London nightclub owner and criminal who helped fellow crooks evade justice on the ‘Costa del Crime’ in Spain
Ronnie Knight, the former London club owner, wide boy, convicted criminal and ex-husband of the actor Barbara Windsor, played as big a part as anyone in establishing the south of Spain as the “Costa del Crime”. For many years he acted as an unofficial consul for British criminals seeking a home away from the bothersome gaze of the police.
Knight, who has died aged 89, first came to public attention in the 1960s through his marriage to Windsor, then a rising star of musicals, whom he had started dating while still married to his childhood sweetheart June, the mother of his two children. He dabbled in various illegal enterprises, including a Soho peep-show business, although some of the large profits had to be handed over to corrupt Scotland Yard detectives. A very sociable if flash character, he found his metier running the Artistes and Repertoire nightclub in London, which changed its name to the A&R. It became a hang-out for members of showbusiness and the underworld, reflecting the mutual fascination between those two worlds in the 60s and 70s.
