Prostitute Kelly Sharples, 38, has added an unemotional tribute to the many others already paid to have-a-go hero George Watson. The 59-year-old claims adjuster, who was shot dead while trying to tackle an armed robber in a jewellers shop in Nottingham last week, had been paying Sharples for sex once a fortnight for the past three years.
'George started kerb-crawling in 2005 when his wife's hair started to go grey and he became a regular of mine a couple of years later,' Sharples said. 'He was a bit dull but at least he paid up in full and it was always over with quickly.'
Watson had been getting a battery fixed in his watch in a branch of Ernest Jones in Nottingham's Lace Market area last Tuesday, when a masked gunman burst in and ordered staff to empty the window trays into a bag. According to shop manager Tiffany Carter, Watson tried to grab the gun and wrestle the gunman to the ground, when it went off by accident. The gunman fled the scene empty-handed.
Sharples, however, is convinced that Watson's actions were pure panic. In her opinion, the George she knew, who spent two months plucking up the courage to approach her, would have run a mile rather than get involved in anything remotely dangerous.
'That's what made him a tolerable client,' she told reporters. 'He was reasonably hygienic and didn't keep asking for anal after I said no. He once started banging on about his allotment but to be fair he shut up and left when I pointedly tapped the clock. I have to say, if I must spend my life turning tricks to feed my drug dependency, I would be marginally less suicidal if they were all like him.'