Knocking on a door and demanding a large sum of money seems like a daunting task for most people, but it is apparently “easy” when ‘Britain’s hardest man’ Lenny McLean is “frothing at the mouth” behind you

A bareknuckle brawler often dubbed “Britain’s hardest man” used to “growl and froth at the mouth” when collecting debts, according to his close friend.

Lenny McLean, who stood at 6ft 3in and weighed 20-stone, had a fearsome reputation as an underground bare knuckle boxer, bouncer and bodyguard.

His thirst for violence was unmatched and Micky Theo, who worked the doors with Lenny at nightspots like Camden Palace, gave a chilling insight.

Speaking about the intimidating impact Lenny had on others, he spoke about collecting debts with him on the Criminal Connection Podcast.

He told host Terry Stone his biggest collection was over £100k. Asked whether it an easy job, he replied: “Well, if you’ve got Lenny behind you and Lenny is growling on the phone, frothing at the mouth, it is done, it is easy.

“He mentions his name, he’d get up and growl at you on the phone, you know, it was done, it was just so easy with him.

“Other people you dealt with things weren’t so easy but just have to sit them down and say, ‘look, this is what is owed, this is the paperwork,’. Having the paperwork is better, otherwise you are just demanding money.”

Micky got into debt collection jobs from working the doors of clubs in London from the age of 16. He too was an intimidating presence thanks to his bodybuilding training.

He also boxed and first laced a pair of gloves after being taken under Lenny’s wing when the pair were colleagues at Camden Palace.

At the time Lenny, was working on The Guv’nor documentary and Micky used to drive him across the capital – even up until his death from cancer in 1998.

And speaking on the podcast, he reacted to the host saying how “shocked” he was at meeting Lenny – simply because of how “f***ing big he was”.

But giving an insight into his friend’s character, he replied: “He was a very big man and a powerful man.

“He was a great guy if you knew him. A lot of people said he was a bully but you know he would only bully you… I say bully… he would only give it you if you were out of order and that is how it was.

“It was what he was trained to do, that’s where he come from – that is how it is.”

East End hardman Lenny had a role in Guy Ritchie’s film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels shortly before dying in 1998 when he was just 49.

Micky meanwhile said he spent a lot of time with the ‘The King of the Cobbles’ in his final days and he reflected: “At the time we were together quite a bit, right up to the time that he passed.

“He was walking down with a stick at the late stages. We used to go and eat a lot, he loved his foot, and he’d go anywhere I’d take him.

“He’d just got into the film world, just got his new house, and everything was going great for him, and he took a downturn.”

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