Is this the creepiest museum in the UK?

Crouched behind some hedges in the Forest of Dean, Andy Jones paused for a moment to consider how strange his job was.

The collector had been invite by a coven member to watch an alleged witchcraft ritual, which was being held late at night to make sure no dog-walkers got the fright of their lives.

The group – who all had ‘respectable day jobs’ – were dressed in wizard-like cloaks as they performed a ceremony out amongst the trees.

The late night excursion was just the latest in Andy’s quest to find out more about the occult for his unique collection held at Littledean Jail in Gloucestershire.

The controversial museum has been branded everything from ‘fascinating’ to ‘disgusting’ in reviews. In one Netflix documentary, it was crowned ‘Europe’s largest dark tourist museum.’

On a foggy day in early Autumn, Metro decided to visit and see what the fuss was about. ‘It’s an adult-only museum,’ Andy explains, as he opens the gates to Littledean Jail so he can show us around. 

The building is home to the ‘Crime Through Time’ collection, an Aladdin’s Cave of eclectic items.

A clown suit worn by serial killer John Wayne Gacy towers over cabinets around the corner from an exhibit on World War Two secret agent Violette Szabo. Meanwhile a shirtless signed photo of Danny Dyer sits on one wall with letters from Moors murderer Myra Hindley stored in a cabinet opposite. Visitors can spot a Dalek, African Voodoo dolls, a pair of boots which belonged to Sid Vicious – the list goes on.

‘It’s haphazard, but we do all of this ourselves,’ Andy says as he gestures towards the items. ‘I don’t like empty space, it’s rammed from floor to ceiling. Some people spend all day here reading the information boards, but others prefer to just look at each item and move on. I think some do get a little overwhelmed.’

The Littledean Jail features traditional museum finds such as vintage police memorabilia and military uniforms and equipment from UK special forces. But there’s also more controversial items: pedophile Jimmy Saville’s tracksuit, a two-headed calf called Ba-Ba and robes worn by KKK members. Some shocked visitors have called the police over certain items in Andy’s collection, such as Nazi action figures on display.

In one TripAdvisor review, a disgruntled customer branded the museum a ‘misogynist man cave.’

‘Everybody is entitled to their own opinion,’ Andy, 63, says calmly. ‘You have to pay to come in, so if you don’t want to see these items, simply avoid visiting us. We do get a bit of abuse, people assume I’m a Nazi and things. It doesn’t bother me, I know it’s not true and what I’m like as a person. I’m interested in the history of what has gone on and what we can learn about it.

‘These items demonstrate the history of our very sad, disturbing and evil world. With all the wars still going on today and the sheer volume of children and innocent people being murdered, it shows how we just don’t learn. I’ve visited Auschwitz and, even though I’m not Jewish, it’s one of the most disturbingly sad visitor attractions I’ve ever been to. That’s been on my mind ever since. And I think it’s important not to sanitise history.’

Andy previously housed his collection at Nicholson House in Newent, one of the oldest inhabited towns in the Forest of Dean. But he was running out of space so, when Littledean Jail came on the market, he jumped at the chance at the move in 2004.

Throughout history, the building has been used as a House of Correction [places where those ‘unwilling to work’ were sent] as well as a police station], a courthouse and – briefly during the Second World War – an air raid shelter for local school children.

The very location of the Littledean Jail evokes feelings of unease. On an overcast day, fog rolls over the tree-lined path which leads to the museum, which happens to be in a signal blackspot. 

The ground floor of the building houses Andy’s collection, while the first-floor is home to his family. Andy’s wife Nicola pops her head out a window when Metro arrives and kindly offers coffee, which she brings down in flower-print mugs. She recalls fond family memories from the unique home, such as the couple’s younger children learning to ride bikes in front of the Jail.

‘It’s [crime] is not really my thing,’ she laughs warmly. ‘I love reading fictional crime, but true crime a little less. But Andy’s done a great job with the collection. If the walls here could talk, the stories would be amazing.’

One one occasion, Nicola and Andy’s daughter attempted a spooky sleepover with her friends in the Quadrophenia exhibit area, home to a collection of items from British mod and scooter fanatic David Wyburn. But ‘strange noises’ led to the group hastily relocating to the living room when their nerves got too much. 

