Brian Cockerill describes himself as "The Taxman." Others prefer to call him an extortionist, street fighter and one of Britain's most terrifying gangsters.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Who's that? Oh! Jesus Christ!
00:06Call me the tax man. You have to be hard to live here.
00:09I was alleged I robbed him and took £50,000 with the heroin off him.
00:12I had over a thousand fights and won every man I've ever fought.
00:14So you fight to the death and that's it.
00:16Just awesome genetics, isn't it?
00:18Basically, I'm the law in this area.
00:20Picked him up and I ran at him and threw him into this door
00:22and I fucking smashed his head into there and he fell back.
00:26And I headbutted him and I threw him again into the door really hard.
00:29Brian Cockrell is one of Britain's most notorious gangsters.
00:33A self-proclaimed justice system of the underworld.
00:36In his world, only the strong survive.
00:39And every new day could be his last.
00:49For 20 years, Brian Cockrell has used his brutal reputation
00:52to extort millions from drug dealers.
00:55He sees it as a tax.
00:58A levy they have to pay to allow them to operate in his area.
01:02For people who don't know what taxing is,
01:05it's a drug dealers sell drugs on the streets.
01:08And when they sell the drugs and they get the profits, the money,
01:10I usually go and take the money off them.
01:12Obviously, they can't go to the police and say,
01:14well, Brian Cockrell's just been around and talking for vast amounts of money off
01:18and vast amounts of drugs because, obviously, it's illegal to sell drugs.
01:21And so, as they try to convict me, they convict themselves.
01:26Despite the risks, and at 42, Cockrell remains on top of his game.
01:31His lifestyle requires him to be brutal and intimidating.
01:35He commands fear as he marshals the underworld in his patch.
01:40Most people who've tried to emulate me,
01:43they're either dead or they're doing life sentences.
01:46And to do it probably is the hardest job in the world.
01:49These days, taxing drug dealers is not what it used to be.
01:54The dealers don't have as much cash because competition has hit their profits.
01:59The taxman's returns are not quite as lucrative.
02:03I remember one day we went out and we made 15 grand in about five hours.
02:08This was 20 years ago.
02:09You know, a massive amount of money.
02:11Years ago, we used to tax them.
02:13There'd only be half a dozen in each town so you could hit them
02:16and they'd have the drugs in the house.
02:18They'd have the money in the house.
02:19And you'd kick the door and run in, you'd get drugs, money,
02:22and you'd make a fortune.
02:25Cockrell calls himself the taxman.
02:28The reality is that he uses his great strength
02:31to muscle in on criminals and their ill-gotten gains.
02:40But wrestling huge sums of cash from top drug dealers is not without risk.
02:46To keep one step ahead of his enemies, Cockrell trains three times a day.
02:51He is a 22-stone, steroid-filled fighting machine
02:57who claims never to have lost a fight.
03:00Like, say I was fighting you on the street, I'd catch you right up there.
03:03I'd come in, come on, fucking throw you shot.
03:05So I'm coming in there, you know.
03:06So if I couldn't catch you with that, I'd come in and grab you.
03:09I'd throw it, pull me out and see your eye.
03:11Yeah, pull your eye there.
03:12Yeah.
03:13So as you're going out, pull your eye out.
03:14And as I pull your knee out, I've got to put your knee and bite your ear off.
03:17So your ear's coming up and you're screaming.
03:20I mean, it's like if I got you in a headlock, just like that.
03:22There's no way you're getting out of that, you know.
03:24And if I cruise to you, like, sorry.
03:27I'd pull his eye out within about three seconds, he was fucked.
03:31But when you pull her eye out, it dangles, like on a socket, like on a string.
03:36I thought this lad's in a bit his ear and his nose off.
03:39But I was feeling generous that day and I'd given them back.
03:42It was a bit like fucking Hannibal Lecter, I suppose.
03:44What did he look like afterwards, was it?
03:46It looked like Hannibal Lecter had got all of him.
03:48There's been alleged in the past that I've been, well, I've been charged with these things.
03:52It's not just alleged, I've been charged with murder charges,
03:56attempted murder on two police.
03:5930 or 40, Section 18 wounding with intent.
04:02That's punching some on my hand.
04:04But a wounding with intent, a Section 18, usually you've got to use a weapon.
04:08But they clasp my hands as deadly weapons anyway, the police.
04:11I've been arrested for racketeering, blackmail, kidnapping, firearms,
04:17drug dealing, taxing, shootings,
04:22guns, I suppose I've had people shot, people murdered,
04:25I suppose I've had people taken away and killed.
04:27I suppose I've killed people myself.
04:30I've been alleged that I've had people's pubs, petrol bombs burnt out,
04:34cars burnt out.
04:35Did you do all those things?
04:37Would I do all those things?
04:39Come on.
04:40Maybe some of them.
04:41But not all of them.
04:43Despite being questioned thousands of times and hundreds of arrests,
04:49Cockrell's only convictions are for dangerous driving, criminal damage
04:54and threatening behaviour.
04:56What does he look like to you when he's fighting?
04:59He changes totally.
05:01Absolutely totally.
05:02He just goes blank.
05:03There's no expression or anything on his face.
05:05His eyes go black.
05:07And then you just turn it off like that and back to normal.
05:12Amanda, Brian's partner, has seen it all.
05:16Her loyalty to Brian has been unflinching,
05:19despite constant fears of revenge and reprisals to the family.
