We went back a long way, Sam and me: West Ham, Young Offenders and then the Scrubs, where Sam learned enough to keep us both out of trouble. So I feel it's up to me on this sad occasion to answer some questions.

When Sam walked down Green Street men stepped back into the shadows and women held up their babies for luck. Nobody knew why he always wore gloves. Some just assumed he took no chances with prints, which was fair enough. You can never be too careful.

Some thought it was connected with the kebab shop incident, when he was a teenager, just starting out. As it happened, he and Max the Axe reached for the same bottle of chilli sauce. A scuffle broke out and by time the old bill arrived, Max was lying senseless behind the counter. When Sam left hospital - Max and the witnesses never did - Sam had renamed himself The Hat and started wearing gloves.

As I was his most trusted friend, it was only natural people asked me why he called himself The Hat. They reckoned it might be a tribute to Jack the Hat, although Sam never wore a hat as such, except for a balaclava when he was working.

As the judge commented when he sent Sam down, Sam the Hat had the innocence of a child harnessed to the instincts of a tyrannosaurus rex. It didn’t pay to get the wrong side of him. So I never asked, although I had my own ideas about it.

Now, as some of you know, The Hat was a great film fan and he idolised Robert Mitchum. He looked a bit like Sam: same hooded eyes and big shoulders. The Hat watched every film he was in. I remember one where Mitchum terrified Shelley Winters and her two little kids just by whistling a tune whenever he got near them. He had letters tattooed on his fingers: L-O-V-E on one hand and H-A-T-E on the other. The Hat watched the film a dozen times just to hear the screaming.

We've all just witnessed a proper East End send-off : hearse; black stallions; hat-shaped wreath; all the trimmings; as is only fitting for such a great man. But there were things that bothered me as much as everyone else.

Yesterday, I stood beside the coffin at the funeral parlour and looked down at The Hat, laid out with his gloved hands across his chest and I just had to know for certain.

Last night, when everyone had gone, I went back to the funeral parlour. There was Sam in his open coffin, between four big candles. I knew he was gone, but he was there as well, if you get my meaning, watching me, as if he understood. With a struggle, I took off one of his gloves. It was as I remembered: the hand had letters tattooed on each finger: L- O - V- E. Just like Robert Mitchum in the film. I pulled off the other glove. The little finger was missing, so all there was left was H-A-T.

When Max struck in the kebab shop, Sam lost the final E, but he didn't want anyone to know. So that solves the two mysteries. May he rest in peace, now we know why The Hat always wore gloves.