Final Agony: The previously untold stories of Paul Sykes

By Jamie Boyle

This is the final book in the series of Agony books.

For the first time, in his own words, Amazon best-selling author Jamie Boyle tells of the unheard stories he has unearthed during his eight years of researching the anomaly that was Wakefield's Paul Sykes.

Final Agony follows Paul's journey from the cradle to the grave.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WarCryPress UK
• Release date: Jan 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9781912543342

Book preview

Paul Sykes

‘Final Agony’

The previously untold stories of Paul Sykes

by Jamie Boyle

Paul Sykes

‘Final Agony’

The previously untold stories of Paul Sykes

by Jamie Boyle

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www.warcrypress.co.uk

Jamie Boyle (c)

ISBN: 978-1-912543-34-2

Final Agony: The previously untold stories of Paul Sykes

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying and, 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. ''Final Agony" Produced by Warcry Press (part of Roobix Ltd) on behalf of Jamie & Shirley-Anne Boyle, North Yorkshire (c) 2020.

Printed and bound in Great Britain by PMM Group Ltd, Yorkshire!

Book Cover Design by James Foreman

Find out more at facebook.com/warcrypublishing/

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to my best friend Neil Booth. I met Neil whilst writing the first book about Middlesbrough’s notorious Lee Duffy.

Despite 2019 being the worst year of his life he’s been a constant source of support. Even if ‘The Whole of the Moon’ hadn’t sold a single copy it would still have been worth writing, otherwise I wouldn’t have met Neil.

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I’ve yet to meet anyone who has a bad word to say about him and me, my wife and our children are privileged to know him.

Love you brother

Jamie xx

R.I.P Sambo Booth forever young.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Wakefield legend and all round nice guy Chris Campbell. Chris's input from day one has been invaluable and I couldn't have done the research I have on Sykesy without him. I love Chris to death and I'm privileged to call him a friend now, although me and Daz Payne do enjoy winding him up on Facebook (laughs).

Also Delroy Showers, who, it's an absolute pleasure to ever be in his company. Delroy is the most interesting former criminal I've ever met, hands down (and believe me I've met a lot in the last few years) and ‘if’ he ever decides to write a book himself on his life I personally would drop everything to do it.

Love you Uncle, God bless Nephew  xx

Chapters

Foreword by Chris Campbell                        1

‘Thanks Sykesy’                              12

Paul’s Beginning                              21

So you want to be a Boxer                        29

The Fearsome Rep                               34

An Evil Genius ???                              43

The Pro Game                              49

The Women                                    64

The Allegations                              79

The Demon Drink                              84

Fighting Ability                                    91

Clyde                                          96

A Life time of Terrorisation                        101

Former top high ranking Wakefield police officer      108

‘Life isn’t always what we want it to be!’            129

‘Always look on the bright side of life’                  138

Sweet Agony                                    143

Paul Sykes at Large                              152

Life after Death                              160

The Final Word                              166

Delroy Showers – One Last Word                  172

Song Lyrics:

I AM ME                              176

by Gareth Wragg

Dynamite Fighter                        179

by Dave Mankind

River of Regret                        181

by Dave Mankind

The Sound of Young Hearts Breaking      182

by Dave Mankind

Sweet Agony                        184

by Dave Mankind

"The first time I came across Paul Sykes was in the summer of 2012 on YouTube. I’d never heard anything about the man up until then.

Watching Paul Sykes for the first time, I instantly knew I needed to know more about this man and I wouldn’t be put off. To cut a long story short, here is my third and final book on the most remarkable character I’ve ever heard of.

Paul Sykes was like no other criminal and like no ordinary man.

If you’ve been on this journey with me and read my other books then I’m assuming you’re just as intrigued as I was and still am.  I hope you enjoy this book, the final agony."

Jamie Boyle

Author

FOREWORD

by Chris Campbell

Right then, I imagine all you readers buying this book have already read the previous books on Paul Sykes and are now eagerly about to read this final book on the life and times of 'Sykesy' - so I would like to mention that my friend and author Jamie Boyle has asked me to write this prologue to the final chapter of this series of books about Paul's chaotic train wreck of a life. Now of course as I have said many times before, I am NO WAY an expert on Paul and his life of violence and mayhem, but it is a pleasure to be invited to write the start of this last book about him - entitled Final Agony.

