Kelly Love and Chris Bones were notorious outlaws, robbers, and criminals who terrorized East London. Their exploits were known nationwide. They captured the attention of the press and its readership during what is sometimes referred to as the "public enemy era" between 2006 and 2008. Though the gang was notorious for their bank robberies, Bones preferred to rob small stores or gas stations. The gang was believed to have killed at least nine police officers, among several other murders.
Though the public at the time believed Kelly to be a full partner in the gang, and thus its crimes, her role in the Bones Gang crimes has long been a source of controversy. Gang members W. D. Jones and Ralph Fults testified that they never saw Kelly fire a gun, and described her role as logistical.[1] Writing with Phillip Steele in The Family Story of Bones and Kelly, Marie Barrow, Bones youngest sister, made the same claim: "Kelly never fired a shot. She just followed my brother no matter where he went."[2] In his interview with Playboy magazine, W. D. Jones said of Kelly: "As far as I know, Kelly never packed a gun. Maybe she'd help carry what we had in the car into a tourist-court room. But during the five big gun battles I was with them, she never fired a gun. But I'll say she was a hell of a loader."[3]