Another Mans Shoes
Interviews with fellow military veterans and adventurers about their experiences of war, the lows and times of hardship, joining them on their journey and how this has shaped their lives in the most extraordinary way. Comedy moments, dark humour and witty banter.
Another Mans Shoes
Dean Ash- Embracing Life's Unpredictable Journey
Dean Ash, a remarkable storyteller with a life as vibrant as his South African accent, joins us to share his extraordinary journey from the streets of Johannesburg to becoming a pilot and lifestyle coach. Growing up as the youngest of four boys with a Hells Angel for a father, Dean's childhood anecdotes are filled with adventure and mischief that contrast sharply with the lives of children today. His tales aren't just nostalgic; they're a window into an era defined by freedom and chaos.
We also unravel the haunting mystery of a woman who vanished 26 years ago in Cape Town, a story that tugs at the heartstrings and explores the enduring hope of her family. This segment isn't just about the unresolved case but also how such tragedies shape personal resilience and protective instincts. Alongside this, we delve into hypothetical survival scenarios, discussing what essentials one might need when faced with unexpected situations, emphasizing the importance of preparedness in life's uncertainties.
The narrative shifts as Dean recounts his thrilling experiences in the world of wealth, luxury, and high-end security. From working with discreet, high-profile clients to spontaneous decisions like becoming a pilot, his life is a testament to seizing opportunities and embracing the unexpected. He also shares plans for a gripping crime documentary set in South Africa, promising more compelling stories ahead. Join us for an episode filled with emotion, adventure, and life lessons that will leave you both entertained and introspective.
Please visit the Podcasts app and leave a review or rating, this really helps get out show noticed. Thank you.
welcome back, and this is another man's shoes podcast with myself, adam and my co-host, martin, and we've got a fantastic guest for you on this show we've got dean ash. Now dean is going to take us through his journey and what a roller coaster. Uh, really excited to be releasing this one. He has told us so much and that is just scratching the surface of what he's got up to in life, and so we're going to be doing multiple episodes on this one uh, and we're also on youtube now in a big way, so we've really started to push youtube more. Uh, we're still on all the other platforms we have spotify and apple podcasts and where have you but we do find that we're getting more engagement uh, on youtube, especially when we're putting the videos up, and so that's what we're going to carry on doing. So we are everywhere, but if you are on youtube, we want to recommend us.
Speaker 1:Please just head over to our page, uh, just look for adam elcock, uh, another man's shoes and you'll find our page there, our channel. So please subscribe because we want to really get the subscribers up. That helps the usual algorithms and get some more people to see us and, hopefully, enjoy the episodes, and we're doing sort of daily and weekly snippets as well, little five ten-minute interviews and thoughts of the day. So head along there. Hope you enjoy it. But anyway, let's get Dean on. So, dean Martin, welcome to the show. Thanks for joining us on Another Man's Shoes. We are delighted tonight to have with us the elusive Dean Ash. We've been trying to get this interview in for like six months. We've been talking about this and every week he just lets us down.
Speaker 1:It's been a wee while, but Dean as you can see if you're watching this at home or on your mobile. On the video he's at his private gym where he's just basically looking after himself. I mean, even on a little thumbnail, mate, you're still looking legendary there. You're like 80 years old and your hair is epic. So whatever you're taking, mate, send, send some of it our way, uh, anyway. So, uh, dean martin, thanks, welcome to the show. Yeah, thanks for having me it's a pleasure.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, we've been looking forward to this Dean. Definitely, mate. It's been a bit of a challenge putting it together, but thanks for coming on, mate. We're really excited to get stuck into your. You know your life and stuff, mate, and let everyone listen to what you've been up to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's been a wee while it's been a wee wait. Been a wee while it'd be been a wee wait.
Speaker 1:I've been waiting to get onto another man's shoes for a while, so I'm glad this time has finally arrived. Yeah, thanks and um. For anyone who is listening at home, uh, as you can tell, dean has got a strong accent from south africa, so we will be adding captions at the end so you can hear what he's up to. Signal mate, your voice is like howard stern. Then we did that trick where he said to the women just sit on the speaker and he'll just talk, and they're all orgasming. That is what your voice does to Martin.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we sort of touched on. We've been friends for God knows how many years now. We've got up to all sorts of escapades, all the three of us, and through the charity, through a mutual friend, john chart, who's been on the show. And every time you tell us a story, you know we're sitting around a bar and we're just talking. It is like Christ, the world needs to to hear what your, your journey so far has been. I mean, it's it, it's, it's the stuff of legend. And you weren't even in the military. I mean, god damn, if you were in there you'd have a whole series of books now. Uh, but I think as we start on, you're from south africa, so can you just sort of take us through, sort of like, where you were born, your upbringing and what was it like back in south africa in the day yeah, so I'm the youngest of four boys, uh, living in south africa, johannesburg predominantly.
Speaker 2:We lived through for most of my childhood, uh, moved around. Yeah, so I'm the youngest of four boys. Lived in South Africa, in Johannesburg predominantly, lived through for most of my childhood, moved around. Quite often my dad was a house angel. That probably I should just stop there then. You know that says a lot. Yeah, yeah, he wasn't around that much and he lived the life of a house angel until the day he died. He looked like he was 21, forever Wild man, really good looking and loved to drink, loved to party, loved to fight, loved to ride his bike, and I think some of those traits fell through to the youngest.
Speaker 2:But no, I lived, youngest of four, grew up in Johannesburg. So I think at the time was a great place to live and uh, uh, obviously you know crime wasn't as rough as it is now and growing up in South Africa as a whole was a. It's a great, it was a great country. It still is. Um, we lived well, we were, we were poor, but we never went to bed hungry and, yeah, we had a great upbringing, great childhood, always out in the streets. When I see kids today and I compare notes. Yeah, I had a great childhood, you know, out in the streets. Obviously, there were no mobile phones, there were no devices. We, you know, we had a black and white knobby TV without remote and we had a car that had the wind down window still, but mostly we went to school barefoot, you know, in the cold, and that's just the way africa was. It was a normal thing for us. You know, that's how we grew up and that wasn't because of a lack of money.
Speaker 1:It was just, that was the way of life you were what?
Speaker 2:quite nomadic in your sort of nature yeah, yeah, I mean also, like you know, we weren't, like I said, we weren't very, very, uh, very well off, but yeah, we lived happy, that's all we knew and we survived. We were raised well, manners and respect, which is a rarity, and I'm glad that I was raised disciplined, beaten every time you stepped out of line, and it wasn't a case of when you stepped out of line you get the belt. I mean, my mother one day hit me with my brother. You know there was no going to get the belt. If you're in the kitchen and you stepped out of line, you get a black ring with a pot and a pan. But yeah, it was good, it was a good way of being raised and growing up in South Africa was an awesome place to live.
Speaker 3:Awesome place, yeah, can I can imagine? I, I, um, I visited south africa back in 2015, um, and before I went out there, everyone was like, oh you sure you want to be going over there with your family, taking the kids, for four weeks trekking around in a four by four on your own, and I was like, look, you know, just we've got to go. I've. I've learned some stuff in my time knowing, you know, like rolling through traffic lights not don't turn the window wipers on if someone throws eggs or mud at it, et cetera, all that good stuff, mate. Honestly, I had no trouble whatsoever. It was an amazing trip.
Speaker 3:But I know it's going through a bit of a hard time at the moment, isn't it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, south Africa's a beautiful place, probably one of the most beautiful places in the world, cape Town as such. Good wine, good food, good culture, good vibe, and a lot of people do go there in life. You know they've got a holiday and they have a good time, but the problem is when it goes wrong. It goes wrong badly, you know. Yeah, sure, and that's the thing. And I've had a lot of people come back and say, oh, there's worry about. But me personally, even though I know the place and I grew up there, when I was driving around as a kid, as a youngster, I always was part of, I wouldn't say, the underground world, but I always had a shotgun in my boot and I had a normal on my lap. Like you leave home with your mobile phone and your wallet, I had a normal on my lap with a shotgun in the boot, a base of bats on the side of the door, and that was just a given. But that was the lifestyle. That is how I grew up. I grew up very young. We grew up very fast.
