How Benefit Street's Neil Maxwell went from loveable reality star to murderer. He was the reality show rogue whose explosive outbursts and unpredictable behaviour made for edge-of-the-sofa TV viewing. Neil Maxwell was thrust into the spotlight on Channel 4’s Benefits Street as a tattooed skinhead who was seen dealing cannabis, smoking dope and taking pills. But Maxwell was a far nastier piece of work than the TV cameras captured. In fact by the time the show aired in May 2015, the cocaine addict was serving a two-year sentence for stabbing a man in a block of flats.

He had slashed him across the back leaving three deep wounds, one 24cm long. But he had won fans from the very first episode, when he strolled to court in a vest and shorts, only to miss a bus and turn up late.

Mr Cooper, 43, was brutally kicked, stamped on, stripped nake ...