So, one of the people who were his "society friends" was this fellow John Osborne https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Osborne
Osborne appears in the Michael Caine movie "Get Carter" as some sort of criminal figure that Carter meets up in Newcastle. It stands out because it shows just how crass UK society had become by then. It stands to reason that Osborne if he were actually part of that world of 'cocaine and cameras' would know Ward.