Doncaster author helps former 'big league gangster' pen gritty and violent autobiography

Hard Edge lifts the lid on the county’s criminal underworld and has been written by ex-gangster, celebrity bodyguard, martial artist and film stuntman Conrad Lockston in conjunction with Doncaster’s Chris McNab.

The book reveals the unsettling reality of Britain’s criminal subculture, how he survived it, and why we are all closer to it than we think.

The hardman wants to challenge the true-crime landscape with the just-published first part of his autobiography, which is already attracting celebrity endorsement and public interest.

Lockston’s life reads like brutal fiction.

Following a traumatic childhood, he became immersed in the criminal underworld, operating as a bouncer, enforcer, crime-boss bodyguard, security firm manager, debt collection muscle and gangland attack dog.

He has fought literally hundreds of the most extreme violent encounters, while at the same time surviving powerful family and personal tragedies.

Lockston is also a fifth-dan karate blackbelt, having trained hundreds of martial arts students across the UK, many to black belt standard, and he has won numerous medals ininternational karate competitions.

His work as a gangland hardman led to his becoming a bodyguard to well-known celebrities, including A-list actors, film directors and premiership footballers, his duties ranging from providing security for hedonistic nightclub orgies and drug parties through to protecting female actors from violent stalkers.

Lockston has not only acted as a violent character in films, but has also worked as a fight coordinator, stuntman and edged weapons trainer – the latter both to the film industry and the UK security forces.

He has established and run several successful businesses, plus can be found intimidating crowds of hardcore metal fans as theatrical stage muscle for a UK HC metal band.

Witty, gritty and shocking, Hard Edge is a fresh voice and a startling insight into one man’s mental and physical struggle to survive. The book also shows us how the criminal world and polite society frequently bleed into one another.

More dramatic revelations are to come subsequent volumes.

It has been put together with the help of Doncaster’s Chris McNab.

Born in Doncaster, Dr McNab is a prolific non-fiction author, having written and published more than 100 titles since he began his career in 1998.

He specialises in history, military history and law enforcement, but has written on a wide range of topics for markets reaching from children to academics.

He appears occasionally on TV as an expert commentator and he is also an educational publishing consultant, working in places such as Kazakhstan, the UAE, Oman and Thailand to help reform government educational programmes.

He has trained hundreds of people to be writers, editors and publishing managers. Today Chris lives in South Wales.

The book is available now.