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Tom Driberg, Frances Shea, and Reggie Kray, circa 1962.

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Frances Shea on a night out, circa mid 60s.

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Happy heavenly birthday, Frances. 💖

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Frances Shea on a date with Pete Whelan, May 1964.

"One night I took her to a big family party in South London. My cousin said she looked just like Brigitte Bardot. It was true. Everyone who saw her was saying "Who's that girl"?'"

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Barbiturates could be bought almost as easily as sweets on the London streets, Mr Ian Milne, the St Pancras Coroner, said yesterday, when he found that Mrs Reginald Kray, aged 23, had killed herself with an ‘enormous dose’ of phenobarbitone.

Mrs Kray, who was referred to by her maiden name of Frances Elsie Shea during the inquest, was the wife of one of the Kray twins. She was found dead at the home of her brother last week.

Mr Frank Brian Shea, of Wimbourne Court, Wimbourne Street, Hackney, E., told the Coroner that his sister had reverted to her maiden name when she went to live with him and his wife of three months before. She had hoped for a reconciliation with her husband.

Dr Julian Silverstone, consultant psychiatrist at Hackney Hospital, said Mrs Kray began psychiatric treatment in 1965. She was admitted to hospital in June 1966, and remained there until September the same year. He agreed with the Coroner that she had had a ‘personality disorder.’ Dr Silverstone said that in October last year she was admitted to St Leonard’s Hospital after an overdose of barbiturates. In January she was again admitted after being found in a gas-filled room. On the second occasion barbiturate poisoning was diagnosed.

Mrs Kray was married at Bethnal Green in April, 1965, soon after the Kray twins were acquitted at the Central Criminal Court of charges of demanding protection money from a Soho club owner.

Mr Reginald Kray was in court at the inquest, but did not give evidence.”

The Times, 1967

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Frances Shea, mid 1960s.

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Frances Shea with a member of 'The Firm' on holiday, date/location unknown.

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Frances Shea in Spain.

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A screen grab of a unpublished photo of Frances Shea from the documentary 'Reggie Kray: The Final Word.'

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"Paulette Jones grew up in the area. She was in the same class as Frances (Shea Kray) at Randal Cremer at one stage when they were both aged 8. She vividly recalled, most of all, Frances' abundant mass of hair.

'She was quite plump with longish dark curly hair' Paulette recalled. 'We always called her Franny or Fran. After Randal Cremer we went off to different grammar schools. I went to Central Foundation at Liverpool Street and Frances went to Dalston County, a girls school on Shacklewell Lane, off Newington Road.

I can still see her in my minds eye in a dark belted raincoat and a hat perched on the back of her head, because of the amount of hair she had. The coat and hat would have been part of the uniform for Dalston County. I wanted to go with Franny and some of the others to Dalston County but my mother said Central Foundation was a better school."

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Reggie Kray, his girlfriend Frances Shea and friends in Jersey, May 1960.

“Incredibly, he also took sixteen-year-old Frances on a trip to Jersey in May 1960 in their early days of courtship. They flew there. Of course there’d be sepearate rooms, Reggie assured Frank Senior beforehand, and this was no lie. Frances had no intention of loosing her virginity and her glamorous, free spending older boyfriend was nothing but respectful of this.”

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The Liverpool Echo - Tuesday June 13, 1967.

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Frances Shea at the zoo, mid 1960s.

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Excerpts from 'Reg Kray: A Man Apart by Roberta Kray focusing Frances Shea.

(Click to enlarge)

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From 'Reg Krays Book Of Slang'

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From 'Ronnie Kray' by Laurie O'Leary.

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"Reggie Kray and his girlfriend, Frances Shea (centre right of table) at the Stork Club, Regent Street, London, in about 1963."