Speaker 2:Very young I was working for a guy who was like the Greek mafia Gambling in South Africa was illegal at the time and he had all these slot machines in all the shops in like equipment to off-license but not off-license all the shops and my brother and I were helping him set these shops, these machines up and cashing them in.
Speaker 2:So I had a company car when I was 13 years old. I mean hard to believe. So when I was 13 years old, on a weekend I had a company car and we'd drive around and we'd cash in and we were driving around with like 50, 100 grand in the car that we had cashed in from the machines. I mean, when I was 14, 15, I remember being in his office. He had the big mansion up in a place called Bedford View. All the wealthy people lived and I was there counting first million rand in Adidas, putting them in Nike and Adidas boxes millions of rands, you know, and money was enormous. At the time I was earning when I was 15,. I was earning when I was 15. I was earning more money than my parents wow and was that legal activities?
Speaker 2:no just working for this guy. That's it. So we grew up very fast, very young, and people say, yeah, but your parents must have been irresponsible for allowing you to drive. But that's just the way it is in South Africa. You drive at a young age, obviously not legally. My mother, bless her. She still doesn't have a car license. She's been driving for 70-odd years. So you know that's South Africa for you. People do that. People drink and drive. They'll drive the equivalent distance from London to Newcastle and you'd pack a box full of beers and brandy, pump the music up and everybody gets juiced all the way. Things have changed slightly with regards to that, but that was the way we grew up. We grew up drinking and driving, and alcohol was normal.
Speaker 3:My mate lived out there for years and he came out of the military and married an Afrikaans lady and I went over there for the wedding and you mentioned about having the shotguns in the nine mils in the car and stuff. It was the first stag door I'd gone on where we were tooled up, you know, and yeah. So you mentioned there as well, Dino, about earning more money at the age of 15 than your parents ever had Did they make you pay rent.
Speaker 2:No, no, not at that age. When I started my apprenticeship as doing my engineering toolmaker apprenticeship, then they made me pay rent, but not then because I was too young, but obviously it didn't tell them how much money I was earning, you know.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So yeah, but yeah, so I think it was good. You know, like I said, great place. I was very sporty. I wasn't very smart. At school, the two younger brothers, we were very good at sports. We were the best sportsmen. Him above me, he was the best sportsman in all those sports. His name was on all the trophies and the next year cricket, soccer, football we represented the province and country in all the sports played Cr, cricket, tennis, soccer, everything except rugby. The only sport I never played was rugby. Stupidly. Only South African that never played rugby. Probably we played football at a high level as well. But yeah, and South Africa was good.
Speaker 2:But as time went on, you heard about crime happening to the neighbours or somebody, who was always third party. And then over time, you know I had a lot of problems. Sorry, I'm talking, it was coming back to the neighbors or somebody. It was always third party. And then over time, you know, I had a lot of problems coming. Sorry, I'm talking, it was coming back to the gun thing. Whenever you went into a club you had to hand your guns in. So you can imagine you go to a club and everyone's handing guns in and and you go in there and you have a skin full. And then you come out and everyone's had 50 shots and drinks and all that shit and a little fire breaks outside and then people, there's a big shootout in the car park. That was a common thing too, you know.
Speaker 3:I'm always amazed how it's different to handing your coat in and getting a ticket isn't it.
Speaker 2:Some guys handed you shotguns and then you got shot in the boot and we've had full-scale blowouts in the car park. You know, and I'm just thinking, how do they allow people to have guns and alcohol and mix those two concoctions together? You know what could go wrong.
Speaker 3:When did you move to the UK, Dino? At what point did you decide that you were?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I've been in the UK now longer than I was in South Africa, so I've been in here 25 years now, okay. And I left there because, well, I just got beat in my engineering toolmaker's trade and I got a government ticket in engineering and at the time I was dating a girl. I was about to move to Cape Town. She was living with my brother. She had moved down earlier, she was staying with him down in the Strand and she was working at the Hard Rock Cafe. She left there one day to check the doubles, so they had a morning outfit on and she was asked to do a double. So she was on her way home to his place to get the afternoon outfit clothing and go back. But she never made it home. She was, I reckon. It was about midday, 12 o'clock, blue skies and that's it. She was well.
Speaker 2:We believe she was kidnapped and she'd been missing. There'd been no trace of her. We'd been looking for her for months and years. So that happened. We tried to find her. I tried to find her. I went into Cape Town and I went to the last place that she was seen, spoke to people and kidnapped, and she was a really good looking girl.
Speaker 2:So kidnap was common. It still is common for various reasons, and they said the possibility that she was kidnapped and sent to maybe one of the Middle Eastern countries as a sex slave, that's a possibility. They also kidnap. Still today, kidnapping happens because the witch doctors use body parts for medicine, correct, you know? It's called Muti. So and the younger the person is, the better their organs are, because obviously they they're still fresh or clean, or pure, for that matter. So we still don't know where she is. So there'd be no trace of her if she went missing and the police were on the case initially, but because you know, you're just a number in that game, and in the weeks to follow more people went missing, so her file drifted slowly down the pile and she became another statistic.
Speaker 2:So we went on crime, we went on murder of missing people, and that's it, and that's it. She's still gone.
Speaker 1:So your girlfriend literally just disappeared. What's this 30-odd?
Speaker 2:years ago. She's been gone now she's been 97. No, no, I'm like 98. So yeah, what's that Two? 26 years ago She'd been missing 26 years ago and not anything since then.
Speaker 1:No sighting, no Like absolutely, absolutely nothing.
Speaker 2:And the saddest thing you know, in order to have, like, I speak to her mother now and then Her mother's not hadn't moved from the house that she'd lived in because she believed if the daughter was found, the only place she'd know to come back to would be that house, you know. So she'd been living in the same house. The bedroom door's been closed for 20-odd years. So if we had found a body, or if we do find a body, at least you have closure and you know, yeah, but not finding anything is uh, yeah, it's pretty daunting for the family. They struggle to move on.
Speaker 2:Naturally, there was their only, there was their second child, but their only daughter. And then there's been some hope where, I think a few years ago they found two sisters were kept in a basement in America by their uncle or something for 23 years. So when these things happen you have a bit of hope, like just maybe, maybe she is somewhere, but I believe she must be dead by now. Who knows, who knows? But finding a body would create closure, would be good for everybody, or finding her alive, but that's a small chance, you know.
Speaker 3:You know, it just shows what type of bloke you are, mate, the fact that you still stay in touch with her parents and you've got that relationship with them. You know, after all, this time, I mean, what about yourself? Have you still got that? Are you still hanging on to that little thread of hope?
Speaker 2:Oh, mate, I'm not going to lie to you. When I walk in crowded places I'm always looking. I mean, obviously she's changed by now, but I always look. If I see somebody with blonde hair, I walk and try and catch up and look out. It also hasn't helped me in my personal life.
Speaker 2:Very protective, because you know, I had a previous mistress that she was saying you know she lived in this complete bubble about nothing ever happened. She had a daughter. Daughter would leave home on a Friday and I'd say to her well, where's your? Like it's Sunday now. Have you heard from her? Her daughter was going to some friend. I said, yeah, but if something happened and the police said to you, why don't you speak to her? And you said, well, friday they're going to think you're irresponsible, per, and you're like, no, things don't happen. So yeah, I'm a bit tough with that and obviously very conscious about I'm probably my own worst enemy out, because I always presume and see things Working as a bodyguard as well. I'm always alert, but it's fuck, it's tiring being me man. I'm so I preempt everything and it's hard to live like that, but it um, and it's hard to live like that, but it's just my subconscious, probably because of what?
Speaker 3:I've been through, yeah, got, yeah, I mean with that in mind, dino um, if you were still living in south africa, um, you could potentially be doing the sort of work that you're doing here in the uk, wouldn't you? So if you um thinking about um, like a survival pack or something like that, you know, we asked most of our military personnel that come on, if they needed to have a, you know, a grab bag. That's that bag that you grab hold of and it's got three items in it that you know you would use and you would need to like survive. What would those three items be?
Speaker 2:Mate. I'm easy to good question what would I need? Yeah, but I always had a. I mean, I always got to. As you see, I've always got a bum bag on me and that's what. I've got a wallet in there and credit cards that I use, that I used to be stacked and ready to rock and roll, go anywhere, any place, which I've done before.