05:24It isn't as easy as you think.
05:26It sounds easy, but it isn't.
05:28You try and think about going up to someone and saying,
05:30I want your money and I want your car and I want whatever.
05:33It isn't as easy as you think.
05:35If it was easy, they'll be done, wouldn't it?
05:42Brian lives by the law of the jungle.
05:45He has a passion for huge animals
05:47and has intimate knowledge of the behaviour of predators.
05:54I went to a zoo once,
05:56Barrowing Furnace.
05:58I was stood there and the tiger pissed all over me.
06:02The female one.
06:03The bloke said it must be the hormone.
06:04You know, you test.
06:05It must smell it.
06:06It's just a sign of whatever.
06:07You'll find out when you go and do the tigers.
06:09But I stood there,
06:10so a big ginger pussy pissed all over me.
06:12It's alleged that I've taken people away and played the piggy game on them.
06:17And people say, what's the piggy game like?
06:18Well, I've took the shoes and socks and broken each toe with a hammer
06:21until they've told me where the money is
06:23or if they move out of town and stop torturing people.
06:26But none of these little pigs got bread and butter.
06:29They all went wee wee wee all the way on, but they all were screaming.
06:32But you never get past two.
06:37Now the taxman is planning to take his unconventional style into politics.
06:42He's decided to fight for election as mayor.
06:47He believes that he can use his powers of persuasion
06:50and that voters will see sense and back him.
06:53So why do you want to become mayor of Middlesbrough?
06:56Well, it was an idea an old woman said to me one day.
06:59She said, we've been to the mayor, he's tried to help us,
07:02but he can't help us.
07:03I said, but you've done more than the mayor.
07:04So I thought, you've got a good idea.
07:06And she said, why don't you run for mayor?
07:08And the other people next door, but one said to me,
07:10we can't fucking sell our house because the dealers are there.
07:14So I've kicked the door in, ran in, grabbed them, threatened them,
07:17got rid of them and chased them out the town.
07:21These police have been coming to this house for two years,
07:24constantly, two or three times a day.
07:26Couldn't get rid of them.
07:27I got rid of them in 10 minutes.
07:28I'm doing it as a one-man band.
07:30What would it be like?
07:31I've had a full community behind me, you see.
07:33And you're certain that actually you get votes?
07:36Yeah, 100%, yeah.
07:38I think there's a lot of people who'd vote for me
07:40because they know I do the job properly.
07:42Getting the job done is Cockrell's trademark.
07:45With a backup crew in place,
07:47few risk incurring the taxman's wrath.
07:50If I go look for him, I will fucking hurt him.
07:52You know what I mean?
07:54Drug dealers face many dangers.
07:57Top of the list is the taxman, Brian Cockrell.
08:00A one-man fighting machine.
08:03Over the years, the taxman claims he's made millions from local dealers.
08:10And if backup is needed, the taxman's loyal crew can be very persuasive.
08:15Meet Rob, Lee, and Vulture.
08:19Well-respected man.
08:21Yeah, but he can be a monster if he wants to be.
08:24He's not a nice person if you're on the wrong side of him.
08:27But he is a gentleman.
08:29It's because he's got a lot of respect for, like, a lot of hard people in the area,
08:33in the north-east, down London.
08:35Fought them all.
08:36He's well-known, he's fought them all.
08:37He's fought hardy admin.
08:38With fists.
08:39With fists, yeah.
08:40He's a dangerous man.
08:41He's feared.
08:42A call brings the taxman to the edge of town, where a car has been stolen from a local dealership.
08:57The young lads have stolen the car.
08:59Obviously, I think it's young lads.
09:00They've broke and stole the car.
09:01They've drove so far in the car.
09:02The cars were out of petrol.
09:04So the police have obviously received, got the call, said his place has been broken.
09:08He's come down, they've fingerprinted all the bullshit.
09:10The gates have been smashed in.
09:11The police have took the car to the compound.
09:14And now they want £300 of him to get his own car back from the compound, which I think is fucking scandalous.
09:20The police get a garage to come and pick it up.
09:25They pick it up and obviously they won't pay them for doing it.
09:27So they're coming back to me.
09:28These fucking assholes.
09:29I'll find out where they are by tonight and it'll be solved.
09:31I'll make them pay the £300 to get the car back.
09:33We're off now.
09:34Let's go.
09:35I'm like a fucking crusader, mate.
09:36Cape crusader.
09:37Just need a fucking...
09:38Dean.
09:39I need a red phone.
09:40If violence doesn't solve anything, why does my fucking phone never stop ringing?
09:57Hello?
09:58Within hours, Cockrell claims to have identified the car thief.
10:01The kid who's done the fucking pinch the car.
10:04I know he's related to you or whatever, what you're saying.
10:06But if he fucking goes in and pays Eddie a £300, which is the recovery money, nothing's
10:10going to happen.
10:11If he doesn't, I'll break his fucking hands and his feet.
10:14Make sure where he goes in, don't let me down, because if I go looking for him, I will fucking
10:17hurt him.
10:18You know what I mean?
10:19He's got such a good heart, you know.
10:21He really has.
10:23Once you're his friend, you know, you're his friend for life.
10:27And you will look after him.
10:28No matter where you were in the world, if you needed him, he'd be there for you.
10:32And if you're his enemy?
10:33He'd be there for you and all.
10:36In a different way.
