Further Agony: One More Round with Sykes

By Jamie Boyle

The sequel to the Amazon best seller ‘Unfinished Agony’ The 3rd and final book on the wild man of Wakefield Paul Sykes. “I have never wasted a day while I have been in the nick – I have life-saving awards, a City and Guilds in bricklaying, 22 ‘O’ Levels, 8 ‘A’ Levels and a degree, but I also have 42 previous convictions and that is all that counts” Paul Sykes. Further Agony includes chapters from: Delroy Showers; Davy Dunford; Josie Threlfall; Chris Lambrianou; Harry Lakes; Reg Long; Dave Owens; Neil Atkinson; Janet Sellers; John Purvis; Tom Kiely; Colin Hart; Lance Jackson; Alan Lord; Clyde Broughton; Mark Sellers; Alan Brown; Mark Szedzielarz; Kenny Williams; Tommy Harrison; David Flint; Wes Bostock; Simon Ambler; Ricky Wright-Colquhoun; Tracy Thompson; Andy Hammond; Shaun First; Janet; Danny Leach; Julie Abott; Gary Mills; Imran Hussain; Lee Daniels; Dean Ormston; Wakefield Police Officer. Paul Sykes from Lupset near Wakefield, died aged 60 in Pinderfield’s Hospital from Pneumonia & Cirrhosis of the Liver. He fought for the British & Commonwealth Heavyweight Boxing Titles, wrote the award-winning book ‘Sweet Agony’ and by the age of 44 he had spent 21 out of 26 years in 18 prisons! On the tenth anniversary of Paul’s death I released ‘Sykes-Unfinished Agony’,which went on to be a best seller on Amazon and was a collection of fifty different interviews from people who knew Paul. I was contacted by so many people about Paul but there had to be deadline for the first book and for various reasons I couldn’t get to everybody who wanted to share their memories of him, good, bad or indifferent. This played on my mind, there were some gritty stories that I just couldn’t leave untold and when Paul’s closest friend, Delroy Showers and other infamous names such as Chris Lambrianou agreed to give me interviews, I just couldn’t leave it there so, I just had to write another book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WarCryPress UK
• Release date: Oct 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9780995531260

Book preview

FURTHER AGONY

‘ONE MORE ROUND WITH SYKES’

I would like to dedicate this book to my beautiful Son, Jameson Lennon Boyle.  You make my life worth living, you’re my pride and joy and I love you more than Morrissey hates everything. God bless you Son. All my love always, Love Daddy xxx

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Jamie Boyle (c)

ISBN: 978-0-9955312-6-0

‘Further Agony – One more round with Sykes’ All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying and recording, without the written permission of the copyright holder, application for which should be addressed to the publisher via the dealing agent at: [e-mail] Such written permission must also be obtained before any part of this publication is stored in a retrieval system of any nature. This book is sold subject to the Standard Terms and Conditions of Sale of New Books and may not be re-sold in the UK below the net price fixed by the Publisher / Agent.

‘Further Agony – One more round with Sykes’ Produced by wacrypress.co.uk (part of Roobix Ltd: 7491233) on behalf of Jamie Boyle, Northallerton. Copyright © Jamie Boyle 2017. Jamie Boyle has asserted his right as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Original jacket illustration by James Ryan Foreman

Poetry: Chris Campbell and Jack W Gregory

Thanks to the following for providing some of the photographs found in the book:

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays, St. Ives

Find out more at: facebook.com/FurtherAgony

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NOTE: £1 from the sale of each publication will be donated to the Bradley Lowery Foundation

Acknowledgements

I would like to take the time to thank everyone who contributed to the research for this book and the chapters therein, giving special thanks to the following:

The Wakefield Express, The Yorkshire Post, CEO’s of Warcry Press Boris and Floyd and their minions, James Foreman, Matt Hamilton, Simon Ambler, Jack W Gregory, Chris Campbell, Gavin Hepworth, David Flint, the residents of Wakefield and last but not least my lovely Wife Shirley-anne Boyle.

John Conteh MBE

WBC World Champion 1974-1978

I met Paul Sykes a few times on the boxing scene, a few times in London with Alex Steene and once or twice in gyms.

It is truly remarkable that after 13 years in Prison on a diet of porridge, bread and water that Paul came out of Prison to fight for the British and Commonwealth titles at an age when most fighters are retired.  I myself had been retired and finished for 4 years by the time Paul fought John L Gardner.

