A series of images capturing some of the personal artefacts and weapons of notorious East End gangsters The Krays have been taken by top photographer Peter Dazeley.

The shots are of memorabilia from a private collection and show objects of Ronnie and Reggie Krays’ life of crime and prison.

They include Reggie’s bayonet, knife, and his artist’s paint set, and Ronnie’s cigarette case, comb, sawn-off shot gun, and infamous glasses.

It also includes a letter from their mother, Violet, in which she writes to a friend that the twins “are the most understanding and kindest of people one could meet they have never hurt anyone only there own kind”.

The memorabilia belongs to Andy Jones, owner of Littledean Jail, a former prison, courthouse and police station now used as a museum of crime through the ages.

Peter, who runs The Studios in Heathmans Road, Parsons Green, photographed 16 items. He said: “As a photographer I’m always looking for interesting things, people and places to photograph and that’s how this came about.

“It was amazing to get hold of these items and photograph them. It’s fascinating thing is their weaponry was very low tech, like the catapult.”

Many of his photographs were of items that had caused immense pain and suffering but Peter distanced himself from this when taking his photos. He said: “I think I was quite removed from it, because some of these weapons caused quite a lot of damage.”

Of all the photos he took, he said there was one particularly striking: “They glasses are amazing because of where they have been and what they have seen. That had the biggest impact on me.”

Peter was interviewed by BBC News about his Krays memorabilia, following the huge publicity surrounding the twins, following the release of Legend, starring Tom Hardy as both brothers.

Limited edition fine art prints are available from The Studios or by going to http://www.peterdazeley.com/.