10:37The taxman, with his loyal crew, tracked down the apparent car thief to ask him to atone
10:51for his crime.
10:53Hours earlier, the thief was beaten up.
10:56As to who's responsible, no one is saying.
11:00You can't go down doing them fucking things.
11:02You know what I mean?
11:03You're going in there with a fucking hole in the ground, son.
11:05I give him work.
11:06I'm sitting here giving him work.
11:07I give him work and all he does is just fucks it up every time.
11:09He fucks it up, but he's just not listening.
11:10Nobody's going to hit you.
11:11Stop being panicking.
11:12Nobody's going to hit you.
11:13Nobody's going to hit you in front of the fucking people.
11:14So I'm just trying to educate you.
11:15Just fucking get your head shaked.
11:17Sorry, I really am.
11:18Yeah.
11:19I'll just pay him every week or something.
11:20All right.
11:21Give me your words.
11:22All right.
11:23All right.
11:24Good lad.
11:25All right, son.
11:26I'll be in the minutes.
11:27Good job, Brian.
11:28I appreciate it.
11:29No, he is a good kid, Brian.
11:30He's a very good kid.
11:31Yeah, but he's...
11:32I know, yeah.
11:33Come on.
11:34Fuck.
11:35The taxman's unconventional approach to petty crime is controversial.
11:40He claims to do a better job than the police.
11:42Obviously, there's high-ranking police officers don't like the thought of Joe Public falling
11:47me.
11:48How am I about your average person falling me to sort things out for them?
11:51Because they've got no lack and they've got no faith in the police.
11:54I'll vote for Brian.
11:55Look, the taxman...
11:56Now the taxman wants to send a message to the wider community.
12:06He's putting his muscle behind a campaign for mayor and believes no one is going to stop
12:11him.
12:12Great.
12:13I'll run for mayor next year in Middlesbrough.
12:16I wonder if you'd vote for us.
12:17My name's Brian Cockrell and this is the polling thing we're doing.
12:21Just to stop the drugs on the streets and everything we're going for.
12:24Phone me any car.
12:25If there's any carry-on, you're an idiot and you just phone me an outside.
12:27No problem with that.
12:29No, take care.
12:30Look after yourselves.
12:31Would you vote?
12:32Definitely.
12:33And for your family as well.
12:34So I'll leave that with you.
12:36That's just what the campaign thing's about.
12:38And there's no way better than me to clean the streets up, is there?
12:41First I'll vote for your mates.
12:43Do you want to post the streets off?
12:44Do you keep my fucking shite off of fucking streets?
12:46I'll do anything for them.
12:47You know that.
12:48Fucking hell.
12:49Who's better to do it than me?
12:50Okay.
12:51Thanks for your time, love.
12:52See you now.
12:53Would you vote?
12:54Yeah.
12:55I can count on you.
12:56Thanks very much.
12:57Cheers, love.
12:59See you at the voting thing.
13:01I'm running for mayor next year.
13:03I wonder if you'd vote.
13:04He wants to tidy the streets up.
13:06Well, that is ideal, yeah.
13:11Oh, there's my little pal, Terry.
13:15Cockrell can certainly count on Terry's vote.
13:18Terry also has a reputation for being a tough fighter.
13:22We've been friends a long time, right?
13:24And in honesty, he doesn't bully people.
13:27He sees injustice as right, as I've done myself.
13:30I get to see people abusing people.
13:32He's got a heart to go.
13:33But the same kid, right, you can't play a game to him.
13:35Because he's the monster.
13:36When he needs to be.
13:37But there's only monsters that people need to be monsters.
13:40He's the monster of Teesside, but he's a gentleman.
13:44Friendship and loyalty mean the world to me.
13:46You can't put a price on it.
13:47And honestly, in trouble, it's like,
13:50sometimes you've got to dig through a mountain full of shit
13:52before you find good folk.
13:53He's good folk.
13:54I wouldn't promote violence with anyone, but sometimes, you know,
13:57we don't live in the ideal world.
13:59We live, you know, in the hundred world situation.
14:02But, like, friendship and loyalty is the major thing in Teesside.
14:05Brian, I'm going to go in because...
14:06OK, mate. I love you, mate.
14:07I'm going to sit there, mate.
14:08I'm going to sit there, mate.
14:09I'm going to sit there, mate.
14:10I've got a couple of nights.
14:11OK, no problem.
14:12Hey, catalogue look.
14:14If elected, Brian promises a novel approach to fighting crime.
14:34Car crime is a major problem throughout Teesside,
14:37but Brian has his own ideas on how to deal with it.
14:41It looks to me there's been a chase and the car's been smashed in there,
14:45obviously, ambulances and everything here.
14:48Now, this is another stupid thing what the police do,
14:50which I don't agree with.
14:51The police give chase to a stupid car thief.
14:54The person panics, drives like a man to get away from the police,
14:58hits someone and kills them.
14:59For what? A stolen car?
15:00Why don't you just let them get away with the fucking car
15:02and get the car later on when it's been abandoned?
15:05To me, it's a ludicrous thing.
15:06There was a woman killed not long ago.
15:08The daughter lost her leg and the woman was killed through a daft car chase.
15:10The car's worth, what, a couple hundred pounds or something.
15:15The taxman believes that solving car crime is a no-brainer
15:19and has set her sights much higher
15:21by promising to tackle the city's vice problem as well.
