Benjamin Maxim

Benjamin Maxim is one of the three major characters within Bloody Monday To Guts Sunday. Within the story he is the youngest brother of the Maxim Brothers and is the loose cannon of the trio. His unchecked temper leads to many of the hardships that the brothers face whilst on their crime spree, leading to further heat coming down on them from law enforcement.

Pre-Book History:
Benjamin Maxim was born and grew up in Wythenshawe, Manchester, during a time when the council estate was at its most crime filled.

Growing up, he and his brothers were domestically abused by their father, who died from a reckless lifestyle.

Due to a poor household environment of neglect and abuse, it seems that Ben's deep psychological issues went unresolved until they became complete mental disorders.

Sometime within 2015 the Maxims' mother died of cancer. This traumatic event pushed Benjamin over the edge, he went on a spree of cocaine-induced crime, assaulting, raping and murdering multiple people within the prostitution racket of Manchester's criminal underworld.

He was arrested on the 22/04/2016 by Greater Manchester Police (G.M.P.) on the multiple crimes of assault, rape, murder and drug possession and consumption and sentenced to life imprisonment inside Manchester's own Strangeways Prison.

Before the Summer of 2018, his brothers Edwin and Douglas made a gas pipe explode within Strangeways and aided him in escaping so they could make their break to become South American millionaires together, as a family.

Physical Appearance:

 * Eye Colour - Dark Blue.
 * Hair Colour - Dark Brown.
 * Hair Style - Short, well-kept.
 * Facial Hair - Clean shaven.
 * Skin Colour - White.
 * Height - 6'1" (185.40cm).
 * Weight - 12st (169lbs).
 * Accent - Mancunian accent.
 * Age (End Of Novel) - 23-years-old.
 * Other Features - Has thick eyebrows unlike Douglas and Edwin.

Attire & Arsenal:
Benjamin Maxim is known for his lack of a sense of style. He wears clothes that make him stand out for all the wrong reasons, either wearing a suit that makes him look like a "government agent" or Hawaiian shirts and shorts that make him look like "Tommy Vercetti". He should wear glasses, however, he choses not to, sighting it as looking "geeky".

Maxim uses a Browning Hi-Power 9mm pistol, the former standard issue sidearm of the British Military. It is believed that Jimmy Saturn was the one who supplied the brothers with these pistols. With Gibraltar being the brother's destination before Brazil, it would be logical that the Brownings were stolen from a British military base in Gibraltar and snuck into England.

Throughout the novel it is displayed that Ben has an affinity for bladed weaponry and prefers to use them on his victims just as much as his pistol.

Personality:
Ben is a former drug addict, aggressive criminal who suffers from a inferiority complex and suffers with psychosis and potential paranoid schizophrenia. The inferiority complex is intensified unknowingly by his brother Douglas, who likes to "banter" with him.

Maxim has no empathy for his victims and even finds enjoyment in killing or harming those who he deems have offended him. The slightest of perceived transgressions can trigger Ben into a bloodthirsty fury.

Of all the brothers, Benjamin is an outright racist, homophobe, sexist and misogynist. He views all those non-white as subhuman and all females as inferior, devious creatures.

Biography:
Warning this section contains spoilers of the novel ahead,

Monday:
The Maxim Brothers stalk a Scottish mobster and board the same train as him. They proceed to rob the train and steal over £1,000,000 and various expensive jewellery from the passengers. Douglas orchestrates a kidnapping of an employee named Naomi Winters as a keep-safe, whilst Benjamin gets offended by passengers and proceeds to shoot and kill three of them.

The Maxims continue southward with Naomi as their hostage. Edwin suggests they rob from country pubs as they would pay with cash more so than card. To Edwin's annoyance, Douglas and Benjamin go through with a pub robbery. Before this, Benjamin begins to hear things said from Naomi that are rather raunchy and out of place.

Edwin is left babysitting Naomi, who attempts to escape, he beats her up for her failed efforts. Douglas and Benjamin, meanwhile, successfully rob the pub, with Ben shooting one of the patrons.

In a hotel room they had booked where Edwin and Naomi had been, during the night time after the successful heist, they are interrupted by another booker at the hotel, who Ben proceeds to stab to death.

Ben, Ed and Naomi flee to their car, whilst Doug sets the room on fire. The hotel explodes and the Maxims flee into the night.

Tuesday:
The quartet find a second place to stay. Edwin informs his brothers that one more pub heist is required before they can continue onwards down to the Eurotunnel.

Douglas desires to do the job with Benjamin, however, Edwin moans that he thought of the idea and so he should be the one to do at least the last one they plan to commit to. Doug relents and allows this, yet does not like the prospect of Ben being on his own with their female hostage.

The robbery gets underway and seems to be going well, until Ed's inexperience costs him his life, as the owner of the pub shoots and kills him. Doug shoots the manager dead in retaliation and flees with a bag full of money and items they had stolen.

Within the hotel room, Ben hears things from Naomi which she rebukes. He tries to force himself on her and attempts to rape her. Naomi fights back, which leads to Benjamin brutally murdering her with a meat cleaver.

