In his first autobiography, written from jail in 1991, he called the 19 killings "tactical necessities" He wrote: "I'm no murderer. I'm just a garbage disposal expert," after describing how he had killed a drug dealer who bragged of overdosing 50 prostitutes.The autobiography elevated him to cult status and he has since published another 10 books, including several volumes of memoirs with titles such as How to Shoot Friends and Influence People.He has even written a children's book, called Hooky the Cripple: the Grim Tale of a Hunchback who Triumphs.Recently he has begun touring comedy clubs, where he regales audiences with chilling autobiographical tales while reassuring them that he has never hurt any women or children. His exhibition at a gallery in Melbourne includes portraits, abstract works and paintings based on the 200 tattoos that cover his body.Mr Read spent 23 years in jail for kidnapping and malicious wounding but was never convicted of murder - despite his own boast that he was involved in the killings of 19 fellow criminals. He supposedly acquired his nickname from his habit of cutting off his victims' toes. Released most recently in 1998, he has exploited his gruesome history to build himself a celebrity status as a crime writer and stand-up comedian.The National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne was among patrons that snapped up his art, buying a self-portrait to add to its collection.Mr Read said that his foray into art came about after his family persuaded him to exhibit the paintings he had produced over the past year. "It's a surprise that other people like what I'm doing," he said."I took up painting as a form of therapy, to help me relax. Instead of getting angry and shouting, I went out into the backyard and painted.

At the same time, he married a 16-year-old girl.He was living there in May this year when 12 suicide bombers set off explosions in Casablanca thattore through a Jewish community centre and cemetery, the Belgian consulate, a Spanish restaurant and a hotel.Jensen and another Briton, Abdellatif Merroun, 42, are among 1,000 people arrested by the Moroccan authorities.Mr Merroun, 42, who holds dual British and Moroccan nationality, is still in custody in connection with the bombings and is expected to appear before a court in the Moroccan capital in the next few weeks.Jensen has eight days to appeal his conviction for bigamy.. The experience transformed his life and led him to return to the Moroccan community in which he had grown up. He changed his name to Abou Yassine and married his first wife, a British Moroccan.His lawyer in Morocco said he became a regular visitor to the country in the 1990s, buying a house in Fez two years ago. At 16, he had fathered his first child."Perry's problem is that he can't keep his trousers on, which has caused all this trouble," said his mother, Mary, an Irish Catholic who grew up in Liverpool before moving to London after the Second World War. When he left school he became involved in crime, mostly stealing and fencing stolen goods, and served time in Feltham young offenders' institution.His mother said he discovered Islam during one of his stretches in prison. But it seems Jensen had other things on his mind by the time he left Cardinal Manning, a Catholic school in Ladbroke Grove. He was believed to have been involved in fund-raising and the possible recruitment of British Muslims to fight in Chechnya.But his role among Islamic extremists was considered that of a "foot soldier".Jensen was born in Westbourne Park, in London's Moroccan community, so it is easy to imagine how as a young man he might have mixed in the caf?frequented by Arabs that line Golborne Road, a stone's throw from his home, and how he could have been attracted to Islam.

But on charges of bigamy, the court in the capital, Rabat, sent Jensen to prison for four months. He was found guilty of marrying a 16-year-old Moroccan girl while he was still married to a woman in Britain.The case of Perry Jensen has been compared to that of John Walker Lindh - the white American captured fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan. But Jensen's family maintains that he has always been more interested in peace than taking part in any holy war.Nevertheless, his name is well known to MI5, which has charted his progress across many of the world's Islamic extremist hotspots, including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.In London, Jensen had been under investigation by the Security Service for his alleged support for Chechen separatists fighting the Russians. Among the ranks of international Islamic extremists Perry Jensen makes an unlikely foot soldier.