CAUSE OF DEATH: Dave Courtney shot himself dead as he committed suicide with a firearm

Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that Dave Courtney shot himself dead as he committed suicide with a firearm.

Courtney lays claim to having arranged the security for Ronnie Kray’s funeral in 1995 – despite only being 9 when one of the UK’s most notorious criminal double acts were locked up. Throughout an eventful criminal career Courtney claims to have been shot, stabbed and had his nose nearly bitten off before it was sewed back on.

Just yesterday he posted on Facebook after a hospitality visit to Charlton Athletic. A smiling Courtney wrote: “At Charlton today . Full works today three course meal and our man James company is Sponser for the game. Billingham communications ……… an wat a cool cool day it’s all turning out to be.”

East End gangster-turned-actor Dave Courtney appeared all smiles yesterday as he watched his beloved Charlton Athletic just hours before he shot himself dead at his London home. 

He spent a ‘cool day’ with a ‘full works’ three course meal at The Valley as The Addicks beat Reading 4-0 in League One.

The touching Facebook post showed Courtney dressed in a white shirt, blue waistcoat and red tie as he posed and smiled with friends. He wrote: ‘An wat a cool cool day it’s all turning out to be.’

Courtney, 64, was found dead just hours later at his ‘Camelot House’ home in south-east London. 

He was one of Britain’s best-known gangsters and made a name for himself through his affiliation with famous London East End hardmen such as the Krays, Roy Shaw and Lenny McLean.

The Bermondsey-born Plumstead resident first became infamous as a debt collector – who often wore a brutal knuckle-duster. Courtney claims he has been found not guilty in a whopping 19 different trials – but was once convicted of possessing live ammunition in January 2009.

The hard-nosed criminal later turned to acting when he assumed roles in a number of low-budget London gangster films – including Hell To Pay which produced, directed and starred in. Courtney acted in other films including Six Bend Trapp, Clubbing to Death and The Dead Sleep Easy.