One-Eyed Baz - The Story of Barrington 'Zulu' Patterson, One of Britain's Deadliest Men. Barrington Patterson & Cass Pennant
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On a Saturday you used to get loads of lads coming into the town, so we thought it was a good way to earn a bit of poke. We used to tax them; we’d take them to one side and take their money off them – if they had nice clothes on, we’d take them too. Then we’d give them a little slap and send them on their way.
The main place we’d hang out would be either by the fountain or the ramp, which was where everyone headed from the train station. We’d have a group of around 20 rude boys and rude girls and there were other gangs scattered around who hung out near the fountain, e.g. the Jazz Funkers (aka the Convicts), the Rat Pack, who hung out in the Night Rider pub, and also the Apex. Sometimes fights could break out between us, but, if outsiders came into town, the Townies and the other gangs formed alliances. This is how the Zulus started to form, from different gangs joining forces against rival football firms coming into our city.
I was living in Handsworth at the time but I was in town every day. I’d finish at school, get home, change and head straight into town, then I’d catch the last bus home at about 11.30–12. We had to earn money, so it was in town that I had my little earners.
On Saturday, in came all the football fans who we’d started taxing. Then, all of a sudden, you started getting these skinheads coming into town. We’d wait for ’em to walk through and we’d hammer ’em – bang ’em, bang ’em, bang ’em! But there was this black guy who used to hang around with them. He was a local skinhead and I used to think, Fucking coconut, man!
RUPERT & TODD
Todd: Barrington’s always been like a human version of a ‘staff’, a Staffordshire bull terrier. You’ll get a lot of dogs that’ll fight if they’re under pressure, but the staff was bred to fight and with Barrington it’s the same, he’s just always liked fighting. From the age of 16, when I met him, we had a couple of lads in the firm that could have a good old fight but no one was like Barrington. He had no fear, not even of the police, he just didn’t care! We were kids at the time, growing up, sometimes we’d have trouble with girls’ parents and they’d come down. They were big, strapping blokes, but, as soon as they stepped up to Barrington, me and Rupert would look at each other, put our hands over our mouths and say, ‘I don’t think this geezer realises what he’s let himself in for!’ A lot of the time people would come down for Barrington with weapons and he would take the weapon off them and beat them. Don’t get me wrong: he’s a lovely guy and he’s got a big heart and he’s a very good friend to have. But he’s a very, very bad enemy to have. Before Barrington was onside with us in our firm, he came from the ghetto with a predominantly Asian firm: a few Chinese, a few blacks, including a bloke called Thomas Coley. As soon as him and Thomas came into town all the boys knew that the Handsworth Wanderers were here. I think the only words I can remember Barrington saying at the time were, ‘Do you want a fight?’ LOL! Nothing else! He’d look at you with his eye and say, ‘D’you wanna fight?’
Rupert: In the early eighties, there was a big black community in Handsworth, but there was a big Indian community as well.
Todd: You could say that at the time Handsworth was a bit of a criminal community like many areas in Birmingham, but a lot of people would turn around and say, ‘What are you putting Handsworth down for?’ I suppose it comes down to the circles that you move in, not the area you’re from. In Handsworth, there were more blacks than other areas; where I came from it was pretty much 50 per cent black/50 per cent white. Where Barrington came from it was 80 per cent black/20 per cent white, so when you’ve got black around black it makes you more ‘urban’.
Rupert: I lived in a white area, in Quinton. At that time we were still at school; the first day I went into that playground and said my name, it was like BANG! I remember a day when we went to a Birmingham game; me and Barrington were there and this was before the Zulus and all that lot. That was the day I saw the change in our generation coming through, because all the guys older than us were white guys.
Todd: And the funny thing about it is that when we came into town, as 15-year-olds, the first thing we did was stamp out the racism that was around in the early eighties and there was a lot of it about. A lot of people had to be put in their places as times were changing and we were helping them change. Barrington was in the ghetto at the time, knocking someone else’s head off – thank God for that! As we got into the mods and rockers scene, that’s when Barrington came along and we used to have some good battles; in those days, there would be a good few hundred of us. There were a few of us who were tight-knit, 10 to 15 of us who were just the firm on our own and that’s when Barrington came into it. We had several names before we got named the Townies – like Rudies, Tiger Posse, Nigger Squad. But when I wasn’t in town people used to say, ‘Watch out for the Townies, if you’re in town you’ll get robbed’ – not realising I was a Townie.
I can remember a time when we were walking through Handsworth and Barrington looks across the road and sees this guy. He says, ‘That guy over there used to bully me when I was at school,’ and he hadn’t seen him since then. But obviously since then his confidence had built up. He walks over to the guy, who was several years older than him, and says, ‘Oi, pussy! D’you remember me? D’you remember you used to bully me at school?’
And the guy’s looked at Barrington and I think he could smell the fierceness of him. He just scurried on as fast as he could!
When I was a kid at school I did get bullied over my eye, but years later I’d bump into certain people and give them a slap for it. That’s how long I hold a grudge – for years.
RUPERT & TODD
Todd: When we were 17, we used to mess about in the Pallasades shopping centre, sometimes we used to do the security’s heads in. There was one security guard called ‘Shotgun Tommy’ and we used to take the piss out of him all the time, even though he was a really nice guy; we used to call him Urko because he was built like the gorilla from Planet of the Apes, I’m telling you. Solid! One day he just says to Barrington, ‘If you think you’re tough let’s go round the back for a straightener!’ and I’m telling you, that was a fight and a half. He looked at us after and looked at Barrington and said, ‘Him tough!’ I know Barrington thought, Well, this man’s tough himself, but Barrington was only 17.
Rupert: I remember when they used to have the cameras there and there was this one security guy we used to call ‘Shitty Batty’. He must have told us to move on or something; it was late at night because the shops were closed. Someone must have started arguing the case, saying, ‘There’s no one around, so what are you moving us on for?’ So they’ve got into a bit of a set-to and Barrington and him have decided to sort it out. Barrington’s moved the camera so that it’s facing the other way. Then he fucking mullahed him!
Todd: ‘The Bear’ was this lad who used to knock around within the firm but he was a lot older than us – he was the biggest by far. A few lads in the firm kind of feared him because he was a bit of a bully at times to some of the weaker crew members, but he came in very handy at times when we had problems with rival firms. Some of them stayed away from him and some of them let him buy drinks for them to try to buy their friendship that way, but he always ended up turning. Probably the last day he ever turned on anyone was when we were walking back to the station and he started picking on Rupert a bit. Everyone was getting a bit concerned; you had to be careful because if you picked on certain members of the firm then the other lads were going to feel like, ‘You’re picking on me as well.’ Some members of the firm carried a bit more clout and they weren’t meant to be bullied. Rupert was one of them.
I think that day Barrington had no other option but to fight him. They had a fight and a half. There was this place called Wade’s, they used to sell carpets and they had a balcony there. Barrington chucked him over the balcony then went down and carried on. The Bear bit out a chunk of Barrington’s arm and they had a serious fight that day, but in Barrington’s head it’s never ever been over. He always says to me,