind you'd see it you couldn't reach him and then I went to jail and he hung himself when I was in jail and it was terrible and I think 100 % the cocaine was responsible well that's a good cautionary tale for anyone that's depressed and they're using because they think it's going to help.

1:06:37Like, we know. Yeah. I mean, it can be escapism. I've been there. Short term. Yeah. It comes back to fucking haunt you. Well, the cost of that one day or two days or whatever it's going to be is the three days after, where your brain's completely depleted of dopamine and serotonin. And so you're chemically switched off. Is that the right word? You know, you can't be happy because all your dopamine's been shot. No. You know. You're running on empty. Yeah, and then like, so understand how dopamine works. And I think having ADHD, you want to understand how dopamine works. You need structure in your life.

1:07:13So when I come out of jail, going to the fucking supermarket will excite me. You know what I mean? I can choose my own food. And it's normality. It's normality. All that normality excites you. Now, if you start doing coke and you start having crazy coke sex with strippers and whatever, all of a sudden, that's your dopamine. That's your baseline. all of a sudden you're doing loads of coke at the weekends going up for a walk through Sainsbury's or going to walk down the river your dopamine level's here is that right your baseline so that's not going to stimulate you anymore so all the normal normality stuff come the weekend you're going to need an explosion plus the oats and barley is a false economy it's not a real high no no and the gear they put in there nowadays isn't like the gear 10 years ago it's not like doing a 5k run where you just feel like the bollocks afterwards yeah I mean that's how you want to be getting your highs I don't touch stuff I can't stand it and I had my spell I come out prison where I remember you know first time I've gone around some girls house and she's got some coke on the side right now there's two girls you know so like it was good there's no harm feel a bit rough next day still in the gym today after that and it goes on and all of a sudden it starts getting more.

1:08:28And you need to do more coke, more women for the buzz and everything wants to be more exciting. Sessions get longer. Sessions get longer, everything wants to be more extreme. And I say your dopamine level's going up and up and up. And then before you know it, it's having a bad effect on your life, a negative effect on your life in loads of different areas. So I say I don't touch that shit now. I'm like, you jump in a cold shower, you've got 150 % dopamine increase for a few hours. You get an ice bath, you've got 250 to 500 % dopamine increase. You're buzzing all day. You go for a run, you get a lovely buzz.

1:09:02I'll go to a gym a room in the morning, I get a good buzz. And normal stuff like reading a book, I can get pleasure from now. But for someone doing coke, they're probably too restless to do that normal stuff. What do you give back to the community now? Well, I think because people know I've come right away from it all. And I suppose I'm seen as quite a disciplined person. I get a lot of people messaging me who've left jail or I get a lot of ex-forces guys especially me and they're saying like they're struggling with their mental health cocaine or addiction or drinking and asking how to stop you know that's quite a lot really but it makes me think I appreciate that because I think alright well if people think I'm you know inspiring them by having turned my life around then I've got a responsibility to stick to that so that helps me you feel like you've got a better purpose now yeah so you've got a responsibility to be the best version of yourself otherwise you're putting out a false message I'm not about that so I feel good when you know you've helped kids I had a mum come round with her son look you know I bring my son round he's 21 he's just as hands done with a hammer by someone who robbed him for only selling a bit of weed and you put a bit of fear in him like you know tell him how bad the game is and sat him down for two hours and, you know, it's nice that people see me like that.

1:10:25Yeah, what would you say to any youngsters watching or any parents that's got a youngster that's involved in crime? What would your cautionary tale be? Two different messages. To the kids, I would say, looking to get involved in crime. Look, historically, yeah, it was a lot easier to get away with it back in the old days, right? But even all the top boys went and done their jail. Lots of it, lorry loads of it, yeah? and how many of them, how many of them do you know, Liam, ended up retiring rich? Not many. No. Right, very few, even the top boys, right, let alone the runners and all the hangers on and all the heavies, whatever, right, very few people retire happy and wealthy, right, very rare, almost like 0.1 % or something, it's that low, right, so that was then when it was easy to get rid of it, right, it's almost impossible to get rid of it now, like, well, it's easy if they want to catch you, right, through technology and all the rest of it.

1:11:20So on top of that, that's right. The game's saturated. You've got, like, the Albanians running everything up Almano and on the south coast, so, you know, making all the money. And then I know Albanians that don't even like Albanians now because I quite like them, but they're like, you know, because they're competing against one another because there's only so big a fucking pie, and the more people sit around to eat this pie, then the smaller the slices are going to get. So, you know, the people are, I know people who are killing it before Winter Jill, absolutely killing it, smashing it, you know, making 10 grand a week, and now they're making, fuck all, well, they've quit, retired, because they're not making nothing.

1:11:59And they've gone back to doing a day job. Star Wars, The Mandalorian and Grogu is now streaming on Disney+. What are you waiting for? Hop on. The must-see galactic adventure comes home on Disney+. This is the way. Our only chance is to work together. I like this kid. Always wear your seatbelt. Star Wars The Mandalorian and Grogu, now streaming on Disney+. Read PG-13. At ZocDoc, we know you care about your health. You wouldn't do that early morning cardio if you didn't. So the fact that your annual physical is overdue just shows how hard it can be to get seen by a doctor. Sorry, that doctor's not a network.

