DAVE DAVIS
Early evening in an Essex pub. Dave Davis – D to his friends – is leaning on the bar. It’s his round. Holding a crisp £50 note, he asks with a nod, ‘What yer ’avin?’
He is 36 years old, broadly built, dressed in a navy suit, a no-nonsense, up-front, in-your-face kinda guy.
He handed me my drink without looking at me. In fact, throughout the interview, he hardly glanced in my direction. If he wasn’t talking out of the corner of his mouth on his mobile phone, then he was acknowledging shifty-looking characters with a nod.
Dave Davis is a man’s man. That’s obvious. He’s also one of those men in a hurry – things to do, people to see, places to go. He keeps his cards close to his chest, he gives little away. He was very careful about what he said – and how he said it. A man of few words.
‘Don’t say much, do you?’ I said.
He smiled and, for the first time, looked at me, really looked at me. His blue eyes went straight through me and he whispered, ‘Why use two words when one will do?’
But then he started to talk …
BACKGROUND
I’ve spent most of my life in Essex. My uncle is Davey Hunt, a well-respected man in Essex. I’ve got a brother and a sister.
I was a bit of a rogue when I was growing up – I couldn’t take authority very well, school and all that, I just didn’t like being there. I didn’t get on with the other kids that well.
LIFE OF CRIME
I’ve done time – for violence. I served two out of four when I was 19. That gave me a quick shock and I haven’t been back since.
IS PRISON A DETERRENT?
No, not really. Because if you’re going to do it, you’re going to do it anyway. If you start thinking about things, it’s going to hurt you rather than just getting on and doing it. Now I’m older, prison is more of a deterrent, but when I was younger, no, it wasn’t. It’s not so much your age, it’s when you’ve got kids of your own – you’ve got to think of them. They slow you down. Who’s going to get them their bread and butter? It makes you more sensible.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN CAPITAL PUNISHMENT?
Mainly no, but for child rapes, all that kind of thing, it goes without saying, doesn’t it? Yes.
WHAT WOULD HAVE DETERRED YOU FROM A LIFE OF CRIME?
Lots of money, having wealthy parents. I wouldn’t get up and do what I do every day if I had loads of money to burn.
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN STABBED/SHOT?
Yeah, I’ve been cut, stabbed and I’ve been shot.
SCARIEST MOMENT?
I haven’t really had a scary moment – they come afterwards when you think back on what’s happened and you think, That was a bit lively.
In fact, the scariest moment really was when my kids were born; I could hardly stay in the same hospital. I went white and I was having panic attacks. I was frightened, I had to go.
Then I came back when the baby was born and then I had to go again. Now I’ve got three little girls and a boy – he’s only seven months. I didn’t see any of them being born – I just couldn’t. Seeing a woman in labour with your child is the scariest thing in the world.
SADDEST MOMENT?
I lost my dad about five weeks ago. My saddest moment ever – still playing on me now. It was a brain tumour. He was only 50. He was governor round this manor. It’s been a terrible, terrible shock.
He complained of headaches for three days, went to work, fell asleep in the cab of a lorry and never woke up again. I don’t think I will ever get over his death. He wasn’t just my dad – he was my best mate. I’m devastated.
WHAT RATTLES YOUR CAGE?
West Ham upset me! But, seriously, paedophiles, people who don’t treat their kids right – that really upsets me. Nothing much else.
HAVE YOU EVER REALLY LOVED ANYONE?
My mum and dad. My kids. I don’t feel the same for any woman as I feel when I hold my beautiful daughters in my arms or my baby boy. I’ve never felt such love as the love I feel for them.
DESCRIBE A HARD BASTARD
A hard bastard is a man who’s fearless. He doesn’t have to be a hard bastard as such – just fearless, scared of nothing.
NAME A HARD BASTARD
My mother, Stephanie. She’s fearless.
WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN FIVE YEARS?
I can see us in a little house – out of the way so no one could find me, out in the sticks somewhere, comfortably off, retired – but I suppose I’ve retired already! I’ve done the door since I was 17 but I’ve stopped doing it now, so that’s retirement.
ANY REGRETS?
No. If a man regrets his past, then he regrets his life. So, no, I’ve no regrets.