15:25You can see the girls walking about now.
15:28There's one there.
15:29There's two over there and there's one there.
15:31Look at the size of her. She's only a little kid, isn't she?
15:33She looks about 15-year-old or something.
15:36It's an absolute shame.
15:37It gives you a lump in your throat type of thing when you see them right here.
15:40They've got to be 12, 34-year-olds.
15:42I mean, they're full of make-up and still look like little kids.
15:44And this is why I would run from there, you see.
15:46Because I will help them kids.
15:48I don't know exactly 100% what to do,
15:50but at least I would try my best to do something,
15:53look into it, you know.
15:54And these black lads are coming from Jamaica.
15:56And the streets are crawling with them.
15:57There's only me doing something about chasing them back.
16:00I mean, all right, they might be vigilantian,
16:02but at least I'm trying.
16:03And people are asking me, saying,
16:04please, can you do this?
16:05And I'll do what I can.
16:06I'll do my damnedest for them.
16:07And I won't say no and I won't say yes.
16:09I'll say I'll do my best for you.
16:11I'll see what I can do.
16:12So are you Robin Hood?
16:14I'm like, yeah, Robin Hood.
16:15But even he wore a mask.
16:20Ripper guy, man.
16:21Thank you, love.
16:22Smashing that.
16:23Another one I'm delectable.
16:24The taxman, who doesn't drink or smoke,
16:30says he believes in old-fashioned family values,
16:33where a woman's place is in the home
16:35and children should be equipped
16:37for whatever life may throw at them.
16:43His only son, Jordan, has just turned 15.
16:47Under his father's watchful eye,
16:49Jordan is building up muscle and stamina
16:52for whatever lies ahead.
16:58This is my dog, Charlie.
17:00Pedagree boxer.
17:01Doesn't like no one.
17:02Likes more than me, obviously.
17:05And a bit wild as well.
17:07Still a good dog.
17:09He's clever.
17:10Shhh.
17:11Shit.
17:12I'm very scared.
17:13Shhh.
17:14I'm tired.
17:15Shhh.
17:17Shhh.
17:18Shhh.
17:19Shhh.
17:23For Brian, size is important.
17:34He admires the big things in life, be they man or beast.
17:38He believes his great stature makes him untouchable.
17:47Hey, wrap it in now.
17:49Wrap it in now.
17:50Wrap it fucking in now.
17:52I'm telling the both of you.
17:53A fight has broken out in a local pub.
17:56Jordan is there and the taxman is worried.
18:00It's been about 200 people in there.
18:02My son was in there.
18:03Loads of kids have been in.
18:05And the Stockton kids from Stockton Town Centre
18:08have started fighting with the lads from Ingleby Barby.
18:11I've heard about it, so I flew around.
18:13There's about 40 police officers here earlier on.
18:15They tried to stop me coming in, so I just threw them out of the way.
18:17I said, get out the fucking way.
18:18My fucking son's in there.
18:20And he said, get out the fucking way.
18:22And then I walked in and my son's read their brains to get out before the trouble kicks
18:25off.
18:26He's gone there.
18:26But I've come in, there's kids all coming at me busted noses, been hit with glasses.
18:29There's lads been stabbed.
18:31It's just been a mad case.
18:33But they're all like 18-year-old, 16, 17, 19, 19-year-old kids being daft.
18:36I had a few drinks and thinking, like, they can fight 10 men.
18:40None of them could fight sleep.
18:41How many people got stabbed?
18:42A couple of times.
18:43Just one.
18:44Just Richie?
18:45Yeah.
18:45Like, they were rolling around here and I went over to split them up and then the lads
18:48swung for me.
18:49So as he swung for me, I was like, oh.
18:52So I started swinging.
18:53And then next to me I knew he'd got glass and then the ambience and plates are here.
19:06Young Jordan has bagged the stab victim's bloody shirt.
19:12What was that?
19:12The lads were in glass?
19:15Full of blood.
19:15Full of blood.
19:16And now as a kid, all we did was play football.
19:19And bloody...
19:21Everyone fights, I suppose, but not like this.
19:24Not with bottles and knives and things.
19:27And they're all pissed.
19:36Jordan's best friend, 16-year-old Ryan, used to be a binge drinker.
19:41But after getting involved in a number of fights, Ryan was served with an ASBO.
19:46Breathe in.
19:46Breathe up.
19:48Before I started turning my bribe, like, over the Christmas period and before, I used to
19:52drink, like, quite a lot.
19:54Like, a couple of bottles of whiskey a day.
19:56And I was, like, really involved in fighting.
19:58I used to fight.
19:59I used to think I could fight the world.
20:02And I couldn't.
20:06I'd like to have five.
20:07Can you feel that, yeah?
20:08Jordan's dad has taken Ryan under his wing and is helping him develop his physique.
20:14Ryan phoned me one day and said, right, it's time for training.
20:20And then from then on, I've been training.
20:22We try to keep all of trouble.
20:24Take your bum off like you're in a duck.
20:26Like that.
20:26Position.
20:28That's better.
20:28You're still burning forward quite a bit.
20:30Just so you're like that.
20:33I think you've got two left feet.
20:34So, six.
20:37What's up, lad?
20:38Jordan Hero worships his dad and considers him to be in his own way a celebrity.
20:44You've got legs like Bambi now.
20:45Yeah.
20:47I don't like boasting about it.
20:48I've never had.