‘The sound here carries strangely,’ Nicola explains. ‘We also get a lot of animals making odd noises as well, like deer and foxes. Andy has had to chase off a wild boar once.’

Andy explains that he gets his items from an ‘underworld’ of collectors. He researches each exhibit before it’s displayed and, if space allows, adds information boards to detail where or who they come from. 

His quest for items has led to some hairy situations. In the nineties, Andy claims to have encountered a ‘man in some sort of gimp suit’ and a ‘person in a rabbit cage’ when he visited the home of ‘Miss Whiplash,’ real name Lindi St Clair. The famous dominatrix had promised him crime memorabilia relating to the case of Dr Crippen, an American homeopath who was hanged for the murder of his wife, Cora Henrietta Crippen. But Miss Whiplash kept vanishing to ‘service her clients’ in a separate room, and Andy ultimately left empty handed.

In some cases, the curator gets items straight from the source.

Letters, drawings and even a lock of hair have been sent from Charles Bronson, currently imprisoned at HMP Woodhill. Andy has formed a friendship with the 71-year-old and even attended the wedding reception when Charles married the late Paula Williamson in 2017. 

‘He got in touch with me about 28 years ago, and we just became friends,’ Andy explains.

‘He called me when Tom Hardy was cast in the film about his life and asked: “what’s he like, what do you think of him? Is he a star?”’

Andy visited with Reggie Kray in prison on a number of occasions, one of the infamous gangster twins who once ruled over East London. He introduced the museum curator to a great number of intriguing characters, one of whom was Roy ‘Pretty Boy’ Shaw, an infamous and notorious unlicensed boxing champion.

‘The Krays were well known to everyone,’ Andy says. ‘And Roy Shaw had a big reputation as a fighter. I got to know them, and people like them, quite well. Obviously some of these people have done some pretty nasty things which I don’t condone. And they’ve been sent to prison for what they’ve done, they haven’t won. 

‘But I speak as I find. I can honestly say hand on heart that no criminal has ever boasted to me about beating someone up or murder. They’ve never been proud of what they’ve done. Most of them have been punished by going to jail, some died there. Contrary to what people think, I don’t think a great many of these criminals are proud of what they’ve done or for their reputations.’ 

Some of the Kray-themed memorabilia housed at Littledean Jail include a knuckle-duster and driving license from Ronnie Kray, as well as a suit worn by the gangster at his mother Violet’s funeral. 

Andy also struck up a friendship with the late Dave Courtney, who became both an author and an actor after he served time at Belmarsh Prison for gang-related crimes.

‘My son Luke tragically died suddenly in 2020,’ Andy recalls. ‘And Dave came down to visit me and said “look, I know you won’t want me to come to the funeral” – because he would have an entourage of fans all the time. But he kindly tried to give me £5,000 to put towards the ceremony, which I didn’t accept, but this was typical of his warm and generous nature. I met up with him privately from time to time. He was a good friend.’

Andy’s gentle West Country accent seems worlds away than the harsh London accent of the infamous criminals he speaks of. The curator grew up on ‘brilliantly multicultural’ White City Estate in Gloucestershire where his first love was music. Before he sat exams, Andy was expelled from school due to ‘prolonged absences’, which were caused by his father, who took his teenage son with him to work on building sites. 

After leaving school, 16-year-old Andy started his own plastering contractor business and played bass in the punk-rock band ‘Dmob’ and then ‘Kiss the Blade’ in his free time. It was then, buying records and clothing, that his collector journey began.

Nearly 50 years later, the rooms of the Littledean Jail are bursting at the seams with his vast and varied collection – some of which have yet to be displayed Andy has expanded into everything associated with crime or celebrity and still accepts donations of new items. It’s easy to get lost for hours as you navigate through the good, the bad and the ugly of the world’s past.

Andy also reveals rare photographs which are set be the subject of a future exhibition at Littledean Jail. Metro is bound to secrecy on the specifics, but can confirm the shocking images concern the private lives of an infamous criminal couple.

Hopes they will prove as popular as his current exhibits, Andy adds, ‘People all seem to have this macabre, almost morbid, interest in shocking things. Without true crime, sleaze and celebrity scandal we’d have far less television documentaries or blockbuster films.

‘There’s a general fascination for true crime which people can explore here. This is a place where good and evil collide and where fantasy meets a brutal reality.’

Find out more about the Littledean Jail by clicking here

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