Gentle Johnny Ramensky: The Extraordinary True Story of the Safe Blower Who Became a War Hero

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Whatever the reason, the year after his release, now aged 20, he was in more bother. Appearing in court under the name Johnny Ramensky for the first time, he was sentenced to 18 months for a string of 16 robberies in the West End and South Side of Glasgow. It seemed his compulsion to break into whatever he could was not quelled by his dangerous feats in the Armed Forces and he flitted in and out of jail until, in November, 1955, he was hit with 10 years’ “preventative detention” at Peterhead Prison, which offered him few privileges. Even in his late 60s, when he might have been collecting his pension and thinking about winding down, he was otherwise engaged, serving a one-year sentence after being caught on a shop roof in Ayr. The financial reward from the book means very little to me because I know from experience that money, even big money, makes no difference to my mode of life. In Italy, he blew open the safes of 14 foreign embassies in Rome - all in one day. That feat earned him a medal..

However, Ramenksy’s criminal past may have been hard to shake off as he infiltrated German strongholds. While successfully obtaining key documents, there are claims he also helped himself to some Nazi treasures. Rumours persist to this day that some loot plundered by Ramensky from the Nazis was stored in a Royal Navy supply depot in Carfin. In 1962 Detective Chief Superintendent Robert Colquhoun, a retired cop who knew Ramensky well, received a letter from his old adversary. No one had put him behind bars more times. For that, Ramensky received two more years - a modest sentence considering his record. His lawyer Joe Beltrami secured a lenient disposal with a plea in mitigation in which he said: "He has asked me not to refer to his wartime exploits, but after the war he had difficulty, like thousands of others, re-establishing himself. Broken promises, suspicion and false adulation were the elements of this man's experience." Charles Buchan, one of his wartime colleagues, said later he doubted it would have been possible for him to stay hidden in the north east without any help.

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Others were more sceptical. As one local resident told the P&J: “He must have been holed up somewhere. He canna live off neeps for nine days!” Such was his celebrity status that he was once mobbed in the 1960's while on holiday in Ayr with his wife. A sergeant took over and succeeded in getting the van in position. But a number of young children were being crushed, close to the vehicle, and because of the danger, the van was driven to the front of the building and reversed against the front door.

Lord Carmont, the judge who cleaned up the razor gangs in Glasgow with savage sentences, was on the bench when Ramensky came up for sentence. He carried on chatting to the lads and asked them their names and ages, although they later reported he had spoken gently and without any threat.He agreed and enlisted with the Royal Highland Fusiliers, where he was given commando training to complement his already well-honed expertise at infiltration. Cases are known where Commandos were dropped at John o’ Groats, penniless and without food, and told to make their way to Land’s End. It is rare for prisoners to become visible, unless something dramatic happens to that institution, or to the prisoner himself. Again, it was loud blast and he hampered making his getaway because the haul was largely in old half-crown coins. He had no chance of outrunning the police.