Snooker icon Ronnie O’Sullivan has revealed when he learned his father will be jailed for murder.
The seven-time World Championship winner was only 16 when his father, Ronnie O’Sullivan Sr., murdered Bruce Bryan in a Chelsea nightclub.
Brian was the driver for Charlie Kray, brother of gangster twins Ronnie and Reggie.
O’Sullivan Sr. was sentenced to life in prison for the 1992 murder.
Ronnie O’Sullivan’s father murdered Bruce Bryan who was Charlie Cray’s driver (pictured)
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He was released after 17 years.
And O’Sullivan, speaking to Amazon Prime’s Ronnie O’Sullivan: The Edge of Everything, has now revealed what message his father wanted to convey at the time.
“He just said, ‘Tell my boy to win,'” the 47-year-old said.
“Typical. ‘Just tell my boy to win.’ That’s it.”
O’Sullivan’s mother, Maria, also speaks in the documentary.
And she revealed how scared she was to tell Rocket because she was worried it would derail her promising snooker career.
“I can’t tell Ronnie,” Maria said.
“He was supposed to go to Thailand about three days later. I thought if he went there three days earlier, he wouldn’t know what was happening, his father would come back, it would be a mistake, and he won.’ I don’t know anything different.
“This guy John takes her to Thailand but Barry Hearn (her manager) said, ‘Mariah, you’ve got to tell him because it’ll be in all the newspapers tomorrow.’
“So I called and said, ‘Ron, your dad’s in jail, they murdered him.’
“I heard him screaming on the phone. He collapsed in the hotel room.
“I shouldn’t have sent her. I regret now that I should have told her straight away but I thought I would protect her.”
“It was wrong and I don’t think she would ever forgive me for it.”
O’Sullivan himself added: “I didn’t want to blame everything on my father for that situation.
“But I think I’d rather have a normal family, not snooker.
“It wasn’t necessary to go through that. Forget snooker. Totally normal.”
O’Sullivan Snr also gave a rare interview about the murder during the documentary.
And he admits being sent to prison when his son was still young was ‘not good’ for the snooker star.
“I know I took that man’s life,” he said.
“But if I hadn’t done what I did, I would have been dead.
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“When they sentenced me I came down and started crying.
“Not for himself, but for his family. Going to jail wasn’t good for Ronnie.”
