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Vicious gangster twins Ronnie and Reggie Kray had an incestuous sexual relationship with each other as they were growing up.

The pair, who ran a cruel and violent criminal empire in London's East End in the 1960s, were terrified of their secret coming out.

They were worried that rivals would see their sexuality – Ronnie was a homosexual and Reggie was bisexual - as a sign of weakness so only had sex with each other in order to keep the secret.

Author John Pearson who extensively interviewed the brothers and their associates has made the revelation as a new film comes out on the twins.

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John said: “Homosexuality was nothing to be proud of in the East End.

“But as they became more notorious, Ronnie became quite shameless about it.

“According to Ron in the early days they had sex with each other because they were terrified about people finding out.”

(Image: Getty)

It has long been known that Ronnie was a homosexual and Reggie was bisexual but the news they had a sexual relationship with each other gives a telling insight into their close connection.

Actor Tom Hardy stars as both brothers in a new film , Legend, based on the lives of the murderous pair as told in a book by John.

(Image: PA)

John has written three books on the brothers and says Ronnie told him the twins dark secret during one of their chats.

He says while he knew about the the incest he waited until the brothers were both dead before revealing it for fear of retribution.

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Ronnie died in Broadmoor secure hospital of a heart attack in 1995 and Reggie died of cancer in 2000 having been released from prison on compassionate grounds.

In his book Notorious: The Immortal Legend of the Kray Twins , John said the pair were spoilt by their mother Violet, Grandma Lee and their two aunties, May and Rose, while their father was soon dominated by the increasingly violent brothers.

(Image: Getty)

John wrote: “All of which conformed, of course, to a classic pattern; and with their warm, indulgent mother, their ineffectual father, and their surrounding cast of loving women, it was not surprising that, with adolescence, the Twins discovered that they were gay.

“Given their identical genetic make-up, it was virtually inevitable that if one twin was, the other would be too.”

However there was a problem for the twins as back in the macho world of 1950s East End it was seen as a weakness to be gay.

John wrote: “So it was hardly surprising that, for the time being, both the twins kept their sexual preferences to themselves.

(Image: Twitter)

“According to Ron, for quite a while they were so concerned to keep their secret hidden that the only sex they had was with each other.”

The brothers ran a notorious criminal network in the 1960s building up an empire of nightclubs though hijacking, armed robbery and arson.

As they moved from the East End to the West End their became big names rubbing shoulders with Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland and being photographed by David Bailey.

Eventually the police got them and the Krays went to prison for murdering fellow gangsters George Cornell and Jack McVitie.