To come from the background that he was involved in and box for them titles is an achievement in itself. 

Boxing was Paul’s real talent and it’s just a shame he never used it and that he’s more well known for other things than boxing.

Paul had 2 years at boxing and he gave it a go as much as he could.

Richy Horsley (Crazy Horse)

Author of ‘Born to Fight – The True Story of Richy (crazy horse) Horsley’

Paul Sykes’ toughness and courage were second to none.  You only have to watch his fight with John L Gardner for the British and Commonwealth titles to see how tough he was.  Those six rounds were non-stop action and they were both landing bombs.  You don’t get a shot at a British title if you haven’t got any boxing ability.  Sykes was one tough hombre.

Richard Dunn

English former Heavyweight, World Title challenger and European Champion

I remember Sykesy and he had one hell of an interesting life.

I heard about Paul Sykes whilst I was still an amateur in the 1960’s.  The things I would hear about him were of this big rough lad always getting into bother.

I went along to spar with Paul Sykes once in Doncaster.  When I sparred with him, from my point of view, it was only one round and I stayed in second gear, Sykesy on the other hand was trying to take my head off with every punch he threw.  Every time Paul sparred with anyone he tried to bully them and roll over the top of them.  Sometimes he got away with it and sometimes people stood up to him like I did and he didn’t like that at all. Paul always wanted it all his own way in the ring and of course the fight game is not like that.

If Paul Sykes would have behaved himself he’d have done alright in the ring to be quite truthful.  Sykesy was a big strong lad and he could dig but he always tried to take it that bit too far in sparring.  If he had been ‘normal’ he’d have done very well as he had the ability but of course he wasn’t normal.

No two people are the same and he certainly wasn’t.

Bunny Johnson

British and Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion

I sparred with Paul Sykes in 1973 at the Thomas A Beckett gym.  Paul was contracted to spar with Joe Frazier.  Anyway, Frazier was having a break from sparring and at the time I was the main contender for a shot at the British Title and Paul told me to get in the ring and spar a few rounds with him to check out my capabilities.  He was a tough man and he relished being tough and being thought of as tough.  We had a good sparring session.  I remember it very well because he compared my punching power to that of the dynamic Joe Frazier.

I found Paul to be a very hard man as a boxer in the ring.  He was someone I felt I could trust.  He was an intelligent man who did not support the lack of opportunities for black fighters at the time.

Contents

Introduction                                    1

Delroy Showers                              7

Davy Dunford                                    18

Josie Threlfall                                    27

Chris Lambrianou                              33

Harry Lakes                                    42

Reg Long                                    45

David Owens                                    50

Neil Atkinson                                    53

Janet Sellers                                    59

John Purvis                                    74

Tom Kiely                                    79

Colin Hart                                    83

Lance Jackson                              85

Alan Lord                                    94

Clyde Broughton                              99

Mark Sellers                                    104

Alan Brown                                    112

Mark Szedzielarz                              116

Kenny Williams                              120

Tommy Harrison                              127

David Flint                                    133

Wes Bostock                                    161

Simon Ambler                                    170

Ricky Wright-Colquhoun                        175

Tracy Thompson                              180

Andy Hammond                              183

Shaun First                                    190

Janet                                          199

Julie Allott                                    215

Gary Mills                                    221

Imran Hussain                                    235

Lee Daniels                                    241

Dean Ormston                                    245

A Wakefield Police Officer                        248

The Road Man by Jack W Gregory                  259

The Last Word – By Chris Campbell                  261

A Life of Agony by Chris Campbell                  266

Afterword                                    270

Introduction by Jamie Boyle

Sykes-Unfinished Agony came out on Tuesday March 7th 2017, ten years exactly to the day that Paul Sykes passed away.

The lost son of Lupset was a complete one off and Wakefield will never see his like again.  When Paul Sykes died it was the end of an era for Wakefield, a place I’ve grown fond of and now will in some way always feel attached to.

I have had a mixed reaction to Unfinished Agony coming out, most people congratulated me and said it was a really insightful unbiased view about Paul though at the other end of the scale I’ve had a death threat or two! You can’t please everyone though can you and if you want to make an omelette you must break a few eggs!

