The juxtaposition of beauty and beast is a uniquely fascinating one – especially when the two extremes can be found entwined within the same human soul.

Gangland killer Ronnie Kray, one half of the notorious East End duo who terrorised London’s underworld between the 1950s and 1960s, found solace in an unlikely place during his incarceration.

Jailed for life in 1969 for a string of grisly murders carried out with his twin brother Reggie, Ronnie – a bisexual paranoid schizophrenic – put brush to canvas behind bars and produced a series of abstract paintings.

Seven such works, until recently gathering dust in a Suffolk attic, are now set to be auctioned. They were created during the early 1970s, when Ronnie was a prisoner at HM Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight, and were a gift from a former fellow inmate of the Krays, referred to simply as ‘Uncle Jimmy’.

A spokesman for Mander Auctioneers of Clare said: “The gangland activities of the Kray twins have been well documented, but less is known of the twins as artists.  Both Ronnie and Reggie painted throughout their many years in prison and both adopted a naïve and expressive approach to the many landscapes they produced.

“It is thought both brothers used their artwork to barter with whilst in prison and pictures such as these could well have been used as currency for gambling, or in exchange for luxuries such as tobacco. The notoriety of the twins probably meant that the paintings were sought after by fellow inmates for their possible future value.”

The oil paintings, described by auctioneer James Mander as “very dark”, all bear Ronnie’s barely legible signature on the front. On the reverse are Ronnie’s details and prison number, along with the date each was painted and the official prison stamp. Ronnie died from a heart attack in Broadmoor’s high security wing in 1995 at the age of 61.

To explore the artistic side of a killer, click on the thumbnails in the gallery below.

by Laura Snook, senior news editor, MSN UK News

July 22 2008