MY late brother Robert was a proper East End character who loved to be the centre of attention, the life and soul of every party.

​

He knew a lot of people and to his many friends he was a likeable and loyal personality. 

 

Robert was a natural entrepreneur. He owned a mobile food and beverage unit on the Isle of Dogs, where the Darby family grew up, and also converted old wasteland into a lucrative car park.

 

He could handle himself if trouble came his way. He was fearless, afraid of no-one or nothing and would never take a backward step.

 

His favourite catchphrase was: ‘Do You Know Who I Am?’ He used it so often, the words were spelt out in the form of a floral tribute placed on his coffin. There were so many of Robert’s friends at his funeral, they couldn’t fit everyone in the chapel. Most of them knew him as ‘Darbs’ and they came from all parts, including one who even flew in from Jamaica especially to pay his last respects. .

 

My other brother Mickey and me always said that Robert wouldn’t make old bones. Just like all of us, Robert wasn’t perfect. He was no angel, that’s for sure.

 

But he certainly didn’t deserve to die in such a violent manner, at the hands of a coward.