WRESTLING gangsters, heading off thugs with samurai swords and squaring as much as drug sellers – it is all in a day's work for 'Britain’s hardest repo man'.
Over the previous 28 years Sean James, 51, from Staffordshire, has reclaimed 66,000 vehicles "at a really modest estimate" from the nation's most brutal thugs and criminals.
He discovered his calling "by chance" after flunking his faculty exams and leaving with none qualifications.
After stints within the Royal Navy and a personal detective company, he went into repossessions the place he turned identified for taking over the worst circumstances that firms had "just about written off" as misplaced.
Sean's popularity led him to star in Channel 4 doc Repo Man in 2013 and now he is an web sensation, racking up 13million views on YouTube alone.
Regardless of his spectacular historical past, the 6ft 3in, 18st star, 51, tells The Solar: “I am not a tough man. Yeah I get up for myself, however I would not go down as one in every of historical past's onerous males.
"The factor with me is that I do not give a f*** what occurs, even when individuals have pointed weapons at me, tried to hit me with hammers and attacked me with knives.
"Whenever you hear 'You are f*****g lifeless' each day you get accustomed to it.
"I by no means again down, it is my job to get these vehicles again it doesn't matter what."
Through the years Sean's taken on infamous gangsters, most of which have been armed with weapons, knives and baseball bats.
Surprisingly his lengthy checklist of violent showdowns have ended with him comparatively unscathed, driving away in high-end Ferraris, Porsches, Aston Martins - and as soon as a £2million stone-crushing machine.
Sean enrolled within the Royal Navy at 16 and serves for 5 years on destroyers and the plane provider Ark Royal throughout the First Gulf Conflict in 1991.
He left uncertain of his subsequent transfer, and flicked via the Yellow Pages for “one thing which may enchantment”.
Sean stumbled upon a personal detective company, the place he chased individuals "all around the nation" to serve warrants - which uncovered him to the world of repossessions.
Whenever you hear 'You are f*****g lifeless' each day you get accustomed to it
Sean James
“I managed to search out this toyboy, who was ex-French Overseas Legion, who had stolen a speedboat and van,” he remembers. “There was a little bit of a battle however he misplaced.
“After I returned them, I used to be informed, ‘We’ve by no means seen anybody such as you’. I used to be good at it – younger, match and robust, straight out of the Navy, and didn’t care what individuals stated to me.”
It was his first foray right into a enterprise that earned him as much as £10,000 a day throughout his greatest years. On day, he'd reclaim 30 vehicles in a 24-hour interval.
At 23 Sean contacted finance firms asking to tackle their worst circumstances which they'd “just about written off” as being “not possible” to retrieve.
Inside days, he'd provide you with the products.
'Blood in all places'
Regardless of typically stepping into scrapes, he solely ever sustained “chipped bones and stitches within the head” - normally from being overwhelmed with a baseball bat.
Sean remembers: “One of many worst was in Southampton when this 30st man stormed out of the home and there was a large brawl within the backyard with all of the household and the neighbours.
“The large man was operating at me, so I attempted to kick him within the b******s but it surely did f*** all as a result of he was too fats.
"It ended with blood in all places and everybody within the hospital after which within the cells in a single day.
“I had 5 stitches from that repossession after getting hit over the top with a backyard decoration. But it surely was fairly regular to get knives, baseball bats and even weapons pulled on you.
"Somebody tried to place a Samurai sword via the door of a automotive we have been driving on and off one other job, somebody began revving a chainsaw moments earlier than the police confirmed up."
One in every of Sean's trickiest repossessions was a stone crusher, value £2million, from a Scottish gang who stored it for 2 years as a result of nobody may retrieve it.
“Different corporations bought the s*** kicked out of them attempting to get it again, he was the toughest gangster in Scotland and we bought it again,” Sean tells us proudly.
“One of many guys I took with me was 20st, he was an enormous, huge bloke and he was s*****g his pants. They got here at us with the whole lot however we didn’t again down.”
Somebody tried to place a Samurai sword via the door of a automotive we have been driving on and off one other job, somebody began revving a chainsaw moments earlier than the police confirmed up
Sean James
Relatively than attempting to out-muscle his opponents, Sean depends on energy holds discovered from the martial arts Goshikwai and Judo.
