The ‘Black Widow’ killer Linda Calvey has revealed that she used to do Myra Hindley’s hair in prison despite calling the child murderer a ‘b****’ and slapping her during their first meeting behind bars.
Linda Calvey was jailed for 18 years in Holloway Prison, London, over her involvement in the death of her lover, Ronnie Cook – despite protesting her innocence.
It was there that she rubbed shoulders with some of the UK’s most notorious serial killers including Myra Hindley and Rose West.
The ‘Black Widow’ killer Linda Calvey (pictured in 1978) has revealed that she used to do Myra Hindley’s hair in prison despite calling the child murderer a ‘b****’ and slapping her during their first meeting behind bars
‘The first time I saw Myra Hindley she was doing her laundry and singing to herself.
‘I marched straight over and slapped her in the face and said, “You b****! How can you sing like that when you’ve killed little children?” She was very bitter and believed she didn’t deserve prison.
‘There was nothing nice about her, she had a horrible, cold way,’ she said, according to the Mirror.
Hindley had been in partnership with Ian Brady in the rape and murder of five small children, which became known as the Moors Murders, before police received a tip off from her brother-in-law in 1965.
Calvey said that Myra Hindley (pictured), who had been in partnership with Ian Brady in the rape and murder of five small children, was ‘very particular’ about getting her hair dyed dark red once a month
But Calvey and Hindley ended up having number of run-ins after Calvey got a prison job doing the other inmates’ hair.
She said that Hindley was ‘very particular’ about getting her hair dyed dark red once a month and would often sit and smoke roll-up cigarettes.
Hindley would often ask Calvey to speak to her mother on the phone and clear spiders out of her cell but Calvey said that they were never friends.
Calvey had grown up in Ilford, east London, alongside eight siblings.
She had started dating convicted armed robber Mickey Calvey in 1968 following a chance meeting as a teenager.
She had been taken to a party by some of her friends that was to celebrate his release from prison after serving eight years for robbing an M&S security van.
The pair married and had two children – Melanie, now 49, and Neil, now 45.
Calvey insists that she only got involved in hard crime after Mickey’s death in 1978 when he was shot by police during an armed raid at a supermarket.
Linda received 18 years in Holloway (pictured) which made her Britain’s longest-serving female prisoner for a time
She started her life of crime as a menacing getaway driver before becoming a gun-toting robber targeting post offices and banks.
Later, she became a leading figure in the underworld, claiming that she was addressed as ‘Lady Boss’ and was dubbed the Queen of the East End underworld.
Calvey is believed to have earned £1million from her armed robberies but claims that she actually stole £100,000 a raid, suggesting the actual earnings are considerably higher.
She was eventually caught and given a seven-year sentence for armed robbery and was forced to leave her two young children behind in the care of her mother.
Calvey (pictured with children Melanie, now 49, and Neil, now 45) has since released an autobiography about her life as well as turning her hand to fiction
Linda began a relationship with Ronnie Cook when she was released but Cook was still behind bars.
But he was murdered on the day of his release 18 months later in what was thought to be an attempted robbery gone wrong.
Calvey had described a masked man kicking down the door of her kitchen before shooting Cook in the elbow and head.
Police investigated and accused Calvey of paying hit-man Daniel Reece £10,000 to shoot her lover.
Reece was sentenced to life in prison with Linda receiving 18 years which made her Britain’s longest-serving female prisoner for a time.
She has since released an autobiography about her life as well as turning her hand to fiction.