FIGHTING off thugs with samurai swords, shot-gun holding drug dealers and knife wielding criminals is a normal day on the job for Britain’s hardest repo man.
Sean James, from Staffordshire earned himself the notorious reputation after reclaiming an impressive 100,000 cars in his 28 year career.
The 51-year-old completed five years in the Royal Navy when he was 16, after failing exams at school, and then moved into private detective work.
But, he discovered his true calling when he began building his current empire in repossessions.
It saw him rake in an eye-watering £10,000 a day in his prime – and collect up to 30 cars in just 24 hours.
He’s famous in the industry for completing jobs that have been “virtually written off” as no one else dares to face maniacs running at them with knives, hammers and guns.
The 6ft 3in repo legend previously told The Sun: “The thing with me is that I don’t give a f*** what happens.
“When you hear ‘You’re f*****g dead’ every day you get accustomed to it.
“I never back down, it’s my job to get those cars back no matter what.
“People recognise me on the street as Repo Man. They love my story. I left school with no qualifications and made a success of myself, which inspires people to believe in themselves.”
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He originally worked for an agency tracking down people to serve warrants and after handling a tricky case with ease, Sean realised his talent.
“When I returned them, I was told, ‘We’ve never seen anyone like you’. I was good at it – young, fit and strong, straight out of the Navy, and didn’t care what people said to me,” he said.
SAMURAI SWORDS AND CHAINSAWS
After dealing with some of the nation’s worst gangsters and working in the roughest neighbourhoods, Sean has hundreds of violent tales.
He said: “One of the worst was in Southampton when this 30st guy stormed out of the house and there was a massive brawl in the garden with all the family and the neighbours.
“The big guy was running at me, so I tried to kick him in the b******s but it did f*** all because he was too fat.
“It ended with blood everywhere and everyone in the hospital and then in the cells overnight.
“I had five stitches from that repossession after getting hit over the head with a garden ornament. But it was pretty normal to get knives, baseball bats and even guns pulled on you.
“Someone tried to put a Samurai sword through the door of a car we were driving off and on another job, someone started revving a chainsaw moments before the police showed up.”
NEVER BACK DOWN
However, narrowly avoiding being sliced in half by a deadly Japanese weapon, or having his limbs hacked off with gardening machinery wasn’t enough to put Sean into retirement.
Instead, he decided to go one step further and take on one of the most notorious gangs in Scotland.
The repo icon explained this was one of his hardest tasks.
He had to retrieve a £2million stone crusher from the organisation – who had been intimidating other repossession companies for two years.
They thought they were untouchable – but they’d clearly never met Sean.
Someone tried to put a Samurai sword through the door of a car we were driving off and on another job, someone started revving a chainsaw moments before the police showed up.”
Sean
“Other firms got the s*** kicked out of them trying to get it back, he was the hardest gangster in Scotland and we got it back,” Sean explained
“One of the guys I took with me was 20st, he was a huge, massive bloke and he was s*****g his pants. They came at us with everything but we didn’t back down.”
But, there is method to his madness.
Sean is trained in Goshikwai and Judo, martial arts that offer him the power to neutralise a threat without resorting to bare knuckle bust ups.
“Punching is not the answer,” he added. “You could be punching forever and a day. I found it’s easier to choke someone out cold.
“There’s no blood, I don’t break my hands or their face and it saves a lot of messing around.”
‘MISSING THE FEAR GENE’
The unstoppable repo man chocks a lot of his success down to “missing the fear gene”.
This was also evident when he went up against a giant muscle-maniac steroid using thug.
Sean explained: “I was hooking up the wheels of his car when next thing I know I’m covered in glass from him smashing the lights out with a baseball bat.
“I managed to get him in a chokehold and his eyes started bleeding. I wasn’t sure if he was dead or alive when we drove away but then he called me.”
Other firms got the s*** kicked out of them trying to get it back, he was the hardest gangster in Scotland and we got it back.”
Sean
Meanwhile, when “one of the most dangerous people in Britain” threatened to kill him and burn his house down – Sean just laughed in his face.
“I said, ‘I’ll stop you there. I’ve just sat down with fish fingers, chips and beans, I’ve been working all day and I’m hungry. So I’ll eat and deal with you when you get here.’,” said the repo man.
“For about a month I’d ring him at 2am or 3am to say, ‘Hello, you still haven’t been to my house’ and would call him whenever I was in his area,” he continued.
In the end, the gangster told Sean he wasn’t coming to his house – and even apologised.
And, when the nation’s toughest repo guy was surrounded by a raging traveller community he also refused to back down.
Instead, he told one shotgun wielding thug: “‘You either f*****g shoot me and get done for murder over a static caravan or you pay the money’. He paid the £25,000.”
FUTURE PLANS
Although Sean is still tackling the toughest cases, he is pouring more energy into his social media presence.
His reputation led him to star in Channel 4 doc Repo Man in 2013 and since then he’s become internet sensation.
YouTube videos from his account, Repo Man, garner 13 million views alone.
He dramatises some of the weirdest repossessions he’s ever faced and said: “You get action, drama, fighting, cars getting smashed and blown up and there’s Only Fools and Horses style comedy in there and people love it.”
Despite dealing with some of the UKs most violent gangs, he is still trolled online.
But he said: “I love it, it helps my videos get millions of views.”
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Summer Raemason