20:50Fair enough, he might be one of the hardest.
20:53Like, he might be one of the hardest, like, about, fair enough.
20:56But there's no need to, like, stand behind him all the time.
21:01I can stand up for myself as well.
21:05Everyone says, like, oh, why did a dad like that boast about him?
21:09And I was like, what's the point?
21:10I'm not like that.
21:11He's your dad.
21:12You don't boast about your dad.
21:13Family, isn't he?
21:14If you come here, just hypothetically speak, and you come to hurt here, or Jordan, I could
21:20make a phone call, and within it, and now you'll be shot dead.
21:23There's no quims about that.
21:24I don't have no morals about doing it.
21:28If you tried to hurt my family, I wouldn't think twice about it.
21:30In some quarters in this town, a certain layer of society, you're the law.
21:49And do the police recognise that?
21:51You believe that, but do the police...
21:53They know that as well, and I think a lot of high-ranking police officers don't like
21:56their thought of me having more power than them, and that's the whole top and bottom of
21:59it.
22:00It's a game between you and the police, isn't it?
22:02It's a cat and mouse game, isn't it?
22:03I can't afford to be caught, can I?
22:06So, but I think I'm the cat now and they're the mice.
22:10It's a game where the taxman, for anything from a few hundred to several thousand pounds,
22:15sets himself up as judge and jury.
22:19His is an alternative justice system that's used by those in the area who've lost confidence
22:23in the police.
22:25We had a break-in, and I told Brian about it, and we've got CCTV off.
22:30By the time we found the police, the last time I showed the police it, they said that
22:34because the footage wasn't that accurate, we couldn't pinpoint the person.
22:37I showed Brian, how long did it take you to get them?
22:40It took him, what, less than half an hour.
22:43We looked at the footage, Brian said, I've seen him, we're on the corner, and we got the
22:49lad and he compensated us for the window that he broke, which is brilliant.
22:53And the thing is, the kid didn't go to jail.
22:55He told you, mum come to me, the kid, mum come to me and said, oh, thanks for helping us,
22:59because I screamed, I said, I'll fucking smash you.
23:02I screamed, it wasn't going to hurt him, I just was only a kid about eating.
23:05His mum said, that's the best way to do it, because you frighten him now, and he hasn't
23:07been burgling and robbing like he was, so she said, you've kept her out of trouble.
23:11See, with all the lads around here, you just mention Brian's name, and they know
23:15that Brian means business.
23:16Cockrell's future as a fighter, security consultant, extortionist, and self-proclaimed
23:24one-man justice system can't last forever.
23:28So now he's looking to less dangerous activities.
23:33A lot of people have been paid off, as you see, we've got a big industrial area.
23:38British Steel, ICI, Wilton, things like that.
23:41And they get paid off, they might get £50,000 after one, £30,000, £40,000, whatever.
23:44So they get paid off, so what they do is, invest the money into cigarettes, and go abroad
23:49to somewhere like Belgium, and buy the cigarettes for whatever price, £1.50 a packet.
23:54Come back here to sell them for £2.50, and make a pound on a packet, and they might get
23:58£20,000 packets, which is £20,000, you know.
24:00The money in the cigarettes is phenomenal money.
24:04But why are the cigarettes more lucrative than the drugs, is the jail sentences.
24:09You'll get caught selling cigarettes, you might get three months, you'll get caught selling
24:12a couple of grams of heroin, a couple of grams of coke, you've been going to a deal for
24:16a couple of years.
24:17That's the big difference, and the amount of money what you make in drugs, there's nowhere
24:22near the amount of what you make in cigarettes.
24:24Some of these fag men are making £40,000, £50,000, £60,000 a week.
24:27All right, Kev.
24:40Hope you're keeping out of trouble.
24:41Always.
24:46Yeah, sounds, yeah.
24:49In nearby Hartlepool, Brian meets with a group of mates.
24:53With the taxman, some secrets can never be shared.
25:15Work done, and it's time for serious business.
25:18This is nice, this.
25:20It's been so chic, I don't know a little bit of that.
25:22What a diet, you see.
25:25It's a seafood diet, when you see I eat.
25:28The taxman gets by on six meals a day, totaling 12,000 calories.
25:34Enough for four men.
25:37This is one of his favourite places.
25:39An eat-as-much-as-you-can buffet, which Brian takes as a personal challenge.
25:44But he maintains he's not greedy.
25:46To be a prize fighter requires natural ability, training, and heavy calorie consumption.
25:52When I'm doing the taxing, you've got to be able to fight, because sometimes you might
25:55go to a house, you might kick the door, and there might be ten lads in there, you might
25:59have to fight, like, you sort of.
26:00I've beat the doors before, and there might be one lads that might tax them, but you might
26:03go and there might be loads of people in there backing them up.
26:05And you've got to stand there.
26:06Sometimes you might have a fight for 12 minutes, and sometimes you might have a fight for 10
26:09minutes.
26:10But you've got to be prepared, so that's why you've got to do all different types of exercises
26:14and different types of sports, you see.
26:19But while Cockrell has yet to encounter a man who can match his muscle, will he meet his
26:23equal in the animal kingdom?
26:25Look, they're just like monsters.
26:27Oh, they're massive.
26:28If you had your arm round, you could hold it, but once they're pushing down the other
26:32way, the pressure is unbelievable.
26:34A one-man justice system who targets drug dealers for a large slice of their profits.
