I was expelled aged 11 & fell into crime… now I’m SNARING gang bosses with daring stings, says SAS star Billy Billingham
BILLY Billingham is as tough as they come.
Famous for barking orders at quivering recruits on SAS Who Dares Wins, nobody is going to mess with him.
And now the TV hardman is teaming up with the police to combat the crime wave that is engulfing Britain.
In SAS Catching The Criminals, Billy, 59, shows elite law enforcement teams how to use military intelligence techniques, covert surveillance and disruption tactics to snare criminals.
“Anti-social crimes are on the rise,” said Billy, who risked his life on dangerous and top secret missions for over 20 years.
“We’re having a tough time in the UK but 99 per cent of people don’t want that nonsense. Most people aren’t rioting, they want an easy life.
“But police strikes need to be executed with military precision just like in the SAS – go in hard and keep going until you have all the pieces needed to solve the problem. Banged up. Job done.”
A former paratrooper and bodyguard to the stars, Billy is used to being the boss, but for this new BBC documentary series, which starts on Monday, he had to button his lip and take orders instead of giving them for a change.
Each episode features an elaborate sting operation.
In the first of the fifteen part series, Billy helped cops raid the homes of suspected drug dealers in Manchester, who were importing Class A drugs inside Prime drinks bottles.
Before the team battered down the doors at dawn, Billy explained how the tactics are similar to the military: “Simultaneous strikes are executed with military precision, just like in the SAS.
“They will use a covert approach and rapid strike to seize high value items and ill-gotten gains.
“These drinks would be deadly to any unsuspecting person who consumes them so I am keen to find out who is behind this lethal racket.
“I’m learning that catching the bad guys and finding the source of the crime often needs brain and brawn. A police approach needs military precision.”
Billy is also seen sharing high tech tracking techniques.
“In the SAS we learnt multiple ways of tracking down people and equipment,” he said, but admitted that technology has moved on.
Cops now use GPS and radio signals, transmitting on secret frequencies, which can accurately pinpoint a tracking device to within one meter.
“This is military style technology and hardware – using a tracking device to find stolen goods and foil thieves,” he added.
He also observed that the police use of highly trained sniffer dogs is just the same in the army.
“Dogs have been used on the military frontline since World War One,” explained Billy who does not go anywhere without his beloved boxer dog Alfie.
“It was a bit of a struggle not being front and centre for once, being in the background of the live operations, because I’ve still got that fire in my heart to get out there and do something,” he said.
“But I wanted to see if I could add anything based on my experiences of being in the military, whether there’s a crossover between what I learned and what the police, local councils, environmental agencies and trading standards are doing.
“I wanted to be right at the very front, but I had to bite my lip and go, ‘Okay, one, I’m too old for it now and two, it’s not my place to be right at the front.’”
Although Billy claims he does not follow the news because it is ‘too depressing’ he believes the reason behind the current crime spike is a lack of community.
He explained: “I have been surprised by how much crime there is in the UK, and we often turn a blind eye to it.
“It’s pretty apparent to me we’ve lost our community. When I think about when I grew up, we still had trouble, but we knew who the local policeman was.
“We knew who the local shopkeeper was, it was our community and we took care of it, in our own way.
“As much as I was a naughty kid and I didn’t like the police, I was happy to know they were there and keeping us safe.”
‘Wrong crowd’
Billy grew up tough.
He was kicked out of school at 11 for glueing his maths teacher to a chair. With the threat of borstal hanging over him, he started running with gangs, and was almost killed in a knife fight.
“I was a bad kid,” he said. I grew up in a poor family but there’s never an excuse for being as naughty as I was. I got into gangs thinking that was a way to be a tough guy.
“I was getting into fights and trouble with the law. I didn’t get into the wrong crowd, I was the wrong crowd. My family was going through hell, my mum was working all the time to put bread on the table while I was wreaking havoc.
“And then I was able to change my direction by joining the military.”
Billy joined the Royal Marine cadets at 16, then went on to enlist with the Parachute Regiment, where he served as an expert sniper.
In 1991 he applied to the SAS – the fearsome and secretive elite special forces unit which operates in extreme and hazardous conditions.
I was getting into fights and trouble with the law. I didn’t get into the wrong crowd, I was the wrong crowd
Billy Billingham
Rising to the rank of Sergeant Major, he won medals for bravery and an MBE, before becoming a private bodyguard to stars including Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Kate Moss – earning more than £10,000 a month.
But Billy, whose real name is Mark, has also endured his fair share of tragedy.
His brother William was found dead inside his prison cell in 2021, while serving a life sentence for stabbing his daughter Mylee to death.
While Billy is now based in Florida with his second wife, fashion designer Julie Colombino, he has six children and four grandchildren still living in Britain – and admits he worries constantly about their safety and the risk of them being caught up in a life of crime.
“It’s about educating them,” said Billy. “When I’m there I take them out into the woods, the forest, the mountains. I advise them not to get too wrapped up into social media and other people’s opinions, but to form their own.
“Put your phones down, put your laptops down. Don’t get involved in social media, keep a low profile and be careful who you are talking to. Be careful where you’re going, making sure that you’ve always got communications with your parents and everybody else.
“It’s just the basic fundamental stuff that I think we are lacking. A lot of the problems that we have with kids, I believe, is parenting.
“You’ve got to not be overprotective, don’t leave them hiding in their bedrooms where you don’t know what they’re doing half the time. That’s what I do.”
Tackling crime
Billy is confident that many of the UK’s current disorder problems can be solved through effective policing.
While filming, he witnessed officers using community resolutions – rather than arrests – to tackle low-level crime.
A less intrusive way of dealing with first time offenders, which avoids dragging them through the court system, Billy said it is similar to the ‘Hearts and Minds’ strategy deployed by the Army.
“Having a chat rather than alienating people is part of every conflict I’ve ever been involved in,” he explained. “It’s a way of getting inside someone’s head and talking to them, it’s an easier solution and a better way of doing things.”
And he said working alongside cops on the beat was an eye opening experience.
“I say what I see, and I was reassured by how professional and dedicated they were. “Whether you like them or not, don’t be afraid to call the police.
“They are busy and deal with calls in order of priority, that’s life, but be under no illusion, they are coming. I fought for this country and I support the police. We don’t really see a lot of that anymore.
“We’ve lost it, and I think what we really need to do is start there and all come together, take care of each other, not turn a blind eye because it’s not directly happening to you.
“Get out of the way and let them do the job or support them. Don’t be an obstacle to them.
“If we all come together we can flush out the problems that we have in our communities as a team, and then let the rest sort itself out in time.
“Police operations are like military operations – it’s a jigsaw, you start with a small piece of information then the team works together to find the missing pieces.”
Billy will soon be back on Channel 4 with a gruelling new series of SAS Who Dares Wins, in which celebrity contestants take on a tough selection process for the elite regiment – but remained tight-lipped on which famous faces are in for a tough time.
“No spoilers,” he said. “But I’m gonna make some people cry.”
SAS Catching Criminals begins tonight on BBC One and is available on iPlayer
Celebrity SAS Who Dares Wins winners
Many celebrities have attempted the infamous Channel 4 quasi military training course - but only a select few have successfully passed.
Series 1 (2019) – Wayne Bridge
Series 2 (2020) – Locksmith and Lauren Steadman
Series 3 (2021) – Alexandra Burke, Aled Davies and Wes Nelson
Series 4 (2022) – AJ Pritchard, Calum Best, Ferne McCann and Maisie Smith
Series 5 (2023) – Gareth Gates