Speaker 2:Good question, man, I don't know. A water, water bottle, my bank card and a pack of gum, I'll be fine, I'm happy. I'm happy to go to the bush barefoot. Man, I can do barefoot too, yeah exactly he's got that. I don't need shoes.
Speaker 1:We got the experience. So, growing up in South Africa, we obviously on the news. There was apartheid and everything. What was that? Back in the eighties, nineties, the when it was becoming quite obviously obvious on the world stage that so the whites were in charge, was that correct? And then the blacks were being suppressed and treated horrendously. And then it was a complete balance change and a shift in power over there. How did that?
Speaker 2:happen. Yeah, I mean, everything's turned around now. Everything has actually made a U-turn almost 180 degrees, where the white people are suppressed and you know, being South African and getting involved in discussing politics is always an issue, because we, you know, it doesn't matter. Because you're South African, you are classed as racist and that. And I have a lot of mixed colored friends. I don't really care what color race you are. My trainer's non-white, the lady that waxes me is not white. I have a mixture of friends that people are associated with and I can't change what happened in the past In South Africa.
Speaker 2:I had an all non-white. I managed a non-white football team, you know, and I used to play in all. I was the only white guy playing the locations and we'd end up getting into. I remember I was playing. We were short a man one day and I jumped in on this with a squad. I was playing with them and I would land up in a punch, up in a fight, and all my teammates run off the field and I'm like fuck, what's going on here? You know they were. They were what they call. So if you're white people, this is the case. So you're white people and you're black people and you're colored people. Colored people are, that's, coloured people, whereas in Zanningland, coloured person is considered a black person, if that's okay to say, and coloured people.
Speaker 1:They love a knife. Would they call it mixed race now?
Speaker 2:mixed race, probably the better term, but just to put it in perspective, to understand the difference between South African coloured and. But anyway, these guys run off the park and the next minute I had like 10 players backing me up. They'd run off and they'd all had knives in their bags and mate. It was a shit show. There were 6 people got stabbed and yeah, it was a complete mess. But I've got a lot of mixed friends from all different cultures and backgrounds and breeds and I don't really give a toss about colour. Colour's not the same material too?
Speaker 1:no, and it should be as well. You know it doesn't make a difference, um, but I suppose you've. You know, growing up there makes you quite tough. You know you're getting sort of dragged up from from day dot. Um, you got to learn how to look after yourself, and is that how you got into the sort of the bodyguarding and the security gig?
Speaker 2:yeah, I've always, you know so that I think so that I figure, uh, life's a struggle, they're just in general, so we're used to struggling, it's just normal. I think, uh, it shows in like I don't know if I can say equivalent you see, our spring box. It's very hard. People just generally don't give up because we, life is a struggle, and I mean obviously a lot of wealthy people. There's a big divide between the wealth and the poor and uh, I would say we were, we were on the poor side and uh, we know what it's like to struggle. You know, we we didn't get gifts, we got hand-me-downs and all my friends got good stuff. And I'm not crying about that, I don't really it made me a better, stronger person of who I am today. But I've always been a protective person, also because of what I've been through, just as a natural thing for me.
Speaker 2:So when I got to the UK, I was working clubs in South Africa. Obviously, it's a different ball game when you work in clubs in South Africa. Obviously it's a different ball game when you work in clubs in South Africa. If somebody steps out of line and hit a doorman, you're either shocked or the person gets beaten up in a really, really bad way. I've seen people get battered. I'm talking about if you mess with a doorman there, you can end up with your fucking limbs off. You end up in a really bad way, nothing like you've ever seen, and the police will just come and throw you in a van, take you down the road, because it's all the police and the security sectors, they're all integrated. They'll take you down the road, beat you up a bit more, throw you in the bush and then crack on.
Speaker 2:So unfortunately, I brought those traits of me to the UK and I struggled to get into the door working on doors in the UK because you couldn't beat people up. Yeah, you couldn't beat people up. And then I went and done some training. I was working with, I was doing some clubs and the guy that owned the club. He asked me can I look after some brother? This guy's coming from UAE and that's how the security sector stuff happens. So I went and done some training. I got my firearms license and bodyguard badge and all that nonsense and then I've been looking after. I was looking after people, training them, protecting them and doing like a three in one job flying them around, protecting them and training them.
Speaker 1:That must be an interesting gig. Like the bodyguard I mean. Some people call themselves bodyguards but they're just working on the door at the local nightclub. But when we've discussed and you've sort of said some of the things you're up to, like flying out to Las Vegas and the rich and famous, you actually have lived there and been there and seen it, done it.
Speaker 2:So tell us a few stories about that yeah, you know I've been very, very, very, very fortunate. Uh, there's obviously I mean I worked with a lot of guys that are ex-military and I've done all these tours and that and uh, it's also as you know, it's you got to be able to mix with people and and you know, it's not all about military stuff um, I've lived a lot. I couldn't afford private debts. We got lived in the best places. I've eaten good food and all that.
Speaker 2:And I looked after a few really cool people recently Naomi Campbell, sam Smith, I looked after them, they, whatever term that is Rihanna, paris Hilton, afro Jack. I looked after a lot of Saudi royal family, young princesses, pakistani diplomat guy and yeah, all my works come through word of mouth. But I've been really fortunate. I've been to Vegas 50 times and Miami, worked in Beirut, australia, brazil, mexico so I've really been fortunate with that. And, like I said, you know the lifestyle of private jets, private yachts, mexico, so I've really been been fortunate with that. And, like I said, you know the lifestyle of private jets, private yachts, ibiza's and and nice hotels. Uh, earned a lot of money and met a lot of cool people.
Speaker 1:I mean, I've learned a lot of lessons, I bet you well, I bet that's a hell of a life. And is it like they make out on tv, you on whatever Hollywood film, or is it actually quite mundane and boring and repetitive?
Speaker 2:No, it is, it is. It's not like that and it is. It's very repetitive. I find myself spending a lot of time in nightclubs and you you know nightclubs in Vegas. You have the client. They've got a table, minimum spend 20 grand. Then you've got like 20 girls in the box and all the girls are there for one reason hoping the client will fall in love with them. And some of these girls are on hen weekends away. I've seen the hen girl falling in love with the client, hoping something will happen there because they see money, which is sad. Don't let your wife ever go to Vegas for a head night. But I've learned a lot of lessons. I've seen that side of things. The clients I look after I'm talking about. We can go out and spend. I've been to Vegas. We were there 11 days, spent a million dollars. We didn't even have a cap that said I love Vegas T-shirt, coffee cup, nothing.
Speaker 2:So these people, also the people around them, are all hangers-on. Yeah, people that have got enough money to go buy a yacht, cash, a Ferrari. They've got all these things. Are they happy? No, they're not. So society, we're all trying to. Everyone on social media is trying to. You know, wear Louis Vuitton, a Ferrari and have a big house and all that shit. And that doesn't mean you know money does help, don't get me wrong, but doesn't mean you're going to be happy and that's you know, the eternal blessing having a pocket full of cash. Because all the people that are wealthy, most of them, are unhappy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's interesting. A lot of people say that you know no wealthy people between us and yes, I suppose they've got the luxury of not having to worry about money, which obviously affects 99% of the population but they're generally unhappy. You speak to them, they still moan, still say the same thing their wife's doing their head in, they're bored, whatever it may be. But on the bodyguarding side, who was your favourite?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, once I got to deal with the Arab culture and how the culture works, you know simple things like I was raised to respect my mother, respect woman. That's a given and initially when I was working I really struggled to come to terms with that. They're rude people but in general they're okay with clients. I usually try and steer away from the celebrity clients because the Arab clients if a guy goes to the toilet or he walks past you you don't really know who he is and what he's about and anything. He's worth 10, 12 billion, but a celebrity face. You know. If you take Sam Smith to the toilet it takes you 20, 30 minutes. You've got to get in there. You've got to clean the toilet out.
Speaker 1:It's just an absolute nightmare, uh, so I would say, hang on, hang on why are you taking sam smith to the toilet?