However, as I have been involved with both previous books, I won't say too much about myself apart from I will have lived in this fair city of ours as man and boy for 60 years next February, so due to the jobs I have done (doorman 16 years and taxi driver 20 years) it is fair to say that I know almost everyone who has been a bit of a 'someone' around here who might have either grafted with or known Paul Sykes, so I will now crack on with this introduction...  

Rewinding to Sykesy's days in his prime, when he wasn't on holiday at the pleasure of her majesty, he kept this city on edge all the time. When he was inside people could go about their business without constantly looking over their shoulders, wondering if this 'Bogeyman' of Wakefield would appear and ruin their day (as he often did). But when he was 'on the out' then wherever you went in the town centre either in a pub or maybe even a cafe to have your dinner, people would be constantly looking over their shoulders... 'cos if Sykesy walked in most folk would then drink up and walk out sharpish, as he'd likely drink your beer or sit down beside you and eat your food! 

Now I've heard a few Wakefield characters tell their stories about a couple of occasions when a couple of blokes have amusingly put a stop to Sykesy's usual antics, as when he went into a pub he'd pick anyone at random with a full pint... then he'd just walk up to them, nick their pint and drink their beer!  Sykesy walked into the Black Rock pub one afternoon and a fella was sat having a pint at the bar but he knew the score, so as soon as he saw Sykesy walk in he immediately made a public spectacle of standing up and taking his false teeth out, then he dropped them in his pint so that Sykesy wouldn't nick it. When Sykesy saw him do this he cracked out laughing and said well I've knocked a lot of blokes teeth out before, but not without whacking 'em first! -  he then cracked out laughing like a lunatic and bought his own beer, so the geezer got to keep and drink his pint! 

Anyway, this brings me to the subject of the Old Bill. Now going back to my chapter in Unfinished Agony, I have spoken a few times since to a bloke who lives very close to where Sykesy used to live who didn't want to write a chapter for that particular book, but he was happy for me to tell of his experiences on his behalf. Now this fella said to me that it must have taken the whole shift of the police on duty at Wood Street nick on the day to turn up at number 6 Gissing Road to arrest him, as he said there would be at least half a dozen police cars, a riot van and dog van turn up if they had to lock him up, as he used to take his shirt off in his front garden, then he'd take up his boxing stance to scare and psyche out the coppers! He said all the street would be out watching when the police came mob handed to arrest him as he'd want to fight them all, he'd threaten them with violence and then pick anything up at hand to throw at them, so after getting abuse and various missiles hurled in their direction they would then have to 'tactically withdraw' out of his garden. 

Now a few more folk who I know who lived nearby on Lupset also used to go around to watch the fun and games with the police operations when they had to attend to try to arrest him, everyone said that most of the coppers looked nervous and it seemed obvious none of them wanted to go in to tackle him first in case they got KO'd or ended up with broken facial bones. But a couple of the spectators said that if Sykesy was obviously drunk and looked a bit 'the worse for wear' then the coppers would seem a bit more confident, so then at least half a dozen of them would then rush him and a couple of them would first go for his legs and rugby tackle him to the floor, then the rest would dive on him and grab his arms and slam as many pairs of handcuffs on him as they could before carrying him off into the meat wagon - where no doubt he then got treated to some police boot polish!  

If he was sober or in an aggressive mood they said it always ended up in a 'Mexican Standoff' where the police would remain outside his garden and try to talk him into coming quietly, but as some of the locals said half of the coppers looked like they were shitting their pants! However, if he saw a policewoman amongst them he'd say she can come and arrest me - and then after he'd let her cuff him he'd laugh at the other coppers like a demented loon and as I have mentioned previously in Unfinished Agony - I am sure the Wakefield Express once ran a story about a young policewoman arresting him single handedly, and I bet it also earned her a lot of kudos amongst her fellow officers!

