The night Jesus came into my prison cell RIYAD SEASON

John Fury on violence, regrets - and a new future

- DAMON WILKINSON

LOCKED up in Strangeways for the brutal crime of gouging a man's eye out, John Fury was determined to change. It was the former bare knuckle boxer's third spell in prison - but he vowed it would be his last.

"This time I was a different beast entering those four walls of pain and sorrow, stupidity and hatred; I was no longer against the world, I just wanted to be back in it," he wrote in his newly-released autobiography When Fury Takes Over.

Fury, the father and trainer of heavyweight world champ Tyson Fury, was jailed after he left fellow Traveller Oathie Sykes half-blind when a decade-long grudge erupted in bloody violence at a car auction at Belle Vue. The pair had been pals, but had had a violent bust-up over a bottle of beer during a trip to Cyprus in 1999.

And when they crossed paths at British Car Auctions in July 2010, the simmering feud erupted once more. Mr Sykes told Manchester Crown Court Fury approached him with his 'chest up' and asked: "What about me and you finishing that fight?"

After Fury, who boxed professionally in the 80s under the name Gypsy John, allegedly claimed 'I'm the best man here in the auction, I'm the best man in the country, the pair punches, between cars.