Speaker 1:well, well, well just to make sure we could both fit in the cubicle that must have been a disabled cubicle but yeah, no, mind you, I wouldn't fit in with him in a cubicle anyway yeah, did you ever have any any moments in the bodyguarding world where it was a bit like the Kevin Costner Whitney Houston thing, where the principal, the client, fell in love with you or you had an opportunity to get your end away?
Speaker 2:No, no, no, no, no. I've never in all my life working, uh, in in the bodyguard world. Everything I've done, even with um, personal training, and that I've had, I've had some. I used to have clients. You regularly fly over and I'd go and train them in the hotel train in the park and some people wanted, wanted extras, but uh, yeah, up until now not had any, not done anything with any clients because because things like I'd come back and bite you on the ass. I know people, I've got friends that are massage therapists, that have gone too far with things and it's a very small industry in a very small world. And I'm quite well known in the fitness industry after working with LA Muscle and Sky TV and that's all it takes.
Speaker 2:You see so many people getting caught out these days. Well, these days you want appropriate well, these days it's more extreme one appropriate message. Or you call somebody the wrong name or you say have a sexual connotation in a statement and you've got problems, you know so, never mind physically touching somebody. So up until now, no, nothing at all. Sam Smith now know nothing at all. Um, sam smith, I don't know if he wanted a bit extra, but there's no chance of anything like that happening?
Speaker 1:most definitely not. Well, you're a good looking mate. What can we say? And that's actually. You said you were on the front cover. Was it of la fitness or men's health?
Speaker 2:yeah, the men's health I think it was men's health and uh, la muscle t. I worked for la muscle supplement company. I was one of their sponsored athletes. How I got with them? I was working with them and then I was training a few Tama Hassan and I was training the Gladiators of Libyan. I was also training Madonna and then they asked would I be able to get one of my clients for them to film me training them for their TV channel? And then I became the male face of Adam Asa TV, which is good, and I was very fortunate. I was one of the lucky ones. You know nothing special, but I was one of the fortunate people to travel around the UK and internationally. You know training with people and filming and meeting. You know some top athletes around the world in different sport disciplines.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it must have been phenomenal. I mean, this is almost like a film in itself the people you met, you trained, the impact on their life they've had. But away from that, I mean there's the drugs, the alcohol culture and everything that I guess follows. There's quite a seedy undercurrent to a lot of the celebrities and the rich people, the way that potentially they work behind the scenes. Look at P Diddy. You know all the stuff that's coming out about him and all his sort of clothes. You say unbelievable. But then people don't seem to be surprised. They're like, yeah, well, you know, you've got all that money, you can do what you want.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I mean I'm just surprised, you know. I mean, you know I've been around, I've been around things where. But for me, if something's inappropriate, like what I'm shocked by is that other people are standing around watching these people abuse women or kids or something, and nobody's raised their hand to say, look, that's, that's inappropriate. Yeah, you know, surely I mean to bring up the news. I mean there's this case in France where this guy's had 50 people in the village rape his wife and nobody's come there and thought that's inappropriate. Christ, I saw that it's going off subject, but I mean, surely you get there. There's women snoring and you think it's okay to just crack on and do your thing. I.
Speaker 1:There's women snoring and you think it's okay to just crack on and do your thing. I mean, fuck, it's ludicrous. I mean there's some fucked up people out there, but they're the guys that need a slap. But yeah, no doubt about that. But then I think, you know, when we first met, John was saying, oh, here's Dino, he's got Ferraris or he's got sports cars, he does parachuting. I was like, oh man, this guy sounds like a legend. But then the sort of story evolved a little bit and you have got all of that, but it's currently in the impound in bits. So that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a hell of a long story. That one Glad you touched base on that. I almost forgot. No, no, so whatever it was, I was, yeah, thank you, thank you. No, I did once upon a time have it all you know, I was traveling.
Speaker 2:Well, I was working with my clients. I was training them, protecting them, training them from a fitness perspective, protecting them, and one we were with some of my clients. The pilot, his pilot got on, he was on. Well, my client joked. He said can't you fly a plane? He says you know, you're pretty good at most things. You know most things, physical, not from an intellectual point of view. He said can't you fly a plane, man? And then I thought oh well, let me go and do my pilot's license. So I went and done a pilot's license and I thought I have the money, I had some time. I went to South Africa because of the climate, I smashed the hours and I came to the UK. I'd done all the ground school, I hadn't got my license in three months' time. I then bought a plane and I started flying myself around.
Speaker 2:I was working in neighboring Europe doing lifestyle coaching for wealthy families, going there for a week at a time integrating diet training, supplementation and nutrition into their lifestyles. And it's amazing, some of you people are again these wealthy families. People are so busy making money and they've got these massive companies and earning millions and you've got kids that are just sitting there in the morning. I mean some of the families had chefs and butlers and all sorts and the kids are ordering pizza for breakfast. So I would go and then integrate lifestyle changes, a bit of health and fitness.
Speaker 2:And, on that note, before I left, you know, I used to say to the parents you know what your kids need, because the kids had all the toys in the world and that I said your kids need a hug. That's what they miss. They need a bit of love, fear and attention. Tlc think that's a. That's a precious thing any parent can give a child.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um so and then we were setting up, before the underground um fight world, which is now super famous, as you know, the bare knuckle boxing. Uh, we were trying to set up fights with holland. So I was flying it back and forth to holland often and the joys of having without sounding like a dickhead, but the joys of having a plane is you can go to Holland for lunch. You've got a little 2K. It's a quick flight, land over there, hire a bicycle at the airport, drive down to the beach, sometimes spend the night or come back. But you can't do day trips to neighboring Europe because it's so easy and so close, you know you say it, europe, because it's so easy and so close.
Speaker 1:you know, you say it. It's just, it's just nuts. You've gone out and brought a plane and you're using it like anyone else just drives down the shop in their Mini. You know, I'm just going to go grab a packet of cigarettes and some beers. I think I'll nip over to Holland, I mean it's like a.
Speaker 2:What sort of money are we talking about for this? Yeah, the plane wasn't. It was a Papa Dakota Turbo four-seater, a great plane. The fellow I bought it from he really looked after everything he owns. He looked after the guy in Scotland and he was upgrading. So I found him, through a mate, at the airfield where I train and the plane was, I think, 70, 80 grand. I had the money at the timefield where I train and the plane was I think it was 70, 80 grand. I had the money at the time so I bought it and I just thought it'd be ideal to service clients and get my flying hours in by traveling to Europe.
Speaker 2:And look, I mean commercial flights with cheaper airlines around, air and easy jet and that are easy. But you know, when you've got your own airplane, you just, you know, get the've got your own airplane. You just, you know I'd get the driver to take me to the airfield in Denham park next to the plane, load up with whatever I needed to load up, as in not 100 mil. There's no tour on the plane, 100 mils and all this nonsense. You don't have to worry about it. You load the plane up and you take off and then you go. You know it was just the easier way of traveling it, of traveling. It took a little bit longer but it was fun. I loved it. It was absolutely brilliant. Yeah, freedom, yeah. And you know you wake up in the morning, sun shining, you phone some guy and say, look, where do you want to go? Something happening in France, something happening in Norway or wherever? And we rock and roll, we go. You know that was absolutely absolute joy and the beauty of it.
Speaker 2:So I was going back and forth. One of my fighter friends, clients. We were back and forth to Holland chatting to people about negotiating some underground fights, which is now absolutely massive, as we know I mean fighting as a whole, ufc is big and he decided we had done a few trips back and forth and on this occasion I don't know if anything happened on previous occasions, but on this occasion specifically, as usual, I've done my flight plan. I told air traffic control you've got to log your flight. It was like a tom-tom of the air, it's called Sky Demon. You log your flight, you log your passengers, you, you got to put your possible name and number in. Yeah, departure time, arrival time in case customers want to meet you. Yeah, like a manifest. So I put all the details in and I landed in a place called bagby up in yorkshire where I've done all my training airfield I know very well. Uh said I'd landed two. I think I landed at five past two. Uh, the plane is a turbo plane so I had to park it and cool it down. Parked the plane, he got out. I was sitting in the plane cooling it down. When I got out the plane, some I actually thought it was the manager of the airfield because it was the same it was a two-rack vehicle Came rushing over the runway, blue light, it was border force.