Not everyone was overjoyed about me waking up the sleeping ghost of Paul Sykes and I’ve had my fair share of ‘trolls’ on social media but when you discover Paul Sykes, there’s so many questions and queries that you’re left with but there’s so little to go on.  Speaking from personal experience I can understand why people become so curious about who he was and what he was about and I’ve spoken to many people over the last five years who have also become as intrigued with him as I had become.

I wasn’t born until 1980 which means I wasn’t born when he carried out most of his evil acts of violence some of which impacted on people’s lives greatly, it’s almost as if some people hold me accountable for that. 

Even though we are now two books into speaking about Paul with people who knew him, I’m still learning about him and discovering that people’s hatred or people’s love for Paul haven’t diminished over the last ten years.

I never really had any plans to do a second book and it wouldn’t have come about at all if I hadn’t heard from the very eloquent and charismatic Mr. Delroy Showers, who I liked a great deal and who was such a good friend of Paul’s and I’d like to thank Delroy personally for his insight into Paul and who he was. 

Another insightful view about Paul came from Janet Sellers and her son Mark and I appreciate how hard it was for her to speak about Paul and hope that now in a cathartic sense Janet can now put those demons about a man who made her life and that of her family’s life hell to rest.  Initially Janet refused to even consider giving us an interview but then thought, No, I’m not allowing him to still dictate to me about my life after being dead for ten years.  After Janet gave the interview in the offices of Warcry Press I noticed that Janet become quite emotional and even commented that she felt like a weight had finally been lifted after all these years. 

Another person I feel I must mention also is Julie Allott.  I encountered Julie on one of the Paul Sykes facebook pages as she messaged me to tell me that she had found a flyer for the first book in the front garden of her business office.  Julie ordered the book and really enjoyed reading about a man she knew only too well from the Wakefield Magistrates Court.  Thank you for your time Julie I know that you are a ridiculously busy lady.

I would also like to mention David Flint who is the Grandson of the flamboyant Dennis Flint.  I discovered through talking to various people over the last few years that they have been just as interested in Dennis as they have been with Paul and nobody had really heard anything of him since the documentary, certainly if you Google Dennis, very little comes up. 

When I met up with the producers of Paul Sykes at Large in December 2015 in The Majestic Hotel in Harrogate with Paul’s only sibling Kay, the producers both told me how funny and interesting they thought Dennis Flint was.  They went on to tell me that the scene of Paul knocking on Dennis’ door asking, Are you in Dennis me auld Pal? then hearing Dennis laugh and seeing him sat there with the cigar and wig sat behind that Rolls Royce desk was purposely filmed in that order for maximum comedy value and I think they got that bang on.

I had never given Wakefield much thought before I watched Paul Sykes at Large back in 2012, it was one of those places like Milton Keynes or Coventry, you knew they existed but didn’t know anything about them places.  So, the people that have said that in some way Paul Sykes put Wakefield on the map I must somewhat agree with.  I have a real liking for Wakefield though now I have visited it several times, it is a place steeped in proud Yorkshire history and the Cathedral is something else entirely. Myself and my Wife spent quite some time there when we visited in March 2016, it’s beautiful and if anyone is visiting Wakefield I urge them to go and have a look.

There’s someone who stood out in the first book for his help and he didn’t disappoint me in the help that he gave me with this second one and he is Chris Campbell.  I haven’t spoken to anyone from Wakefield that doesn’t know him and everyone that I have spoken to had only good things to say about him, I want to thank you for the time and effort you have put into these books Chris, you Sir are a full-time legend and who would have thought you’d be fantastic at poetry too!

So, you’re about to read over thirty more chapters about Paul Sykes.  His name is getting more and more familiar in the last few years since my interest in him began.  Would I have liked Paul Sykes if I’d have grown up in the City of Wakefield? Probably not, must be my honest answer.  Would I have found him a figure of interest if I’d lived in Wakefield? Hell yes!

I imagine that if you’ve bought this second book, that has come out six months to the day after the first one, that you’ve read the first book and if you haven’t, why not? Go get it! But if you’ve read the first one then you will know my feelings towards Paul and the reasoning behind these books.  I’m not here to do a dead man a wrong deed or to glorify him in any way.

So, go ahead and read more tales from people that knew Paul, hear what they have to say about the ‘Wildman of Wakefield’ because they knew him, some more than others and he had a very varying impact on the lives on the interviewee’s.  Once again, make up your own mind about him.

