He was the man grown men were frightened of. When word went round Glasgow that Jaimba McLean was coming, people shivered. But in the late 1980s, his friend Paul Ferris discovered a secret about him that no one in their world would have guessed. This film reads the story in Ferris's own words, from his book Villains.
The boy in the adult jail
Ferris first met Jaimba in jail. Jaimba was only 14 or 15, but so dangerous that the authorities would not put him with the other young prisoners. He kicked, punched and fought every inch of the way. Ferris knew the screws would break him eventually, so he offered the boy some advice. Jaimba listened, and from then on he was at Ferris's side.
On the street he was ferocious and second to none. He never turned down a job, and he always wanted to know when the next one was coming.
Every Tuesday night
Then, suddenly, he was never available on a Tuesday. It took the team weeks to notice the pattern. So Ferris set a test: he called Jaimba and said something had come up, that Tuesday night. Jaimba, who had never once asked how long a job would take, asked exactly that. Then he said he couldn't do it. Any other night, Paul. You know me.
That evening Ferris and a couple of the boys followed him through the East End, worried. His wife was in the car with him. He pulled into a busy car park.
The bingo
Jaimba McLean, the most feared man on Glasgow's streets, was at the bingo, surrounded by women old enough to be his granny. When Ferris appeared at his table, Jaimba stood up as if he had been shot, and blushed. A small woman in a floral frock handed him her lucky marker.
The team slagged him for weeks. But Ferris came to understand it. Jaimba doted on his wife and kids, and the bingo was a piece of ordinary life in a world that allowed none. He could not admit it to anyone without losing face, so he kept it secret. It only made Ferris think more of him.