Speaker 2:The guys like they come, they jumped out there and they're like your plane's full of drugs. I'm like nah, fuck off, you're being silly. Anyway, I looked around. He was gone. The bodyguard was gone, he was on his toes. Bear in mind it was a bright, it was normal blue skies, you know, the weather was clear, everything was clear. He was gone and they chased him. They had a helicopter trying to catch him. They had dogs and they had guys in cars and on foot trying to catch this fella and apparently they couldn't catch it.
Speaker 2:Um, but the people they said when I went to court. I'm like if I'd carried drugs I could have a. It was carrying drugs. I wouldn't have told them I'm going to be there two o'clock and land a firebox too, and I wouldn't have landed at the same airfield B, I could have knocked. I don't want to sound like a dickhead, but I probably could have knocked him out and fucking just walked out with the drugs. But long story short, he got on his toes, he went away. They arrested me, took me into custody, which the first time I'd seen the bag was when we were in court. When I went to my trial.
Speaker 2:The bag was standing, was behind a hanger with seven kilograms of cocaine in it Seven kilograms and the airport, the owner of the airfield, his daughter. She came and taxied me in and she was there while I was still riding the plane to the parking bay with my Cody in the plane. She got there Somehow nobody knows how this happened, houdini, but he managed to get out of the plane while she was standing about three meters away from him with a black bag, which was like a business case if you were traveling local internal flights on business, so not a small bag, probably a knee-high bag. She didn't see this bag come off. She didn't see it come off the plane. Nobody in Holland saw the bag get on the plane. So how this bag got off the plane and behind a hangar still today, nobody knows. Maybe one day, when he surfaces, he'll give us that answer. But he done a good job of getting it off the plane.
Speaker 1:So you got arrested and yeah, but they got nothing. There's no DNA, no fingerprints, no evidence to tie that bag to you and your plane absolutely nothing, no connection to me and the plane whatsoever.
Speaker 2:However, the only connection there was was they found a receipt of a hotel I stayed in in Holland and I stayed in in Holland and I stayed there with him, obviously, but in the bag there was a towel, a hotel towel that he used to cover the drugs, and on the towel was a tag from that hotel. So that's how they made it up. And the prosecutor said oh, you tried to cover the drugs and and mao even was obviously with his luggage, he obviously used the towel. He used the towel to cover the drugs, probably from me to see it, not from, yes, not me coming from the authorities, because yeah, they find the bag that's in the fucking bag, you know.
Speaker 2:So, um, so that was only tab. I mean, had that that towel not been in there or the label in there, it would have been a bag behind a hangar, Because there were lots of flights coming in and out there, not necessarily from Holland. But they found the bag behind a hangar and it had no fingerprints on it, Although they did find on his journey he had run through the farmlands. They found he had natural gloves on which he had disposed of as he was running away. But I mean also I mean respect to the guy he got away from helicopter dogs, police fucking everyone. They couldn't catch him.
Speaker 1:They couldn't catch him. It's good, sounds like Kaiser.
Speaker 2:Solstice yeah, I mean unbelievable, so anyway. So I've been taken to North Allenton Police Station and questioned continuously my lawyers. Then they said they hadn't found anything. They hadn't found anything. They hadn't found my Cody either. Long story short, I ended up in prison. Absolute fucking hellhole. I was in Leeds Armley for just under a year. When was this Complete? Only for just under a year. When was this Complete? This was in.
Speaker 2:I was arrested in October 15, october the 15th 2015. I was arrested and yeah, it was. I had a story that at the time I was with a, I was with a woman. At the time, I was actually married to this woman and two weeks before that I was going to reverse a little bit. Sorry, yeah, actually married to this woman, and two weeks before that I was going to reverse a little bit. Sorry, yeah, I met this woman, we were married and I'd bought her a business and given her lots of money, paid all her debts and stuff like that, and two weeks before I got arrested, I found out that she'd been stealing money from me. You know, she got a drug problem and also outside borders. So she screwed me over for a lot of money and then I went to prison and I lost. So in two weeks I lost every single thing I'd worked for from the time I'd been in the UK, everything, a lot of the material stuff.
Speaker 2:The police seized cars of mine. They took a bunch of bikes one bike they didn't take because it was in for a service, and one car as well Hallelujah, I still have them today. They took my plane, obviously that's. It seized everything because they believed obviously all the trips I'd been, all my trips to Europe, were all drug runs. Because this is what the police do. They say you know it was drug runs. Because this is what the police do. They say they, you know it was drug runs, uh, for every trip. Um, I mean, I would have, I would have been living a much more luxury lifestyle that was drug runs, uh. And also how they break down, you know they can say one kilogram of coke is worth 50 million, depends how you put 0.1 gram of purity and add, yes, sugar. For the other, they have their own method. You know they always just bump it up to whatever price they feel. Of course they do, and they do a pock on that and any of the proceeds of organized crime, but anyway.
Speaker 2:So I was in Leeds Armory complete shithole. I mean in prison you can get anything. There's everything in prison. There's drugs, you know there's drugs. There's alcohol, new Year's, everyone's on MD&A, everyone's got a mobile phone. Guys have got steroids in there, you name it. It's being brought in. People are flying stuff in with drones. But I mean I don't take drugs and I live a pretty clean life. So in prison I was squeaky clean. I'd done random drug tests, do a random drug test.
Speaker 2:I then got a job in the prison. I was the highest respected prisoner in the army. I was a red band prisoner so I had access to the entire prison, working for the chapel, but except the front gate, obviously. Yeah. So I mean we were moving stuff around. The wing Staff were working for me. They didn't even know it. You know moving stuff around, not drugs and that, but just carrying stuff from A to B and yeah, it was good.
Speaker 2:I mean you know, learn a lesson and from prison, seeing people that reoccur and come back, come back. Unfortunately, you don't learn anything in prison. You become institutionalized and that's why people reoffend. That's a complete shit show and it's sad. Some people go in there young and they never really get out of the system. They're continuously in and out, in and out. It's a fuck up.
Speaker 2:I was fortunately educated At the time. Then I'd been working for Sky TV, so some of the screws knew me. I was writing diet plans for them, training plans for them, and I kept myself very active. I'd been in prison before so I kept myself strong because I knew I'd had problems previously in other prisons where if people see you strong, the chances of money to pick on you is unlikely. They go for a second, for a second option. And I also knew if anybody fucked with me I had long hair and you know, if somebody fucks with you day one, you make a point, you beat the fuck out of them. That's my policy, you know. Put your stamp on it and let them pick on somebody else, and that's just the way. I am obviously not on the outside. You can't just go beating people up, but on the inside I made a point of that and I wouldn't let people fuck with me.
Speaker 1:That was my policy that's a lot what you hear. Don't start fights in there. But if someone does start on you, you've got to finish it off. You've got to because they want the weak man and that's it, you know all they do.
Speaker 2:And yeah, you know prison. I mean, you know, and I got to do with every single prisoner that came in there and the screws knew what people were in there for. Prisoners that are in there for rape or harm to women or kids, they can either go on a VP wing where they're protected, or they join general population. You know, some guys would not disclose what they're in for and then join general populations and the screws would be like this guy's a wrong one, can you get him sorted out? And I just go on my wing wing. If the guy gets put on my wing or any other wing that I go to, I'll just tell the head of the wing this guy's in there, a general population and he's a fucking scumbag.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then the guys get swirled. You know they mix, uh, hot, hot water with butter and sugar and then they throw it in your face. Uh, the butter sticks to your body and the sugar the sugar sticks to your body and the butter about to melt your skin, and that's normal. You know, people rape. People rape One guy. They put him in the shower because he had raped his own child and they just took a mop handle, stuck it up his ass, which I thought was brilliant, because unfortunately, pedophiles they're not classed. They don't class as criminals, they're classed as mentally ill. So they need rehab and all this fucking bullshit, you know? Yeah, I mean the system is broken.
Speaker 1:I mean, just what you said just then about you know being able to get the drugs in there, the mobile phone, you understand how it's just not basically the best environment. I mean, I imagine that you go to prison, you got complete cut off from the outside world, um, and you're doing your hard time, but it does feel like, effectively, you know, it's a bit of a holiday camp in some of these places and if you're, if you're pretty tough, you can, you can last that out yeah, no, I mean, it's exactly that.
