I really dislike the glorification of criminals in the British press.
Here you have an apparently charming man who knowingly caused a great deal of violence and human misery with his trade.
His masterstroke[1] was having the audacity to blame the laws of the time for the violence in his trade - and getting people to agree that, yes, he has no responsibility for his actions, it's the laws that should be blamed!
And that's without even touching on his business associates; how you can call yourself Mr Nice while teaming up with the IRA and still look at yourself in the mirror every morning is beyond me.
[1] In later life. Staying out of prison by claiming to be an MI6/SIS informant was pretty clever, given that MI6 wouldn't even officially confirm their own existence until well into the 90s, let alone publicly comment on specific individuals and cases.
Here you have an apparently charming man who knowingly caused a great deal of violence and human misery with his trade.
His masterstroke[1] was having the audacity to blame the laws of the time for the violence in his trade - and getting people to agree that, yes, he has no responsibility for his actions, it's the laws that should be blamed!
And that's without even touching on his business associates; how you can call yourself Mr Nice while teaming up with the IRA and still look at yourself in the mirror every morning is beyond me.
[1] In later life. Staying out of prison by claiming to be an MI6/SIS informant was pretty clever, given that MI6 wouldn't even officially confirm their own existence until well into the 90s, let alone publicly comment on specific individuals and cases.