1:12:44Press 1 for more options. You've reached us outside normal business hours. The next availability is in three months. But ZocDoc makes finding the right doctor easy. Download the app and search by specialty, insurance, and availability. Read real patient reviews, then book instantly. ZocDoc, ready to be seen? Order in jail. Order in jail. Oh, they've topped himself. Oh, they've been killed. Yeah, like I say, you've only got to look at the suicide rates from people leaving jail. five to eight times higher than norm, that says it all. And you're going to go to jail at some point and you're not going to like it and your head's not going to like it.

1:13:16You might come up right, but your head will be, it does things to you, I think. And how do you spend your days now? Because every time I see you online, you're always in a boxing gym. Are you coaching? Are you fighting? Are you training up for something? For me, I love to get in the gym every morning. That sorts my mental health. Well, it just keeps me on a level. I need to do that. I love that. And then coaching boxing. I love coaching boxing because if I was behind the 10 million quid tomorrow, I'd still be coaching boxing because, for me, it keeps me humble, it keeps me fucking grounded, and that's my skill set.

1:13:50It's something I can pass on. I think if you've got a skill set, whatever it is, then you've kind of got a duty to pass on that knowledge to the next generation. So I really enjoy that. I really enjoy coaching. Obviously, I run boxing shows. we're looking at getting a bare knuckle boxing show going in Southampton we spoke to that'd be good it'd be fun it's getting quite popular now boxing's boxing yeah I wouldn't do bare knuckle myself I like my hands too much plus you've done your bird mate you're 45 now yeah yeah but yeah so boxing shows there was a guy called Nick Tuseg really nice guy he's done a lot of work for Netflix is a producer a couple of BAFTA nominated films he's done and he wants me in a thing called Violent Men quite funny how that came about as like the main protagonist so I've got to get over I've got Arthur over to be fair he's been very patient with me because I've took far too long and he's at a stage he's come on you need to get this in the rest of my life story to him so I've done half of it over next week I'll get the next half obviously there could be a Netflix documentary on you well that was going to be on Violent Men which is basically a psychological look into the cost of violence and being violent, where it comes from, where it stems from.

1:15:09And then he was on about, I'd really like to do the story when the book comes out. The guy that put me onto him, he was going to do it, he was an ex-Special Forces guy, done a big sentence for a real serious bit of violence and very intelligent guy of a lot of depth. And he said, I'm too private for this, but I know a guy would be great for you. And he put me onto him. So he reached out, come down from London, come down to my house. So I need to get into him. I need to finish my book. And obviously there was someone else talking about doing the film as well. So really I should have got that book finished about a year ago.

1:15:44Well, so you've got a lot to play for. So before I ask you the final question, I'm going to put Danny's social media links in the description. Remember to like and subscribe to this channel as well so I can keep bringing you these stories. is I like doing the true crime because it hopefully will help your kids escape jail, give you a little bit of an insight into what it's like behind bars. It's not as glamorous as the films make out. Not at all. But so the final question to you is, who is Danny Harkins now? Generally, like, there's no part of me that would ever go back to that old life. That's a fact, right?

1:16:23And I mean, I had a... I'd have fell a phone out, wanted me to collect a quarter million debt the other day, right? And it would have been a very, very big cut of that come my way. I said, nah. I won't lie and say I didn't think about it. You know, it would have come around here. But I said, nah. Once I thought about it for a few days, no. There's no way. Because next thing, they've got more debt to be collecting. If you're out, you're out. You're out or you're in. And it's a psychological thing for me. Like, I know that I degenerate completely in that life, you know. I would never want to come out and I hurt people.

1:17:01My kids suffered a lot. My missus, that was a little time. So would you say you was fully rehabilitated? 100%, yeah. Fully? 100%, yeah. 100%, 100%. I feel the fact that people are reaching out asking for help and they're looking at me for that advice and I think that's a position of responsibility and I wouldn't want to betray that. So that's good for me because, as I say, gives me that reason to be that guy and keep that growth mindset, keep trying to improve myself and learn and, you know, that's what life's all about and being a nice guy. I like helping people. Well, I appreciate you sharing that with me and Danny's now hung by the tongue so follow his social medias to make sure that he does keep on the straight and narrow.

1:17:48There'll be another thumbnail here somewhere for you to click onto so you can carry on watching the channel and I'll see you on the next one and Danny, stay out of trouble. Absolutely. then. God bless you. And you, brother. Cheers, mate. Cheers, mate.

1:18:05I'm not giving up. I am selling the building. The final season of FX is the bear. The restaurant is flooded. Everything's either going to be okay. Or not. We are outgunned and we We are outmanned. We have each other. FX is the Bear, the final season. All episodes now streaming on Disney+. At ZocDoc, we know you care about your health. You wouldn't do that early morning cardio if you didn't. So the fact that your annual physical is overdue just shows how hard it can be to get seen by a doctor. Sorry, that doctor's not in network. Press 1 for more options. You've reached us outside normal business hours.

1:18:50The next availability is in three months. But ZocDoc makes finding the right doctor easy. Download the app and search by specialty, insurance, and availability. Read real patient reviews, then book instantly. ZocDoc, ready to be seen?