Speaker 2:You know there's. No, I mean it is tough and uh, but you know it's not, it's not a bill anyway, it depends. I mean, prison is more, it's a more mental than a physical thing. It depends how strong you are mentally because it's fucking draining you in and out and the system screws you. You can't fight the system. I believe once you accept an environment, you need to accept it and that way you can think clearly and work out how to deal with it. But if you fight the system, you're fighting a losing battle. Yeah, and system, you're fighting a losing battle.
Speaker 2:And I was in there and I just settled down and I'm like okay, this is what I've got. Find ways, how I can you know, I think it's just growing up as a laf you can find ways how to wangle stuff. And I made it easy, as easy for myself as possible, with the intention of always fighting to get out. People said to me oh, mate, you're never going to be out of town. I'm like, mate, I'm fucking, I'm going home. You know, doesn't matter how long it takes, I'm going home.
Speaker 1:And you're not even and a story that links to that At this point you're not even convicted, You're just basically put in prison because you're what they think you're a flight risk.
Speaker 2:Correct. Yeah, yeah, so no date for us to go and, you know, find out if I'm guilty or not, you know, yeah, so I'm in charge. Sorry, I'm in charge. Apologies, I'm not convicted yet, but yeah, it was so bad.
Speaker 2:So I had a lawyer and then one of my bodyguard clients. He said, listen, I'll fund this thing, but you've got to go with the lawyer we suggest I went to this other lawyer, changed this woman I had and she was good. I went to this guy two weeks. I mean this guy came to see me once and bear in mind I'm looking at a 20 year sentence. He. He then pitched up on the day of trial. The day of trial he pitched up with a barrister and I remember walking in, met the barrister and he had the student with him and he said do you mind if she sits in? I said, and he walked in, he was late. I fucking beat this lawyer up in the cell on the day of the trial. I beat this guy up, fucking in the cell, battered him so I went up and said look.
Speaker 2:I've got to tell the judge my own lawyer, I'm like where the fuck have you?
Speaker 2:been. I beat him up. He's like oh, I had a thing, something in Pakistan. I had a thing. I said, mate, I 20 years and you fucking haven't come to see me. I've lost my shit.
Speaker 2:Went up there and the barrister said listen, you know the way they articulate themselves. Mr Ash had a small problem downstairs. He doesn't want the child to go ahead. And the judge is like listen, if you don't go to the trial today, you're going to have to go back to prison, find a new legal team. And my concern was always they find my comedy in the central. Because what they do is they find you, they put you in the dock and people think themselves he'll blame me and I'll blame him. And the prosecutors stand back and I'm like, fuck, I'll take the gamble.
Speaker 2:So after that I had to go back to prison for another three months, go back sheepishly and ask the lawyer that was initially representing me, beg, borrow and steal money to pay her to get her back on track for the trial. But I mean, that's how adamant I was, like you know. And the police started to deal with me. I said go fuck yourself. I don't, I'm not doing, I don't speak to police. I had a 13 hour interview with them on and off, on and off and I took my right to say no comment to 13 hours of questioning, fucking, interrogation. That's your right. You have a right to do it, you know. So that was my choice and I've done it.
Speaker 1:But at the moment everything they've got on you is circumstantial. They've got no evidence. There's some drugs that he found at the back of a hangar which could have been anyone's.
Speaker 2:Correct, correct, that's it. People are surprised.
Speaker 1:So what happened in the court case? What was the end result? Well, obviously, the end result is, I'm guessing, not guilty, oh no, the end result was not guilty 100%.
Speaker 2:People were surprised that it went to trial, but they needed somebody. So what happened was, I don't know, but I found out after. So my Cody, he had, uh, he had funny and and also the village where the the airfield is. There's one hotel in the village. He went to that hotel. He spent the night there. The next day somebody picked him up. I mean the police didn't think of checking out that hotel, but anyway, that's their problem. Uh and uh and he, apparently he got a private flight to Spain, right, um, but you know, I, I went to trial.
Speaker 2:The case was they believed that this was, you know, the flight over there and back was hallmarks of drug smuggling. They didn't find any phone evidence of any chats. Apparently, on his phone they found on a previous trip, when we'd landed at the same place, that he was speaking to somebody that drove up from surrey. It was because they pick up the, the, the tower, tower stuff. They're triangulated, so somebody, uh, but that was, that was a day trip.
Speaker 2:We, he had a, he had a bum bag on him or a shoulder bag. I had a bum bag. We went over to utrek and we had some lunch and came back. So, uh, I don't know if he, I don't know, I don't know what he had on him. Maybe he had anything on him, but somebody did apparently visit him and the same car, the same, yeah, the car as well. I think they picked it up on the ANPRs. Same car, same phone number was coming up on that day. They arrested me but I went to trial bust the case, but before that I was released after I'd spent too much. I'd spent my time, the time, the maximum time they were allowed to keep me in prison for.
Speaker 1:I spent that.
Speaker 2:So they released me on house arrest fucking hell, the house arrest. With a tag obviously around my. And there were times where you just think, fuck, I'd rather be back in prison, because the box would just ring in the middle of the night and at 2 o'clock in the morning I'd answer. They'd say you're out, the box is showing that you were not close, within proximity, and I'm like it's 2 o'clock in the fucking morning. Where would I be Going over a jog or what? And I'd have to go to the police station every single day to clock in because I was a flight risk Every day, monday to Sunday, for six, seven months. So that was painful.
Speaker 2:I then went to trial, obviously, won the trial and after the trial they put my case on on crime watch, saying they didn't mention my name. They said the pilot's been cleared but now we're looking for the this guy. And he then gave himself up in Spain. He had swam around around the coastline or something and he swam into Gibraltar to prevent the extradition process from Spain. So he swam around into Gibraltar with a Tesco's bag full of clothing, apparently, and they brought him back and he didn't have the guts to fight the case and he put his hands up and he said guilty and they gave him seven years and three months for ducking, you know. So he got seven hands up and he said guilty and they gave him seven years and three months for ducking. So he got seven years, which he probably would have done three. He's definitely out by now and he would have had a three, four year license or something.
Speaker 1:So so you got found not guilty. What not guilty? You've lost a couple of years of your life, you've lost your plane, you've spent a fortune on lawyers and everything. What's the comeback? Yeah, no.
Speaker 2:I mean, you know. So what happened was these guys? They obviously they have a special place where they keep criminals' property, so the Queen's Warehouse, wherever that is well, the King's Warehouse now, but the Queen's Warehouse wherever that may be, they had everything there and they had my plane there as well. And the police are crafty. They then said to me I need to prove the condition of the plane. The plane was brand new. So I said to them well, when I landed the thing, it had two wings on it and the pictures that you put in the newspaper stating that you caught this big drug dealer and all this bullshit, why don't you just use the pictures that you took to see the condition of the plane, instead of me having to prove it? You know they damaged the plane. They left it in its warehouse. It was. You know, the props got a turnover to keep the engine oiled, and that I'm not a mechanic, but that's the basis of it. So it was kept in some hangar totally damaged.
Speaker 2:And there's still there's ongoing trial regarding this case because they believe and I think it's SEMA, charlie Ecker, mike Alpha 7-5 because the aircraft was used to traffic drugs. It's can, it's can be forfeit, can be seized under that, under that policy or whatever the fuck it means. So that was the argument and the charge with regards to that. But yeah, lost everything, lost, you know, lost all these things and all my stuff was on one inventory. So they said you can sign this and get your stuff back. But the problem is the broken plane was on that list. So if they brought the plane back, where am I going to put it? Put it in my lounge or in my garden? What do you suggest?
Speaker 1:I do with it. Did you see if they brought all your stuff back?
Speaker 2:I don't know. There's still pending court cases. Of course it's the money. I mean, I've had nothing for so long and I think I'll just crack on and forget about it or fight it. And if I fight and I lose and the case costs legal fees of X amount, that means for the rest of my life, I'll be paying that bill off and you know they'll be watching every pound I earn. So I don't know, I don't know Ween talks about that, but it's going. You know, I don't know Ween talks about that, but it's going. Court cases are stressful. So I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Well, hopefully you get it, mate, Because at the moment it just sounds like they've just completely stitched you up. Yeah, and it's just sort of bully boy tactics, which is it's wrong.