26:40To reach the top of his profession, the taxman had to prove to the underworld that he was
26:44an unstoppable force, prepared to do anything for their cash.
26:49In his game, reputation is everything.
26:53I picked up one of his white eating stones, and I threw him on a marble table.
26:56I nearly broke his back and snapped it.
26:58It was about a two-inch table, snapped it in half.
27:00I split his nose wide open, he hit the deck.
27:03I dropped him, he jumped up again, nutted him again, dropped him again.
27:06I said, I haven't even fucking punched him, and I've dropped him twice.
27:08I said, you daft, and I went boom, slapped him, and I knocked him out of the palm of my
27:12hand, and he took his fucking head off, perforated his eardrum.
27:16But inevitably, this one-man steroid-filled powerhouse was to meet his match.
27:22Lee Duffy, a young boxer and street fighter with an awesome reputation as an underworld
27:27enforcer.
27:28But when they finally met, Brian claims that Duffy was no match for the taxman's left hook.
27:35So he ran at me and grabbed my legs, and tried to pick me up and put me down, but my strength
27:39was probably, I was arguably one of the strongest people in the world at the time, and broken
27:43world records at the time.
27:44So I grabbed all the Lee, and I picked him up, and I ran at him and threw him into this
27:49door, and I fucking smashed his head into there.
27:52And he fell back, and I headbutted him, I threw him into the door really hard.
27:56I headbutted him twice, he fell to the floor, I held him with an elbow in the face, and as
28:01he went down, I kneed him in the face.
28:03But in true Butch and Sundance style, after beating each other to a pulp, they became
28:10firm friends.
28:11He said, oh, I'm fucking looking the size of this, imagine me trying to fight something
28:16like, yeah, I must be fucking mental, he said.
28:18And I said, because he wasn't a smart lad, he was like six foot four, 17, 17 and a half
28:21stone.
28:22And he said, he said, the strongest, biggest lad I've ever met, he said he had hideous
28:28strength.
28:28And anyway, we got together, we became the most fierce partnership ever in Tayside, the
28:35most ruthless.
28:36All the drug dealers shut down everywhere in Tayside, because we went around taxing them
28:40all, kicking the doors in.
28:41The Duffy and Cockrell partnership inevitably made enemies.
29:02Before long, a price was put on their heads, and a hitman was hired.
29:06Me and Lee were walking down the town, and this lad had put a contract on to have us
29:10killed.
29:11Anyway, the lad, he was going to have me shot.
29:15And anyway, we kidnapped him, took him to this point here, took him down the gate there,
29:20I put tyre wraps on his hands, put a rope on his leg, and I kicked him in the sea there,
29:24and I had him in the sea, bobbing up and down, obviously fucking drowning.
29:27I had him in, he fucked 20, 30 seconds, pulled him back in, but we never would have known
29:31more fucking trouble for him, took the money off him when he had, he had a big stash of
29:34money, drug dealer, and a few, about three months later, he was shot dead.
29:39And are you responsible for his death?
29:41No, no, it was alleged it was, but I didn't mind a bit of fishing that day, I got my revenge
29:48that day, he was a horrible bastard, but if someone's going to try and kill me, I have
29:55no compulsion whatsoever to take them out, and I would throw them in that sea, but I
29:58wouldn't even think twice about it.
29:59With their rivals swimming with the fishes, the taxman and Lee Duffy seemed untouchable,
30:06but their partnership was to be savagely ended.
30:12Teesside boxer and nightclub bouncer Lee Duffy was stabbed to death last night in the
30:16centre of Middlesbrough.
30:17A stretch of blood near a pedestrian crossing was a grim reminder of the savage killing.
30:22Police believe that Duffy may have been killed as part of an underworld feud.
30:25Lead off he once said to me, well, just, so, Brian, yo, my name is Nickholms, you've got
30:38too much bottle- kicking doors and running that fucking drug dealer for guns, and you've
30:39just got no respect for life type of thing.
30:40You're on.
30:41He said you won't make 30.
30:42But sadly, he was the one who did make 30.
30:43I'm still here now.
