Dancing On Ice star Bez has reveals he was nearly shot dead in a row over drugs
DANCING On Ice star Bez has revealed how he was nearly shot dead in a row over drugs.
The Happy Mondays rocker had a gun held to his throat by South American dealers who he fell out with during a trip to New York.
Bez - the unlikely star of this year’s series - only escaped when a pal disturbed the gangster allowing the musician and his pals to leg it.
He opened up on the terrifying incident in his book Freaky Dancing: Me and The Monday’s.
Talking about the fall-out which happened after he and pals tried to score some drugs in a dark alleyway in the American city back in the 1980s he writes: “A Puerto Rican gang surrounded us and this kid pulled out a gun and shoved it in my throat.
“It dawned on me that I might have a problem on my hands. But God must have been looking down on me because a guy then appeared at the end of the alleyway and quickly diffused the situation and dragged me away while I was arguing the toss.
“Maybe I was a bit too excited and overly animated at the time but I can be like that when I am on drugs.”
Details of Bez’s lucky escape comes weeks after Sun Online revealed he once rioted in prison over trifle.
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He was jailed at the age of 17 after becoming homeless and spent more than three years in prison.
He served a term at a youth detention centre and was later sent to HMP Hindley in Bickershaw, Greater Manchester.
He got into fights, riots and even smuggled cigarettes while he was in prison.
The percussionist said that it was every man for himself before adding: “The following day we were ordered to write down the reasons for the riot. Every man wrote that the reason for the riot was because we hadn’t enough trifle the previous Sunday.
“The next Sunday, there were extra big helpings of trifle for everyone to keep us happy. F**cking ace! The things a lad has to do to get his fair share of trifle, it’s astounding.”
On another occasion, the father-of-three explained how he had been at a new prison for less than an hour before he found himself in a fight.
Bez says he was approached by an Irish man who thought he would be an easy target pushover: “This Irish kid took one look at me and went to grab my fork as a ruse to see if he could get me at it or I’d be an easy pushover.
“No chance, I’m not having it I thought and instantly poked him in the eye, lashed out with a headbutt and followed it up with a few good shots while he was off balance.”
But not all days were filled with something to take Bez’s mind of his mental health
The Boltonian said: “As you can imagine, time drags by very slowly in a place like that. It’s a constant battle of wits to keep on top of things and not slip into a deep depression.
“There were some nasty incidents of extreme violence that plagued the thoughts of every man in there.”
When Bez wasn’t sleeping all day or going to church on Sunday’s, he found amusement in competing with other inmates to see who could find the most foolproof way of smuggling cigarettes in.
Being put on the admin cleaning duties meant Bez“discovered the best way to get contraband in” despite the no smoking rule.
The ‘step on’ singer explained: “I was on to a winner, having full access to the visitors’ toilets meant I could get the cigs dropped off in the towel roll holder and simply collected the stash as I went about my day.”
When the TV star eventually got out, he promised himself he would never go back and since has been true to his word.
Bez said how in his book he missed a lot of the more gruesome details of life inside Strangeways Prison, Manchester, out.
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He explained: “I simply couldn’t face going into it all and opening up the can of worms that I’ve managed to keep shut tight for the last fifteen years.
“It makes me feel physically sick with depression just thinking about that period of my life.”
