Chopper Read’s sons

Chopper Read is survived by his two sons, Charlie, who he shares with ex-wife Mary-Anne and Roy, who is from his second marriage and co-parented by his widow Margaret.

Both of Mark’s boys have remained relatively out of the limelight.

Charlie gave his first interview about his infamous dad one month after Chopper Read died.

Speaking to The Australian Women’s Weekly for their December 2013 edition, the then 14-year-old boy describes the difficulties of living in the shadow of the notorious criminal.

“We walk the same, talk the same… but I’m not going to follow in his footsteps,” Charlie said at the time.

“I’m proud to be his son, but it’s a bit hard living with his reputation. I can’t go anywhere without people asking, ‘Are you Chopper’s son?'”

“He’s always been just ‘Dad’ to me. I don’t think of him as anything else, I don’t think of him as being the criminal. I’ve seen the other side of him and I’ve seen him do stuff that wasn’t great, but I want to remember the good times I had with him.”

Roy was very close to his father, appearing on a YouTube video uploaded by Mark Read Estate

The footage shows the pair playfully chatting to each other while Mark spoke about Ned Kelly.

You can watch the duo in the video player below!

Chopper’s boy speaks: “I’m not my father’s son”

Infamous criminal Mark “Chopper” Read’s son Charlie breaks his silence.

NOV 20, 2013

Speaking for the first time in the December 2013 issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly, the 14-year-old boy describes the difficulties of living in the shadow of the notorious criminal, who died in October 2013 after a battle with liver cancer.

“We walk the same, talk the same … but I’m not going to follow in his footsteps,” Charlie says. “I’m proud to be his son, but it’s a bit hard living with his reputation. I can’t go anywhere without people asking, ‘Are you Chopper’s son?’

“Most people are pretty good. Some say nasty stuff, some just assume I’ll be a criminal, too. I’ve had comments from schoolkids like, “Why don’t you just go to jail now’.

“I know that people are looking at me to see what I do and how I grow up, but we are very different people.”

Charlie’s mother, Chopper’s first wife Mary-Ann Read, says Charlie is bullied continually for no other reason than the identity of his father.

“It’s been very hard for Charlie,” she says. “He’s had lot of bullying because of his father’s reputation and he gets pre-judged.

“I worry about him constantly because he is so much like his father and he needs to be able to handle himself. He’s a very strong boy, but I have to be twice as strong as him.”

But despite the trouble his famous father has bequeathed him, Charlie still has some good memories of his dad.

“I was thinking about what he used to be like, when he was around when I was little. It was pretty good then. He was a good dad then. We’d shoot at the gun club sometimes and we’d walk everywhere together. He liked that.”

Chopper Read’s son to be arrested after no-show in court

Feb 23 – 2021

Charlie Read, the Tasmanian son of notorious underworld figure Mark “Chopper” Read, will be arrested after failing to show up in court.

Magistrate decides not to send Charlie Read to prison

Aug 06 – 2021

The son of late infamous criminal Chopper Read has avoided jail after he committed a string of driving offences and stole a ten-pack of Jim Beam from the bottleshop.

Chopper Read’s son hurled pole ‘like a javelin’ at taxi driver

Aug 06 – 2021

The son of late underworld criminal Chopper Read has been convicted in a Tasmanian court after he hurled a fence paling at a taxi driver who he thought was hassling his girlfriend’s friend.