30:44and run that fucking drug deal with guns and he's just got no respect for life type of thing he
30:50wrote he said you won't make 30 but sadly he was the one who did make 30 i'm still here now
30:54and that's the most remarkable thing about brian cockerel the very fact that he's still here today
31:04still in business and still taxing he puts it down to learning a lesson from every incident
31:12in his shadowy past one night i come out of here about five o'clock in the morning with a friend
31:20rangy's a pakistani lad and there's a kiddie waiting for him with a shotgun and he jumped out
31:26from one of these cars i'm gonna fucking shoot you a paki bastard he shouted he had the shotgun
31:30ready to shoot him i'm joking he said hey put the fucking gun down so he stood and
31:34it was close as you and i now i said put the fucking gun down put the fucking gun down i said
31:39and he went i'll fucking shoot you by i said come on then show me i said at the end of
31:43the day you shot me i'm dead i don't worry about it but see all these fucking witnesses
31:47on here and you go to jail for the rest of your life you're a fucking dickhead now put
31:50so you run with the gun fucked off but what i'm trying to say is you can't outrun a gun
31:54can't run a bullet this is an old term that you charge your gun and run from a knife
31:58in 1992 the taxman's luck was to run out his violent methods had upset too many people
32:08local villains lured him to a house it was a trap today the house is no longer owned by
32:15gangland figures but the memories remain strong
32:18the lads ran out and hit me on the head with a helmet another one's put a gun to my head
32:22he split my head over me and holes all over my head obviously can't see them because of the
32:26head something 160 stitches or something ridiculous in my whole body and they're trying to get me on
32:32the floor and they couldn't get me down i was fighting with them in the end i fell to the floor
32:35i was falling some slipping water and that and uh the next minute the uh the run in and the heavyweight
32:42boxer had a a pot bread bin and he was smashing me in the face with a bread bin shot and break his
32:47jaw obviously i broke his jaw but he couldn't break my jaw and it wasn't like one of them films
32:52them old black and white films you see you get hit on the head with a gun you know you get knocked
32:55out in a second but i wasn't in that film anyway um it was a totally different thing and uh in the
33:00end i ran out of the house and the man next door took me to hospital when i looked out i seen brian
33:07just hanging over the wall i thought oh bloody hell oh the blood was all over the place underworld figures
33:15are believed to be behind the savage beating of power lifter brian cockerel cockerel was left for dead
33:20by a gang who beat him with hammers and baseball bats doctors in south cleveland hospital are due to
33:26operate on mr cockerel's injuries can i see can see some of your wounds yeah i've slashed with a
33:30machete on my leg here i've been hit with hammers in the legs and you can see the hammer holes in my
33:36legs and this one here as well you see the hammer holes there and i've been hit by bars i'm stabbed in
33:43the back of the legs i've got me and skin grafts on my thighs where i've been you see where the skin's
33:51been taken off of there stabbed in the backs and legs it's nice to see the guy now but i didn't think
33:57i'd see him again i thought he lost so much blood i thought i was going to die yeah and uh honestly i
34:01just thought he was a goner it would have been somebody who's just just normal he wouldn't he wouldn't
34:07have lived he wouldn't he wouldn't have got through it all it did is enhance my reputation because people
34:12said how can you beat him if 12 lads can't beat him in the house knives guns and baseball bats and
34:17put him put him out of the game they said i've been pushing up days now you'll never see him again
34:20he'll be in blackpool a boarding house or something like that if we got to spain i didn't i was straight
34:25back out and the lad said he's crazy this the only one way to stop him to kill him then my mate said
34:30yeah you kill him and he'll still probably still come back at you
34:32but in time the tax man was well enough to go back to his old ways
34:45there was an allegation of i've done a massive armed robbery and it was all sirens out here i looked
34:50out there was police arm police arm police on the floor so i had to lie down on the floor and assume
34:55the position as they say hands behind me back handcuffed um was taken up and i was arrested
35:02to the police station i said that i'd uh grabbed a black lad nigerian kid put a handgun to his head
35:10and robbed him of 50 000 pounds worth of heroin a lad supposed to pick me out on an id parade
35:14they come around he says no that's not him and uh they said well i thought he said he was like 23
35:20stones six foot three and his name was brown and he said no that's not him so anyway they never got
35:25me for it but no but i'm the only person ever to be arrested for taking drugs off a drug dealer
35:31and he was given immunity but it's no wonder the kind of witnesses pretend that they haven't been
35:36there or disappear or kind of don't give evidence or whatever would you would you be a witness against
35:40you yeah i'll tell you one thing i give i think twice about it in fact yeah i can understand most most
35:45people would not of course not yeah and so have you ever had a witness give evidence against you ever
35:50never went to playstation instead of being caught so the witnesses testimony changes miraculously yes
35:55or they or they go off on the holidays and they go away for a week so it seems miraculous things
36:01happened on there but uh but you can't i mean the police must be in sense because you know if they
36:06try and prosecute you fairly then then then they never get a success i mean with the crimes that you've
36:12done you've only had one driving conviction yeah how's that because i've never had no i've never been
36:18found guilty or anything like i say there's been no the evidence the police i've had have never been
36:23enough to convict me
36:32our driving today's tea tour can we all say hello to tea teller for the last six years the taxman has
36:39worked without a break he's prevented from traveling abroad because his dogs are so vicious that no one
36:46outside the family would look after them but with teenage son jordan staying at home brian and amanda
36:52take a rare chance to visit the canary islands year-round sunshine with all the comforts of home
36:58that's the cherry off me that wasn't the taxman fantastic
37:08very at the canary isle sunshine every day mango's happy i'm getting a tan
37:13it's peace and quiet it's nice
37:15he's fast isn't he
37:32sounds like it sounds like like me at freedom time
37:36like that all right it's worth it strong man britain strong man yes you know when we went to
37:43greece was the same because they love hercules achilles and all these type of things so they can
37:48relate to strength and they stare at you and they give you admire you because they admire the hard work
37:53you've done i'm saying you could buy like a tobacco shop here tobacconist they're here to relax
