‘I was the visitor’: How Johnny Regan’s fearsome mother snatched his first-born son

Margaret Yates says Johnny Regan’s mother had him in such a tight grip he willingly gave her custody of his first-born son.

Margaret Yates. Picture: Ryan Osland/ The Australian

Murdered gangster Stewart John Regan gave his abusive mother custody of his first-born son while he served time in prison.

Regan was gunned down in Sydney’s inner west in 1974 following a short but prolific criminal career that caused him to be incarcerated several times. His unsolved murder is investigated in The Australian’s podcast The Gangster’s Ghost.

Regan and his de facto wife, Margaret Yates, welcomed their first son, John Patrick – known as JP to his loved ones – in December of 1967.

“He loved JP, he was good to JP,” Margret Yates told senior reporter Matthew Condon in a new episode of The Gangster’s Ghost.

“He would always put him up on his shoulders.”

JP was born less than a year after Johnny Regan is suspected of killing the bouncer ‘Big Barry’ Flock in the inner-Sydney suburb of Paddington.

Against his mother’s wishes, the toddler – and then the couple’s only child – was handed over to Johnny Regan’s mother, Clare – a fearsome woman known as The Colonel.

“This is when I was told [by Regan] that, ‘You are not taking your son away from my mother’s house’,” Margaret said.

Margaret Yates with The Gangster’s Ghost host Matthew Condon in Kings Cross. Picture: Ryan Osland/ The Australian

Margaret recalled she was told the arrangement was made because of The Colonel’s affection for JP, but suspected it was a product of Clare Regan’s insatiable desire to control the life of her gangster son.

“It was really hard for me … that a person can take control to that extent,” Margaret said.

“This is a grown man that hung around with crims and whatever, but was still controlled by this woman.”

Previous episodes of The Gangster’s Ghost revealed Clare Regan was a harsh disciplinarian who humiliated and beat a young Johnny Regan for the most minor indiscretions.

Margaret visited JP when opportunities infrequently arose, but believes none of the gifts she bought for him were passed on.

“[JP] would tell me, ‘I didn’t see it, Mum’,” Margaret said.

Margaret approached Johnny Regan’s solicitor and confidant Michael Seymour for advice about the arrangement in defiance of a warning from her husband, whose notorious temper reared its head when he found out.

“He got very angry about it,” Margaret said.

John Patrick lived with Clare Regan at her Darlinghurst home up until and beyond her death in 1988.

Helen Regan with the photographs found in her father’s jacket after his death. Picture: Ryan Osland/The Australian

JP’s sister, Helen Regan, told The Australian she recalls visiting him there and finding their father’s clothing still hanging in the cupboard in the room where he was staying. Several photographs of the children were found in the pocket of one of one of his coats, apparently placed there for safe keeping before he was murdered.

“They’re only a few pictures, but I do treasure them,” Helen said.

One of the pictures found in Johnny Regan’s pocket following his death. Picture: supplied

John Patrick Regan died in 1995, aged 27.

Subscribers get Episodes 6 exclusively at gangstersghost.com.au. Or, hear Episode 4 of The Gangster’s Ghost on Apple and Spotify now.