[1] A known drug trafficker by the 1960s, he had been an associate of the Kray twins for some time and, although never a permanent member of The Firm, was regularly employed to commit various crimes on their behalf.
[2] With McVitie's drink and drug use growing ever greater, he started going around the pubs of London taunting the Krays and saying that he was going to kill them, which both twins soon heard about.
Joey Pyle, a friend of McVitie since childhood, contacted him half a dozen times to tell him to reel it in: "If you carry on like this," he told him, "one day you're gonna get it".
The twins quickly fled the scene and McVitie's body was wrapped in an eiderdown and left outside St Mary's Church, Rotherhithe by Tony and Chris Lambrianou, Keith Askem and Ronnie Bender, who were minor members of the Firm.
[4][5] When the Krays discovered the whereabouts of the corpse, they ordered it to be immediately moved, probably because of the close proximity of friend and associate Freddie Foreman.
"[3] Following McVitie's murder, the Krays and several other members of their gang were finally arrested by the Scotland Yard police officers who had been watching their exploits for years.
At the Old Bailey on 4 March 1969, both were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that they should each serve a minimum of 30 years.
[7] The Krays' elder brother Charlie, together with Freddie Foreman (who helped move the body) and Cornelius Whitehead, were all found guilty of being accessories to McVitie's murder.