Kek To, his mother, had lived in a small tenement building in the heart of Handsworth, supplementing her meagre Social Security with turning tricks along Lime Street and the Dock areas. She was small, quietly spoken and amicable, which meant she attracted large brash individuals who wanted a weekend’s leave in a warm house with a warm woman - and the advent of a large half-caste son was often a bugbear. Especially as Jack hated more than anything his mother’s ‘friends’.

Kek To had died when he was thirteen years old. Already five foot ten, and looking much older, he got himself work in the Docks, loading the tall ships that came in, and keeping himself to himself. At seventeen he was already a world-weary man and that was when he met JoJo O’Neil. JoJo was thirty-five, already a big name in Liverpool Dock circles as a pimp and procurer, and he saw the potential for violence in hulking young Jack Coyne.

Taking Jack as his minder, JoJo had taught him the finer points of pimping, fencing, and countless other ways of making a dishonest few pounds. Together they became a mighty force, and twenty years on Jack and JoJo were still together, only now they were partners and ran a good many of the Liverpool rackets. Neither had ever darkened the doors of a prison and neither wanted to.

To look at, the pair were semi-respectable - both drove nice cars, wore decent clothes, and owned among other things two night clubs and a brothel. JoJo had only one interest - young women - which he pursued with a fervour belying his age. Jack Coyne on the other hand had an Achilles heel - his wife Bethany, a small dark-eyed West Indian woman, five years older than him and the mother of his six children.

Jack adored her, even though she was showing the wear these days and he was in a position to buy any kind of company he liked. Bethany was his mother, sister and lover rolled into one; the product of a white woman and a black man after a one-night stand. They had an awful lot in common; they both adored each other and their children in that order, and Bethany turned a blind eye to her husband’s businesses, enjoying the feeling of security the money and the respect brought them. Their children were beautiful, taking only the best from their ancestors; they were clever, industrious and loving.