One more thing, I must add is as with the first book a pound from every book sale is going to a registered charity, this time to the Bradley Lowery Foundation.  Anyone who hasn’t been hid under a rock for the last few months will have heard of the beautiful and inspiring Bradley Lowery, the little six-year-old Sunderland supporter from Blackhall Colliery near Hartlepool who’s smile could light up a thousand towns and who’s plight touched the lives of so many people and who sadly passed away July 7th 2017 after a courageous battle with Neuroblastoma.  Bradley was first diagnosed with Neuroblastoma at the age of 18 months and battled it for over 2 years until he was at last successful and went into remission.  In July 2016, sadly Bradley relapsed.  Although unfortunately it was too late for Bradley to benefit from the money raised for him, his parents have started the Bradley Lowery Foundation to help other youngsters facing the same terrible diagnosis.

I was asked recently why I would associate Bradley with the likes of Paul Sykes and to that I say I believe that in every negative there is a positive and although Paul Sykes led a very negative existence, I hope by writing about this I can create a positive which is to raise money for such a worthwhile cause as Bradley touched so many lives including my own.  Bradley will never be forgotten not only for his courage and his bravery but for that smile. XX

Many thanks, always a pleasure

Jamie Liam Boyle

I was once arrested in 1985 for running up party bills of 16,000 Singapore dollars in a Hotel and I refused to pay, I escaped, swam from Singapore to Malaysia.  I couldn’t pay, I didn’t have a carrot so I swam for it.  They say it was dangerous – sharks! If they’d bothered me I’d have punched them on the nose

Delroy Showers

If you Google the name Paul Sykes then you’ll find that Delroy Showers’ name will not be too far behind Paul Sykes’ in the results.

The Paul Sykes Story is snowballing as you read this very book, why? You may ask yourself, well my theory to the growing interest is that the Paul Sykes at Large documentary is reaching people far and wide, more people are watching it, just as I did in 2012 and those people are as intrigued as I am to find out what happened to Paul next and before my first book ‘Unfinished Agony’ came out, other than Sweet Agony which Paul wrote himself and the documentary I found that in 2012 there actually wasn’t that much more I could find out about him just from searching his name, so I did as Paul himself did, I went out and I had a look!

People will know the name of Delroy Showers from Sweet Agony.  I’ve read that book twice and it’s as clear as the day is long that Paul absolutely idolised his best friend Delroy.

Who can forget the chaotic scenes at Paul and Cath’s wedding on Paul Sykes at Large!  Delroy had been asked to be the Master of Ceremonies but we all saw how that panned out!

From a personal point of view, I tried for many years to get in contact with Delroy and I would have loved to have included him in Unfinished Agony.  I didn’t realise it at the time but the reason my searches had been so fruitless was that Delroy was finishing his last big sentence of 14 years in Full Sutton near York.  Still, better late than never and I was over the moon when I eventually did get given his number.  I thought the hardest part was still to come though, I was going to have to bite the bullet and phone Mr. Showers and explain who I was and exactly why I was phoning him.  All I could do was to try to be my most persuasive in the hope that he would see that I didn’t have an ulterior motive and I certainly wasn’t the old bill!

After speaking with Delroy a couple of times he granted me, what turned out to be, a very thorough and lengthy interview about his old friend Paul Sykes.  I was extremely grateful to Delroy for his time and his willingness to speak with me, after all this man was classed in the media as a crime lord along with his older brother Michael.  It is fair to say that Delroy Showers was at the top of his game once upon a time as an international drug trafficker.

We agreed to meet at the very plush Grand Queens hotel in Leeds and the first thing that struck me about Delroy was how powerful and fit he looked for a man of 66 years of age, he was very alert, very aware of everything and I could tell he was taking everything in.  Having spoken to Delroy I could really relate to Paul’s quotes in Sweet Agony saying how articulate Delroy was and how he was the perfect English gentleman.

It was an education to be in his company and he has an aura about him as big as any star that I’ve met.  It’s how I imagined a conversation with Chris Eubank would go the words were free flowing.

I hoped I hadn’t offended Delroy when I said that he wasn’t your everyday ex criminal.  He must be one of the most interesting characters that I have ever met in my 37 years on this planet.

Delroy said:

It was the latter half of the 60’s and I was in my late teens when I heard the name Paul Sykes.  I was in prison at the time and the tales of Paul, that I heard in there, were of his numerous fights with prison guards.  Paul Sykes was a stand-up veteran fighting man in every sense of the word and he hated the system.