“Punching shouldn't be the reply,” he says. “You might be punching ceaselessly and a day. I discovered it’s simpler to choke somebody out chilly.
“There’s no blood, I don’t break my palms or their face and it saves loads of messing round.”
That may’t at all times be stated for these he comes up in opposition to -including one muscle-clad bodybuilder.
“There was this steroid person, who was big," Steve remembers.
"I used to be hooking up the wheels of his automotive when subsequent factor I do know I’m coated in glass from him smashing the lights out with a baseball bat.
“I managed to get him in a chokehold and his eyes began bleeding. I wasn't positive if he was lifeless or alive after we drove away however then he referred to as me.
“He requested if he may get his bag out of the boot. After I regarded it was filled with steroids. I drove again and there he was, sun shades on and dried blood on his face.”
Dying threats
Sean places his success all the way down to “lacking the worry gene" - however there's one facet of the job which will get to him.
He tells how one Liverpudlian gangster threatened to kill him and burn his home down.
It adopted a finance firm unintentionally sending the felony a doc with Sean's title, deal with and telephone quantity.
“He was a participant and knew what he was doing,” Sean remembers. “He phoned me to say he knew the place I lived, informed me my deal with on the telephone and threatened to point out up.
“I stated, ‘I’ll cease you there. I’ve simply sat down with fish fingers, chips and beans, I’ve been working all day and I’m hungry. So I’ll eat and cope with you if you get right here.’
I managed to get him in a chokehold and his eyes began bleeding. I wasn't positive if he was lifeless or alive after we drove away however then he referred to as me
Sean James
“I put the telephone down and he rang once more and yelled ‘You f*****g w****r, I’m going to kill you and burn your home.’ I interrupted once more and hung up shortly after.
“I couldn’t consider the finance firm had given my deal with to one of the vital harmful individuals in Britain. They set him on a warpath.”
The gangster didn’t present up - and fearless Sean even managed to get an apology out of him.
“For a couple of month I’d ring him at 2am or 3am to say, ‘Hiya, you continue to haven’t been to my home’ and would name him at any time when I used to be in his space," he says.
“I rang him each evening and in the long run he informed me, ‘I’m not coming to your home’ and apologised. He was a giant f****r too.”
Outnumbered
Sean was typically outnumbered on his repo jobs - together with throughout a visit to a travellers' website to reclaim a static caravan.
He remembers: "There was me and two different guys and we have been surrounded. Then one bloke turned up in a giant Jeep with a shotgun.
“I informed him, ‘You both f*****g shoot me and get performed for homicide over a static caravan otherwise you pay the cash. He paid the £25,000.”
Whereas Sean nonetheless tackles the "actually onerous jobs", in recent times he is extra centered on his YouTube channel Repo Man, the place he recreates a few of his most surprising and hilarious repossession jobs.
I informed him, ‘You both f***ing shoot me and get performed for homicide over a static caravan otherwise you pay the cash. He paid the £25,000
Sean James
“You get motion, drama, combating, vehicles getting smashed and blown up and there’s Solely Fools and Horses fashion comedy in there and other people adore it," he says.
“Individuals recognise me on the road as Repo Man. They love my story. I left faculty with no qualifications and made successful of myself, which conjures up individuals to consider in themselves.”
Regardless of taking over among the nation's hardest thugs, he says he is bombarded by trolls on-line.
He tells us: “Society’s gone made. It’s so weird, I get a great deal of feedback calling me a fats w****r, threatening to kick my head in and wishing my children would die.
“One bloke ripped the s*** out of me on-line, referred to as me a p***ok and a d***head. He even posted what he thought was my deal with on-line.
“I checked out his profile image, noticed he was married they usually weren’t the best-looking individuals, so I wrote, ‘Glad you discovered love after The Undateables.'
“He then despatched me a message saying I shouldn’t take the p*** out of him and will simply take it. Then he posts my ‘deal with’ and hyperlinks to the place my missus works on-line.
“I needed to block this one bloke as a result of he stored sending me emails as soon as a month asking to fulfill up for a battle. There’s no respect anymore.”
Regardless of the trolls, Sean seems like he is having the final snicker, as each hate-filled remark an individual leaves boosts his social media presence.
“I adore it,” he says. “It helps my movies get thousands and thousands of views.”
You'll be able to comply with Sean's movies on YouTube or Fb.
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