Douglas comes back to the horrific scene and instead of telling his youngest brother of Ed's fate, he instead tells him that they have to leave immediately and alludes that their middle brother has been captured by police and not murdered. Ben buys into Doug's lie.

Wednesday:
Douglas and Benjamin attempt to come up with a way to get a hostage and make it successfully through the Eurotunnel. The murder of Naomi grates heavily on Doug and he spares no verbal wrath towards his brother.

They stop to get petrol at a petrol station. By this time the news has identified Benjamin Maxim, and so Doug tells his younger brother to stay in the car as he collects items for them both and buy petrol.

Ben disobeys his brother's orders and enters the petrol station. The two argue briefly before a verbal altercation with the cashier and Ben breaks out. Benjamin racially abuses the Middle-Eastern worker before he pulls out his pistol and proceeds to rob the petrol station. After the robbery Doug confiscates Ben's sidearm.

The brothers are forced to stay at a lake, posing as campers because Douglas states that it is too risky for them to stay in any sort of accommodation.

During the night they both drink a toast to Edwin, Ben still believing he is imprisoned and not dead.

Thursday:
Douglas robs a second car and continues to be annoyed by Ben. During their drive, Doug becomes more stressed, attempting to think of a solution to their Eurotunnel problem. Eventually, they go on the motorway, which Douglas explains is almost suicidal as they are Britain's Most Wanted on road full of cameras and law enforcement.

An idea hits Doug, he then tells Ben that they should find a caravan park and take somebody with a passport as a hostage, hide in the caravan as they get into the Euro Train and then they would be home free. Benjamin is all aboard for this plan and the duo go into the next caravan park they see.

Douglas goes into the check-in office and looks around, the Muir Family (Colin, Roxanne and Mark) enter and tell the clerk that they are having issues with their electricity source at their bay. The Muirs talk of their upcoming holiday to Paris and Doug targets them as their next hostages. Roxanne notices the Mancunian and gives him a flirtatious look.

Doug returns to Ben and finds him staring with fervour towards teenage girls playing in a nearby park. He scolds his brother for this and then informs him of his plan. The plan is to pose as workers or neighbours and get Colin out of the caravan so they can take him hostage, and by proxy his two children. Doug makes a point that if Ben touches or goes anywhere near Roxy, there will be trouble.

The Maxims proceed with their plan. They manage to convince Colin to re-check his power source after Benjamin yanked the plug out and from there held him at gunpoint.

They enter the Muirs' R.V. and inform them of what is going to happen in regards to getting them successfully though the Eurotunnel and onto mainland Europe. The brothers agree to take turns to watch their hostages as they sleep.

Friday:
The group make it to the Eurotunnel, with Douglas sat in the front watching Colin and Benjamin in the back watching the Muir children. As the inspection comes and requirement for passports, the Maxims hide in the bathroom with Roxanne, who they force to strip down to her underwear and pretend to take a shower. There is a tense scene where Mark desires to give up their captors, however, Colin talks him out of it of fear of repercussions after the Maxims vowed they would go on a killing spree if found out.

Police climb aboard with a sniffer dog and demand to be let into the bathroom, already wet from the shower being on, Roxanne, with a gun up against her back, comes to the door with a towel wrapped around her to prove she is alone and her face matches her passport I.D. photo.

The policemen apologise and then allow the Muirs to carry onto the Euro Train. The Maxims come out of their hiding place and celebrate as they arrive in France.

Douglas demands they stick to the coast and make their way through to Spain via Bordeaux. He speaks with his contact, Jimmy, on the phone to see what the next steps should be.

Colin convinces Doug that they should stay in a caravan park he is familiar with. During the night time, Douglas banters with Benjamin and the younger brother takes it seriously and leaves, frustrated that he cannot best his brother verbally and the fact he hears more and more flirtatious things coming out of Roxanne's mouth, which everybody with them denies.

During his walk outside to clear his head, Ben has a smoke and is joined by a Frenchman. As the Frenchman talks in his native language, Benjamin believes the man is insulting him and proceeds to burn his face, then beat him to death in the car park.

Ben returns to the caravan and due to his mental state, Douglas takes the lion's share of the watch, out of fear that his younger brother may attempt to sexually assault Roxanne. During this time, Doug had been taking cocaine to help him stay awake and cope with the situation he's in. The cocaine is the only thing that helps him stay awake and watch his brother's movements.

Saturday:
The following morning the group are back on track. Colin thanks Douglas, knowing why he stayed awake for most the night, to which Doug feigns ignorance. As a token of gratitude, Douglas suggests that his hostages be treated to a nice meal before they separate the following day, as they had calculated it that the Maxims would arrive in Jaca by Sunday and be collected by Jimmy's associates to complete the rest of their journey to Gibraltar before taking a flight to Brazil.

The Muirs graciously agree, however, Ben is not happy about this. They stop at an Italian restaurant in Southern France. The meal seemingly goes well, however, Benjamin nearly caused a fight between the Maxims and Muirs as he had his hand on Roxanne's lap and began to track further up her leg, until he stopped when called out and said he had no idea what he was doing and apologised.