Moving onto Paul's rapid deterioration down the slippery slope of booze and drugs I have to say this, he made so many people’s lives a misery due to either taxing them or beating them up in the past that I wonder how many of the young lads that used to regularly beat him up for a bit of sport, were encouraged to do so by their Dads and Granddads just for a sense of vengeance. Or how many more must have travelled from miles around just to use him as a football to boast that they'd kicked him around the park? As I have NEVER yet personally heard any of our town's (then) young lads admit to doing this even after all these years later, perhaps as they have got a bit older they now feel ashamed of what they did or daren't they admit to doing it? As we all know Karma turned 360 degrees for Sykesy, but still NOBODY will admit to setting him on fire in the park or kicking his head in when he was nothing but an alcoholic vagrant, shame on them, I say! 

However, there is not much more to say about Sykesy that hasn't already been said, as I think most people who had anything to say about him have already written a chapter in the two previous books and got things off their chests. But whilst I know most people and characters of Wakefield and found many people for Jamie to interview to write their chapters, there were a couple of 'big fish' who slipped the net. One of these is a bloke who I see quite regularly who didn't want to write a chapter, but who has constantly fed me a stream of snippets of information that I have previously added in the earlier books, and the other one was Colin Beaumont. RIP. 

Now a bit about the fella first before I tell his tale... Colin was originally going to write a chapter for 'Unfinished Agony' but then changed his mind. But then he said he would write one again but wanted a 'good drink' out of it, at least 50 quid! But then he changed his mind again, saying 'I don't want to go to the pub and every fucker want me to tell it all over again every day, I just want a quiet life' - but Colin Beaumont was one Wakefield character who was instantly recognisable, as he went to a few city centre pubs every day on his mountain bike and he nearly always wore Bermuda shorts no matter what the weather, he rode everywhere on his bike and he was as fit as a butchers dog!  

So, to tell the story of the biggest fish that escaped - Colin Beaumont was also a well respected Wakefield tough guy who was also a big mate of Sykesy's back in the day. But as well as being a seasoned bar room brawler, he was also very well known to the old bill and prison service for various acts of violence and thuggery. Now Colin had regularly drank and grafted with Sykesy over many years and also did time alongside him. But the time that he nearly killed Sykesy with the bar stool is a part of Wakefield folklore that has never been truly told, so I shall elaborate...  

Now there have been two totally differing accounts I have heard regarding this incident. One is from a fellow taxi driver who I know who actually took Sykesy’s third wife up to Pinderfields hospital to pick him up after Colin smashed him up with the bar stool when he was operated on to stitch his head back together. But after the anaesthetic wore off and when he woke up properly, he then promptly signed himself out of the hospital! But this taxi driver is another bloke who STILL doesn't want to be identified in case of any repercussions, even after all this time. But this was what he told me about picking him up from the hospital, and then subsequently about Sykesy’s recollection of the previous events of that night... 

When we got up to Pinderfields hospital we expected to have to go onto the A&E or an intensive care ward to pick Paul up, but that was not the case because as soon as he'd been stitched up he'd already signed himself out and was waiting for us outside. But I can tell you this, he had a massive horrific V shaped scar that went from the front to the back of his head like Count Dracula's V shaped hair (which is known as a Widows Peak) but minus all his hair which had to be shaved off for the operation to stitch his scalp back together. Now when we saw Paul he looked horrific, he looked just like he'd been in a car crash and been catapulted head first through a car windscreen as he had that many stitches in his head!  

But quoting the taxi driver... According to Sykesy, his side of the story was that him and Colin had an argument that night and Colin fucked off to the bog for a piss, then after that the last thing he could remember about being in the pub is that he got whacked from the side and hit the deck, then getting smashed up with a bar stool - the next thing he remembered was waking up being stitched up in the operating theatre with a load of coppers holding him down in case he kicked off with the surgeon and theatre staff... he then said to us 'That bastard did me from behind with the stool, so when I find the cunt I'm going to smash him to fucking bits!'

But when I spoke to Colin regarding him doing Sykesy from behind, he said it's a load of fucking bollocks is that so he then told me his story. He said "Sykesy and me had been out all day having a good drink & a smoke, we'd been out round Dewsbury and then got a taxi back to Wakefield where we ended up in the Primrose tavern near Kirkgate train station that evening. He said they were both sat on stools at the bar when Sykesy started slagging Colin's sister Elaine off (he'd had an on-off relationship with her for a while) and started calling her 'slag this and slag that' but then he said we (our family) were