Grandmother sells Reggie Kray artwork and letters for £1,360

Carol-Ann Kelly struck up an unlikely friendship with the East End gangster while visiting her then husband in Parkhurst prison on the Isle of Wight in 1983.

Their bond flourished over the years after Kray said she reminded him of his late wife Frances, and the pair read the Bible together during visits. The villain was so fond of Ms Kelly that he paid for the rent on a flat on the Isle of Wight so she could visit him in prison with her then eight-year-old son David.

To some, Kray’s claim to have become a born-again Christian was seen as a cynical attempt by him to help secure his release from jail.

But in the previously unseen letters, he shows apparent sincerity in his actions, according to grandmother of five Ms Kelly, now a volunteer at Holloway prison.

Writing to her after the breakdown of her marriage, he told her: “Get your head together. Don’t contemplate suicide. It would be like turning traitor on David and your mother.

“I became a born-again Christian on behalf of you.”

This letter was among nine that failed to sell after its reserve price was not met.