I didn’t come across Paul in the flesh until 1970 in Hull prison, Paul walked past me and obviously he’d heard a fair few stories about me too and from that day onwards we were instant brothers from another mother.

Paul Sykes was extremely intelligent and we had struck up an instant friendship.  Paul was a very thoughtful person but you could see by looking at him that he’d suffered some problems in his youth, as I had myself.  Looking back on the situation now and looking at it from my armchair with hindsight, he was damaged.  All the factors of his youth impinged on his character later in his life.

You can’t use Paul’s parents as the sole excuse for his behaviour but they factor into his irritant behaviour.  They can’t factor in the lack of control that Paul had that’s the weakness of the individual.  I’ve always said my lack of control is down to me, the elements I saw as a child and certain things that happened to me as a child they then became elements explaining my behaviour, you can’t explain lack of control.

Paul used to come to a group in Hull Prison which was called The Quaker Group and it was run by a chap called Alan Coursely the founder of Northern Dairies, Northern Foods, the owner of Beverley Beatic Finance Company and The Whole Brewery etc.  Alan Coursely was an extremely wealthy Quaker with a very strong social conscience and the Quaker Group in Hull was instrumental in getting all of us into a healthier and more productive way of thinking.  When we went to the group we realised the linguistics were not good.  This for me, well it made me pay attention as to how I spoke and how I came across to other people.  So, I would say it was the Quaker Group in Hull and the folks that were part of it that was instrumental in myself, Eddie Richardson, my brother Michael and Paul becoming much more thoughtful, we got an education in elocution.

I was five years younger than Paul and it’s been said that he looked up to me but I’d say that there were area’s where he was more refined than me and there were some areas where I had an edge over him because I’ve always been studious, so on the balance of things Delroy Showers and Paul Sykes was a relationship of absolute equals.

Paul got into fights in Prison, it was a known fact and it wasn’t always against prison staff!  Paul got into a fight with Chrissy Lambrianou once from the Kray firm that was a running battle on the landing with pans and cutlery.  Paul was very cipherous towards the London gangster element.  Paul was an extremely proud Yorkshire man.

Paul would teach me the value of Yorkshire history and how it has always been at the root of the military structure in our land.  Paul taught me a lot.

I loved Paul’s Father and I loved his Mother I was extremely fond of both Walter and Betty Sykes they always made me very welcome at their family home.  Paul put them through some difficulties during their lives which was shameful of him.

Paul for me is still a significant feature in my life.  The big thing he did for me is that he brought the craziness of my life to an end with the words that he said to me when I saw him in hospital.  This was a few months before he died and the scare he had before he went into Pinderfields that final time when he passed away.

I went in to see him and he was laid there very unkempt and in the bad way he was.  I said to him You disappoint me brother living like this, what has happened?.  He told me that I hadn’t disappointed him and that he still loved me.  Then he said something to me that I I’ll never forget until my dying day, he said that It’s people like me that allow people like you Delroy, I’m the reason that you have the lifestyle you have with your cars.

I heard that Paul had been living on a boat on a canal and that he was not taking care of his hygiene and I knew from that that he’d slipped because Paul was extremely hygienic.  I was living in Argentina at the time and I flew over to see him.  He had one or two scares before he died so I thought I’d go and see him to see what I could do, I could even have put him in Argentina or even another part of South America, somewhere where he’d be able to fit into.  The whole point of my journey was to save him and put him into rehabilitation with regards to his drinking and his drug taking.  So, I went to see him and he could see I was disappointed in him.  His condition in general was awful, his physical condition, well you could tell he hadn’t trained for many years.  I said to Paul words to the effect of What are you doing this for, why don’t you change? and that’s when he looked at me and said the words If it wasn’t for people like me people like you wouldn’t be able to drive around in luxury cars.  I found this so powerfully arresting, it has been for me a prescript to change. 

Those words Paul said to me have been deep in my mind like the grit in the shell of a mollusc the irritant that the grit is, surrounded by material that later transpires to be a pearl! Here was a situation where there it was, a telling, hurtful although truthful statement, I’ve utilised that as part of my change. 

One of the despicable scams Paul and I would pull across different towns was that Paul would dress as a skinhead yob type going into shops owned by Asians and he would act disgustingly racist and kick off often smashing things up and causing mayhem, he was very convincing.  I would then turn up about a week later and say that I