After the meal, Colin, privy to Douglas' cocaine habit and Benjamin's inability to remain sane whilst one cocaine, orchestrates it so that Mark pickpocketed Doug and handed the cocaine sachet over to him so that he could give it to Ben later in the night.

The group stop for the night in a hotel. As with the previous night, Ben becomes frustrated with Doug over banter and Roxy and decides to take a walk. During his walk he kills a hotel maintenance worker who had been using a hammer, sighting him as giving him a headache; as he's killing the worker he visions himself killing his brother.

Benjamin returns to the hotel room and joins in on the group playing cards and then Monopoly. Colin says he needs to go toilet, where Douglas threatens that if he isn't back from the toilet in two minutes, he would kill Roxanne. Colin says he needs a number two and insists on Ben watching him instead so there was no unnecessary timer.

Doug laughs and hurls homophobic remarks towards his brother and Muir father, however, when Colin calls him out on not trusting his brother, Ben takes the initiative and goes with the old man to the toilet to guard him.

Within the toilet, Colin is able to manipulate an already frustrated Benjamin into expressing his annoyance at his older brother, and to take cocaine; this is aided by Douglas continually shouting homophobic slurs at them from the dining-room.

Fuelled on drugs, Ben returns to the table and after noticing Roxy flirt with his brother, he becomes insane and the Maxims fight each other. During the chaos, Colin steals one of their sidearms, Roxanne grabs a knife and Mark runs out the room to the nearest payphone to call the police, taking the second pistol.

Douglas manages to overpower his brother, he is shot by Colin but fights through the pain and chokes the old man to a presumed death. Benjamin grabs and wrestles with Roxanne. It seems the two brothers are on the same page once more, as Ben nods towards Doug when he tells his younger brother that he's going to find and sort out Mark.

Doug confronts Mark and doesn't want to kill him, yet Mark aims his pistol giving Douglas no choice but to shoot and kill him first. Before dying, Muir informed his captor that the police had been called, this prompts him to make haste back for his hotel room.

Re-entering the room, he finds his crazed sibling attempting to rape a bloodied and beaten Roxy. Doug stops this and scolds Ben for this, and as the two seem to reconcile once more, Benjamin attempts to kill his brother. Douglas manages to reverse this and in an act of desperate self-defence, he murders his kin.

Maxim breaks down and gives up, yet when Roxanne thanks him and tells him that Colin is still alive, Doug regains the motivation to grab their swag within a briefcase and make a run for it.

Sunday:
In the early hours of Sunday morning, Douglas kills a Frenchman and steals his car. The police soon arrive on the scene and discover the murdered hotel worker and speak with Roxanne.

Soon enough, the police chase is on. Doug manages to evade the police until he crashes into a lamppost. Upon regaining consciousness, he shoots another Frenchman and steals their car after a brief shootout with the police.

He follows the road signs for the Franco-Spanish Border, and eventually manages to avert the French police cars with more shooting and high level driving. With only a police helicopter to contend with, Douglas calls Jimmy to ask for his help. Initially Jimmy does not answer his phone, however, he calls Doug back as he is driving in the opposite lane. Answering the phone, with the stereo blaring, it is hard for Douglas to understand what Jimmy is saying, and so as he overtakes a car and goes to turn the music down, an oncoming truck smashes into Doug's car.

Douglas is killed instantly from the crash, the novel ends with Jimmy asking for Doug on the phone, then hanging up. The end has a collection of newspaper headings from the following day that covers the events that had unfolded during the previous week where the Maxims had ran rampant. These newspapers are parodies of real newspapers.

P.N.C. Record:
Warning this section contains spoilers of the novel ahead,

Disclosure & Barring Service

England & Wales

P.N.C. Record:

Date of Creation: 22/04/2016

Details: Summary of Crimes:

Trivia:

 * The Maxim surname is named after the Maxim Machine Gun.
 * Ben's codename "Ronnie" during the train heist is named after Ronnie Biggs, a famous British train robber, who was a partial inspiration for the novel.
 * Benjamin's Zodiac sign is a Pisces.
 * Maxim is a Altrincham F.C. supporter.
 * Ben's favourite alcohol is Strongbow.
 * Benjamin's favourite food is McDonalds.
 * Maxim's reference to looking like Tommy Vercetti, is a reference to G.T.A.: Vice City 's main protagonist.
 * Benjamin's reference to Zuffa, is a reference to the monopoly that Zuffa have had on the sport of M.M.A., being the owners of the U.F.C. they have bought out their competition, such as Bellator and PRIDE F.C.
 * He must be an M.M.A. fan or follower of the sport due to his several references to the sport, mentioning both Zuffa and the Gracie Family. The Gracies are a family of pioneers in the world of M.M.A. as a whole.
 * Benjamin's original name was Bren.
 * Ben is partly based on Peter Sutcliffe, better known as the Yorkshire Ripper.