The incredible story of how Vinnie Jones, 60, buried alive a friend’s tortoise has been revealed.
After being signed to Wimbledon during his footballing days in the mid-1980s, the sportsman turned Hollywood movie star was enlisted by midfielder Wally Downes Sr to help with landscaping at his new house.
Wally Downes Jr, the boxing reporter son of the midfielder, has recalled how a young Vinnie got to work building the patio.
During the house move the former owner had left behind their pet tortoise to continue his hibernation, planning to later come and collect the beloved pet.
But Vinnie and the family only realised after the patio was laid, that they had buried the blissfully unaware tortoise underneath.
Writing in The Sun, Wally Jr recalled Vinnie and his Wimbledon teammates ‘taking a sledgehammer to his freshly laid paving and rescued the bemused Lightning – who is somehow still going today – from the most miserable of deaths.’
The incredible story of how Vinnie Jones, 60, buried alive a friend’s tortoise has been revealed
After being signed to Wimbledon in the mid-1980s, Vinnie was enlisted by midfielder Wally Downes Sr to help with landscaping at his new house (Jones pictured centre with Downes and AFC Wimbledon first team coach Glyn Hodges in 2019)
He added that the neighbours must have been shocked ‘watching them rip into the ground like desperate pirates looking for treasure, while screaming: “Where the f*** has he buried it?… Get the f***ing thing up before it suffocates!”’
When Vinnie, who now lives on a farm in West Sussex, was asked about the mishap, he quipped to The Sun: ‘Play on, son. The ref didn’t see it’.
The Hollywood hardman recently credited his new girlfriend Emma Ford with keeping him healthy as he enters his sixties.
Vinnie looked happier than ever last month as the couple made their first public appearance at his West End debut of Only Fools and Horses at the Eventim Apollo.
And speaking exclusively at the show Vinnie gave an insight into life with Emma as he shared how she keeps keep him in good health.
When asked how he keeps in good shape, Vinnie revealed that it wasn’t daily exercise that kept him trim, but rather a good diet. He told : ‘I just watch my food. I don’t eat crap – I eat healthy’.
Then pointing to Emma, who he affectionately calls ‘Blondie’, he added: ‘and I’ve got a good chef’.
Emma, who was a racy model and star of noughties lads channel Men & Motors, herself lives a healthier lifestyle, having quit drinking after years of hard working and partying in LA – while her new partner has marked 12 years of sobriety.
During the house move the former owner had left behind their pet tortoise to continue his hibernation but Vinnie only realised after the patio was laid, that they had buried the pet
The Hollywood hardman recently credited his new girlfriend Emma Ford with keeping him healthy as he enters his sixties (pictured together in December 2024)
Speaking exclusively at his West End debut of Only Fools and Horses Vinnie gave an insight into life with Emma as he told how she keeps keep him in good health
The couple, who met in 2022 when Vinnie employed Emma to be his PA, looked loved-up during the night out as Vinnie wrapped an arm around his partner and Emma placed a caring hand on his chest.
The new couple were brought together by the pandemic and Vinnie’s farm in West Sussex – and she also became a star of the documentary series about his new rural life that aired on Discovery+ last November.
Vinnie’s late wife Tanya, who he married in 1994, tragically diagnosed with skin cancer in 2013, passing away six years later in 2019 after it spread to her brain.