38:01but they've also got an eye on business you could make good money off them couldn't you
38:07which is that 20 that's 12 pounds in it for i don't know much in england
38:14so i'm still 4.75 that's 47 pounds in it so it's like half the price less than half price
38:21and that's for me if you bought it from the warehouse you'd get me even cheap wouldn't you
38:24how much is this back home 20 quid 18 quid that's what a year six pound 25
38:32don't you you're ignoring me which is that about 20 at home right we're going to come here um
38:40retire in the next few years um because it's a nice nice culture um spanish people are
38:47i'm all laid back than than back home people are nice here um and plus there's more opportunities out
38:53here once i maybe started water sports you know um jet skis on the beach or deck chairs something
39:00like that i'm gonna be getting into buying clothes and selling clothes in the market store the island
39:05holds magical appeal for the taxman locals are astonished by his size there are clear business
39:11opportunities and then there are the animals oh hello fat man jesus he's a beauty
39:21they say they've got a bite over 800 pound that strength is unbelievable i'm still heavier than
39:28that croc i've become arguably the strongest person in the world at one time but the strength
39:33obviously with the fighting ability is very dangerous because you're probably six times
39:37stronger than the average person on the street you know where the hippos are right i'm at number 30
39:41and we are now at number eight number 30 the uh the anacondas 30 foot long 28 inches thick or 28
39:52foot long 30 inches thick well and uh they've killed people as well
39:57they're huge
40:00let's get these people pollsters wonder it's frightening sometimes when you can bend
40:04nearly 600 pounds and squat over 800 pound and deadlift over 800 pound
40:08like there is it's not the stress on that it's worrying that you could kill someone so easy in a fight
40:15it's not what people can do to me it's obviously what i can do to them it frightens me more than
40:18what they can do to me there he is there's a baby bite you completely in half absolutely enormous
40:254 400 pound it's just phenomenal they're six times stronger than a human then the chimp
40:32but the gorillas are about eight look at the size of him he's the he's the boss
40:46i'll be keeping record what i've been eating on holiday i'll just give you the first day instead of
40:50going through the full week um for breakfast i've had four coffees one banana one apple one pear an
40:59orange sugar puffs of milk three yogurts four toast three scrambled eggs one sausage beans
41:08tropical juice four bacon that'll be breakfast lunch time two chops with veg pasta potatoes rice
41:20and a fruit cocktail three ice creams jelly chocolate cake and lucasid two yogurts
41:27ham salad sandwich two of them four cups of coffee dinner time one chicken curry fried rice
41:38the second beef curry noodles and rice three balls of ice cream one cake sponge cake a coffee with milk
41:47two spray and half a pint of water late supper two bottles of water two ice cream one banana
41:57three coffees three hot dogs two buns two hamburgers three buns another four yogurts
42:08glass of fanta glass of orange two cokes another bottle of water till 3am in the morning
42:16almond cheese salad sandwich half a pint of milk that's it that's that's one day from roughly back home and
42:27drink ten pints of milk as well as you obviously milky is horrible
42:33as he gets older he will no longer be able to extort fortunes from criminals but can he put his violent
42:40lifestyle behind them hello that's that's the parrot not me hello son what do they call him i used to have a
42:48parrot called him herman because he's like a little monster no herman monster and i give him away to
42:52a friend i gave him to a friend because he was and two days later he started speaking i thought if he
42:57tells the police everything i don't know i'll get about 30 years i've seen him in here with guns and all
43:02shorts i know where the bodies are buried under the patio telling where the bodies are buried has been
43:14a real problem for the taxman like many enigmatic underworld figures he has written awards an old book
43:20detailing his life story but that in itself is a legal minefield as the most shocking stories can never
43:28be told a true life confession would send the taxman straight to jail you couldn't tell them where
43:33the bodies are buried could you and you couldn't really tell them how many people you've shot you
43:37can say i mean say you have had someone shot you can't tell the things what you've done that you
43:42haven't been arrested for you can only tell the things what you've been arrested for and alleged
43:46but you can't come out and say well i've robbed this place and i've robbed that place and i've done this
43:50and i've done that because you obviously come you obviously incriminating yourself but the things
43:54what i've done in the book with all alleged offenses but this is probably just the ice tip of the air
44:00of what i've done in my lifetime
44:05brian cockerel the taxman is an enigma persuasive yet terrifying blunt and sharp brutal to some and
44:13compassionate to others he's one of a kind but has yet to come to terms with the fact that his taxing
44:20days may be coming to an end when you're getting older you realize the most precious thing in life
44:27is your life your freedom and your fitness but uh when you're younger you don't care you're just mad
44:32you know but now somebody said i said a dealer's got something to try on there i'd check i won't
44:36first now have a look at see you know plan it all but yeah so i just go and kick the door and run in
44:41because as you get older right you can maintain your fitness and respect and all that and you keep your
44:44strength what happens when you're 75 well i am old now i'm 42 this year so i'm still here but uh
44:50we'll come to that one come to that bridge and cross that bridge and come with but yeah i think the
44:53taxing thing's finished because there's that many dealers now a lot of people who've kind of hit a
44:59lot of money like been through a lot of money millions of pounds like you've been you know and
45:03they come from kind of council backgrounds some a lot of them yeah during the work squandered the
45:06money have you squandered it all yeah i've squandered my money um i've lived life to the full
45:11i've lived life a million miles out of nowhere you're running the risk of some young gun coming
45:16up with a revolver and taking you out i know it doesn't matter how big your biceps are you know
45:22the bullet if it gets you the right spot you're dead yeah but does that bother you no
45:30the future is uncertain for the tax man he faces an uphill battle if he's ever to become mayor of
45:37middlesburg he may take a bullet for a tax too far but perhaps he will live up to his promise to rent
45:45out deck chairs on a stretch of spanish beach the biggest fear is that he will take his muscle to
45:51another part of britain and start afresh only the taxman knows and he's not saying
46:07so
46:11so
46:19so
46:21so