Noel Smith

Noel 'Razor' Smith was born in south London in 1960. He has spent a large portion of the last 30 years in various prisons for armed robbery, possession of firearms with intent, prison escape and grievous bodily harm and is currently serving eight life sentences under the two-strike act, plus 80 years in concurrent sentences. He learned to read and write while in prison and has gained an A level in law and an Honors Diploma in journalism. He has received several Koestler awards for his writing and has contributed articles to The Independent, The Guardian, Punch, The Big Issue, The New Statesman and the New Law Journal, among others. His autobiography, A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun was published in 2004, and in 2007 his second book, Raiders: The True Stories of Britain's Most Daring and Dangerous Bank Robbers, was released.