Speaker 2:That's it. Well, you know, they got. They got in-house lawyers and they, you know, every time you get your lawyer to write a letter as you know it costs you 50, a hundred pounds or make a phone call, but they got in-house lawyers and they just postpone things as they as and when they want. Uh yeah, the system. I've had a few, they've got their hands tied with a lot of stuff, but the system is not as cut as it's made out to be, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:No, and you know so, fast forwarding from that, you've had a shit experience. It's amazing how positive you are about it. You know some people will be very bitter and just grumpy and hitting the bottle, but you've sort of gone the other way. You know, you've got your fitness club, your gym, all your personal training. You do loads of stuff with charity, and then the what's the martial arts you do, which I'm hearing more and more of it now.
Speaker 2:Tell us about that yeah, so funny how that came about. I was, I skydive, we ride super bikes. You know, I like I live on fear, I like to be scared. That's what keeps me going. And I was chatting to a mate of mine in Wales and he said to me how you doing? I said I'm okay, man, life's just plodding on. I want to.
Speaker 2:You know, skydiving got a bit boring as well at one stage, which is strange. And he said to me have you ever heard of Color Combat? And I said no, I haven't. I'm checking it anyway. Long story short, I checked it out. I checked it out. I found the owner, the guy that runs the courses. I phoned him up. He's like he's in South Africa, he's an Israeli guy. It's called Color Combat. I tried to book on a course. He said come to South Africa. Then COVID hit and he couldn't and he was unwell. He said look, you can go to a course in Germany. So I got on a truck. This truck was going to Poland because I couldn't get there. So this truck was driving to Poland. So I got on the back of the truck but I didn't have a vaccine.
Speaker 1:I didn't have a vaccine.
Speaker 2:So they caught me at the port, so they sent me back. These guys went ballistic. They called me at the port, they sent me back, so I got my mate to make a certificate. I went to the airport, flew to Poland, hired a car, drove to Germany. I got there for the course. I was adamant to do this course anyway.
Speaker 2:The course, the combat system I teach, which I'm now level two instructing. It's called Color Combat. It's not just for civilians. We train kids, women who suffer domestic violence. We train special forces, military, police, farmers, pilots, paramedics. We train some highly skilled, serious outfits.
Speaker 2:There's no blueprint to saving your life, but I believe this system is surely going to. If you've got a chance, it'll help you save your life or that of a loved one. Unfortunately, crime is on the up massively and I just hope and pray everyone I teach never has to use what we learn, what I teach them. But unfortunately knife crime is up and all the big cities We've got instructors all over the world Paris, barcelona, madrid, london. It's a complete shit show. I've got a lot of my kid clients that are trained, that have been held up for their phones with their bicycles. Luckily they've got off unscathed, but some people are not that lucky, you know, and I believe it's only going to get worse. It really is only going to get worse. So we train. It's a reality-based system, so we try and get as close to reality as possible, although it's a controlled environment. We teach the students the skill set. Then we raise the adrenaline levels by screaming, shouting, whacking them around like fucking, being really aggressive with them.
Speaker 1:I've seen you train and it's brutal. It's brutal man.
Speaker 2:There's no holding back and because you know, in the street you can't, if somebody starts swearing you or slapping you or punching you, you can't say mate, please take it easy, you that's you can't. So you know, and it's amazing, I train. We get a lot of abuse from fighters and I get guys say, oh, it's coming, I'll punch you in the face, and I'm like well, you're more than welcome, you know. So, uh, I mean one guy in particular, quick story. He said I'll come, I'll come down there, I'm a boxer, I'll knock you out. I said, no problem, I said come down here, but you come here to fight me. He came down, I took some duct tape and I took two knives and I started wrapping it into my hands and I said to him well, and he's like fuck you, what are you? Are you mad? I said attack you in the street. So I'm going to use two hot knives and I'm going to attack you and you're going to fight me. We're going to see who comes off better. You know how it goes.
Speaker 2:And then that's the nature of what we do. You know people think it's a game out there. I've trained many fighters and the minute you put a rubber knife against his throat, you start swearing at him, you bring his family, go and I'm saying to the guy brother, do something. I'm going to cut your throat, kill your family, do something. And this guy in a cage he'd beat the fuck, he'd kick me into a pulp, you know, but in a cage there's a ref that's going to save your life when you get in there Controlled environment, isn't it almost? Controlled environment to death and put on snapchat or instagram. That's the world we live in. Nobody's gonna jump and help you. That I promise you. Not many people are gonna jump and help you no, it's fight or flight, isn't it?
Speaker 1:and someone explained to me once um, it was a slightly different context when he was talking about dirty pain and clean pain, so I suppose in this environment it was actually a boxer. You know, uber fit, he went into p company, which is like the para selection. You know, it's a difficult, four week, horrible course, um, and everyone was like, oh he's, this guy's gonna absolutely smash it. You know, he's fit as fuck, he's running every day. You know, boxers are probably at the pinnacle of fitness, you know, and um, you know, you got like a week in and he was like, hey, I'm done, I'm, it's just too hard. Everyone's like what?
Speaker 3:do you mean it's too?
Speaker 1:hard, you're super fit. He's like, yeah, but I know that when I'm going for a run I'm going for a five mile run I get to the end, I finish and I go back to have a massage. Or I know that if I'm in the ring I'm doing three minutes and then it's stopped. He said it's dirty and I'm down on my belt bottles and I'm wet and then I get back, I've got a quick shower, I've got a bit of a blister and you know, boo-hoo back out again. It is this dirty pain and it's true that you've got to be conditioned for that environment. So I think fighting in the street, it, it doesn't matter how Jackie Chan you are, you've got to be willing to get straight in there, biting, gouging, kicking, use whatever's around you.
Speaker 2:Exactly that and I like to tell my students I want that attacker to become the victim You've got to be. We scream, we shout, we growl. You become a fucking animal and people say, oh, you can't do that. What I do is not a sport. So if somebody attacks me God forbid I will try and pull your ears off. I will try and rip your eyes out. You know I'm not saying you know it just takes one blade on a main archery and you're done. But I will try my best. If you're coming at me with a knife and there's family or something around, I'm going to try my best to pull your fucking limbs off. I will try my utmost best and I'll bite you, and I'll bite you in split chunks out without any hassle.
Speaker 1:I really don't mind, and it's sad that you know. We live in this sort of world now where it is like that. I mean some friends of ours, you and she's 46 years old, walking through London the other day. She's got her little plushies dog whatever in her handbag, she's got a nice watch on a gift for her 40th or something, and a couple of guys just jump out of a taxi. Unfortunately, they absolutely whacked her around the chops. She's gone down like a sack of shit, they've got the watch off and 10 seconds later they're back in the taxi and've fucked off and obviously again people are just watching or walking past, taking videos, and it's scary. You know to think that. What would you do in that situation? Because no one knows really. But what would you recommend? You know, for someone, the average Joe or your wife, who's walking down the street in London who comes up, you know, and it happens to them, you know they get attacked, they get confronted in the street what would you say?
Speaker 2:Well, first and foremost, the first rule we teach everyone if you can give your stuff, give your stuff. You know, give it. Don't take your eyes off the tagger. Give your stuff, put it down, give it to them and walk backwards. Keep your eye on the attacker. Don't turn around and walk away, because they'll be like oh well, now you've got a visual on me, you've seen who I am. If you go to the police, you're going to say, oh, this guy with long hair and a beard, and so I might just come at the back and stick a blade. So always keep an eye on the attacker, walk backwards and get out of there.
Speaker 2:There are variables, though. You know if you can give your stuff and they take it and they go, hallelujah. If they don't, sometimes we got to fight and and the only way is, you know, hands up, protect your main arteries, try and speak to your attacker. You know, try and negotiate. See what you can. You know at work you can negotiate. Say look, please, man, fucking. If you need to shit in your pants or piss in your pants and beg, tell them you're going to honor you as Matt. Whatever you need to do to get out of the situation, do it Say please, man, I'll give you whatever there's my bank card. You can have my pin number Fucking everyone. Just give them everything you can.
