Britain’s most infamous female gangster, Linda Calvey, known as The Black Widow, has revealed what her children said to her when they first visited her in prison

The most infamous female gangster from Britain has revealed the heartbreaking question her children asked her. Linda Calvey, known as the Black Widow, was married to notorious armed gangster Mickey Calvey, whom she first met after he was released from prison.

The couple married when she was just 22 and he was brought to the wedding by an armed prison guard. Despite having no criminal background, Linda, now 77, became his getaway driver and later started carrying guns herself during the robberies. Over the years, she made an eye-watering £1million during the robberies.

But during a rare interview on This Morning with her two children, Neil and Melanie, who rarely appear in public, Linda revealed what they asked her when they first visited her in prison after her sentencing in 1986. She was sentenced to seven years, but served just three, serving most of it at HMP Holloway, where she was joined by Myra Hindley.

Linda revealed the devastating question her two children asked her when she got locked up(Image: ITV)

During an appearance on This Morning, hosted by Sian Welby and Rylan Clark, Linda said: “When I got arrested, both of my children, first visit, they both come and said to me, ‘Why did you do it mum? We only wanted you.’ That really hit home to me.” Neil said: “It was [horrific], when I was younger, I was a bit too young when my dad died, I’ve got tiny little bits that I can remember but he’s always with me. I’ve never forgotten him, I never will. He’s always well thought of, not just in criminal circles, he was a very liked man.”

Linda said her husband was “very charismatic.” Speaking about appearing publicly for the first time, Melanie commented: “The reason I haven’t, I’m not one for bringing up a front like that anyway, the reason I made the decision, I was reluctant at first, was to show other people the other side of the crime.

“Me and my brother were victims of circumstances out of our control, no one knows about any of that stuff, it was very painful for us to go through. It wasn’t easy, there’s a whole other side to it and it was a struggle. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it is what it is, you can’t change it.

Linda is Britain’s most infamous female gangster(Image: Roland Leon Sunday Mirror)

“It doesn’t change your feelings, the anger, the pain you went through. I still feel angry about it, I felt very bitter about it, especially when she went away the second time, I got sick of losing people that I loved.” Melanie said she was desanitised that she didn’t want to let people into her life.

Mickey had died in 1978, with Linda admitting she carried on his armed crimes in order to provide for their two children. But just 18 months after being paroled from her armed robbery sentence, Linda brutally murdered Ronnie Cook. She had initially paid Daniel Reece £10,000 to shoot him, but he lost his nerve, leading to Linda picking up the gun herself and shooting him while Cook knelt in front of her.

On trial, Linda denied the murder but was found guilty by the jury. She subsequently spent 18 years behind bars. Nowadays, she has turned her life around. In 2019, she said she was very “different” to the woman she was two decades earlier, and has since published a book about her life.

She served time alongside Rose West and Myra Hindley(Image: ITV)

But during her appearance on This Morning, she stated she was shocked that nobody had made a film about her life. While locked away, Linda rubbed shoulders with some of the most notorious women in British history, including Myra Hindley and Rose West.

West, now 71, was handed a life sentence in 1995 for her role in assisting her husband Fred to rape and murder at least 12 women and girls at their Cromwell Street home in Gloucester. She’s locked up in HMP New Hall, where she can barely walk and has no friends.

And Hindley was sentenced to life imprisonment for the torture and murder of five children with her partner Ian Brady during the 1960s. Looking back on her time inside, Calvey recalled, “I was in Durham prison. Myra and Rose were both there too. They used to sit ­together and became very pally but then suddenly they stopped talking. I think Rose’s solicitor told her it doesn’t look good.”