The bruiser who fought his way back

History will regard Gerald Ronson as the man who withstood the humiliation of a high-profile trial and conviction, took his punishment without flinching, and returned quietly to his métier of making millions. Speaking from the comfort of his boardroom at Heron, his family’s property empire, the 70-year-old tycoon says, ‘Did I get a black eye, yes; did I take it, yes; and did I come back better than anyone else in the Guinness case? Yes.’

The circumstances were very different when I first met Ronson. This was in 1990, between sessions at Southwark Crown Court. We happened to be travelling in the same lift, he to meet his lawyers, me to file a story. His burly frame was pressed into an ill- fitting suit. He stared fixedly into the distance. He did not speak, nor move, nor make eye contact. He was a haunted man. Shortly afterwards he would be convicted of fraud.