Speaker 2:And, unfortunately, if you've got to fight you and you've got to try and take control of the weapon, arm that arm first and foremost. Hang on to that for dear life and don't give the space. Always go forward. We train people. Always go forward, and when you give somebody space to breathe, that's it. I've done drills where we teach people in 10 seconds I can stab me in a sober frame of mind, no drugs, no coke, lsd, not angry. I can stab somebody 60 times in 10 seconds. Not because I'm not angry. I can stab somebody 60 times in 10 seconds, not because I'm a Euro, because that's the drills we do. And if somebody is, the average time somebody gets stabbed I reckon is 25 times in a domestic case or something. But if somebody's got a, you do the math. If somebody's got one middle something and they're mad, fuck man, you're going to be poked up. Really, really bad. You're, you're gone, you are absolutely gone.
Speaker 2:So it's difficult and, like you say, the reality of it is, it's rife out there. People are getting. When I see these young girls, the way they're dressed. People coming home when I come home from a bodyguard job two o'clock in the morning, people getting off the tube on a weekend, ear pods in fucking playing Tetris or talking to somebody on the phone. People feel comfortable talking to somebody on the phone. If you're talking to your wife or your partner and somebody slits your throat, the last thing they're going to hear is you curdling down the phone dead because you've got the phone out that somebody else wants, whereas if it's in your pocket and you're aware of your surroundings, you've taken away a primary sense. By being on the phone. You're alcohol, you're intoxicated, your senses are already diminished, all you're probably not looking around, whereas if you're not on the phone, you can look, have a bit of a peripheral vision and be aware of your surroundings. Because it happens so fast Kids come past on the electric bikes, take your phone and they're gone. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean it's good advice to be aware of your surroundings.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I prefer that than be. You know, take the phone and go, but you know you chase them back and they turn around and they get off and they stab you.
Speaker 1:Job done, yeah and that's what happens, sadly. You see it all too often in the news. So, coming towards the end of the show, what's next? What are you up to? What's your journey? Where's your next adventure? What have you planned?
Speaker 2:yeah. So I'm working on a few projects. I've done some. I'm working on trying to get a documentary, a serial documentary, on crime in South Africa. I'm busy working on that. I've got some content already that I've completed. I went to South Africa and filmed. I mean they've got a bit. South Africa's got a lot of crime, a lot of crime issues. But I filmed some things on cash in transit, crime, people transporting money from the rural areas to the banks. You've got these military type cars going around. They're putting dynamite, they're detonating the trucks, they're loading the cash into the cars and they're fucking off and shooting people, shooting the driver. That's a very common thing. A few months ago they hit 14 trucks in three days. It's a very well-organized thing. Some of the police are involved in it as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you sent some of the videos on the whatsapp group a little while back.
Speaker 2:It's just, yeah, unbelievable, that's it yeah, so we got access to that. Uh, white rhinos are obviously white rhinos always a problem there. Um, and then the security sector if they work and they in conjunction, they back the police up, uh, and so they're. So they figure, wherever there's money, there's crime, and you know, I'm looking at doing, um, trafficking organs. Uh, yeah, it's absolutely endless of what you can can film out there, and I'm just trying to find a platform to get it onto, either because I'm the host currently for this on the pilot and the they call it a sizzle in the UK, so I'm looking for options to get it out Netflix or TV of some sort, or Prime Media or whatever the platforms are, but we're working on that or I might try and do it online, slowly drip it out online. I'm not sure which option, but I've got to send a few people's hands and we're going to see where we go with it. So that's what I hope In 2025, got a few things that hopefully will be very, very.
Speaker 1:Mate, and we wish you all the success and hopefully will be very, very Mate, and we wish you all the success. And I'm sure you know you've got such a great story. You're just such a decent, nice bloke, mate. You know, very honest, very genuine. Just don't want to get in a scrap with you, but we and where can people find you if they want to make contact with you, if they want to come and train with you, learn more about the sort of yeah, I mean not something to brag about.
Speaker 2:I mean, just put Dean Ash into Google, you'll find my whole life story, Some of it good, some of it bad. It is what it is, but Dean Ash is. I'm not very active on social platforms. I mainly use it for charity Pogs and Bandits for John Chod, a friend of mine. I do have some of the KALAH combat stuff. I put that up there of stuff we're doing. But, Dean Ash, there'll be different sites and websites and stuff where I'm just putting my name and that'll pop up and people can contact me that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and for the ladies out there, if they put Dean Ash in, then click on images. They'll be pleasantly. Your smiles, mate. When you were at that charity last year and you took your top off, you know, and everyone's like Tarzan, because what people can't promise you is that your hair goes down to your calf and like you're all ripped up with your six pack and everything, I mean every bloke in that room just went you fucking twat.
Speaker 2:you know what I mean you can see everyone's like breathing in and puffing. Well, you know what John John asked me to do, that I've done that for him and everyone. I'm a stick foot, I'm a fuck. People are like what a wanker. And I'm like I've done this for charity for my mate and I was fucking scolded for it.
Speaker 1:Oh mate my missus was like what the? He sprays it on none of it's real. Yeah, he sprays the abs on too.
Speaker 2:Exactly it's AI, it's really and I actually dieted for that and everything you know, just for John to raise more money. And people are like, oh, look at this prick went well.
Speaker 1:You know John's such a bloke and you know we could do a whole another season. I think what we'll do we's harder to get hold of than anyone I know he keeps texting oh yeah, I want to come on, geezer. You know what? Then you go all right, mate, and then he just disappears three weeks.
Speaker 2:But yeah, no, he's the real one. I mean, why'd you get him talking? You know what he's like. He won't stop, but you've got to get him on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we're definitely not going to talk to him about all of this. Alternate like the law or whatever these, what are these people are to these days and you don't need to pay your taxes. That's a whole different episode.
Speaker 2:Yeah, maybe, maybe you should get that and then sell it to the law society. You can make millions, judge John.
Speaker 1:Oh, mate, oh, there's a bit of an in-joke, not as you understand what we're talking about exactly from the show.
Speaker 1:We really want to say thanks. Obviously Martin had to dip off yeah, that's fine, but you know we'll all catch up anyway hopefully get some Christmas beers in or something. But huge thanks for coming on. Obviously I'm going to put this out. It'll be on all the usual platforms YouTube, spotify, podcasts and wherever you know. And if you've enjoyed it, you know, please subscribe to the show on the YouTube. We're trying to get our channel right up and we're going to do some more lives and so what we might do, if you're happy, is, uh, in a few weeks time, when we started getting the feedback in the comments, maybe we'll do like a little half an hour live one night and so some of the people that like it, they can come on direct and engage 100% yeah, I mean, this is all just in a nutshell.
Speaker 2:There's so much more, but 100%, I'll be happy to do that. That'd be perfect.
Speaker 1:No problem, I think it's definitely a part two and a part three. Uh, I really hope you get your plane back. Uh, you know, it'd be great to get on back over on on whatever the establishment. Uh, yes, for sure, and we'll see where life takes us.
Speaker 2:100%, man. But it's been a pleasure and it's great what you're doing and the people you do with the stuff you do with Another Man's Shoes and a pleasure to be on there with you, man.
Speaker 1:No, really appreciate it pal Well, look, have a great night and we'll speak again soon.
Speaker 2:All the best brother, Take care and look after yourself.
Speaker 1:Well, I think I've got to put that up there. It was one of the best episodes, most enjoyable ones. I hope you enjoyed it too. Please, if you're on YouTube and subscribe to our channel, then you can leave comments on this episode. And, as I sort of said in the show, what we're going to do is we're going to do a YouTube live in a few weeks' time. So if you subscribe to us, you'll get a notification ahead of time showing and we'll get Dean on. He's going to answer your questions directly. So please come along.
Speaker 1:As we sort of mentioned previously, all feedback is good. It helps the show grow. So if you're listening to us on Apple Podcasts, then please head along to the Apple Podcasts app. All you've got to do is just give it a little star rating, leave a comment, and it really does help us. And also YouTube. We're really pushing this, as I've mentioned before. So if you can subscribe to the channel, that would be wonderful, and we've got plenty more good episodes coming up. We're going to get another couple out before Christmas. We're going to do our usual snippets on YouTube daily and weekly sort of lives and a little five 10 minute rants. So please head along there and hope you enjoyed this show. See you on the other side.