into the light ministry

STEPPING OUT OF THE BOAT in the name OF

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CHAPTER 8

START OF A CRIME WAVE

Being kicked out of school escalated the feeling of rejection a hundred fold and Having no school to go to rocketed me into a life of crime, despite my parents best attempts to guild me, Back home Mick made me a bedroom extension so I had my own room, but having nowhere to go in the day, no friends and no school or social worker to guild me. I wondered around the old council estate we used to live in, Coley Park, this is when the need for companionship took roots, to get attention and respect from my peers and potential gang members I started to steal motorbikes and cars, feeling like a failure I wanted to make something of myself I wanted my family to be proud of me, and being a thief meant I could realise this fantasy dream I had fallen into. I would steal cars first to impress then to make money, the more cars I stole and money I had the more I was looked up to by my peers, it wasn’t science, and the rewards were instantaneous, within hours of me stealing a car and joy riding it around the local estate my name would be spoke about like I was a hero, this gave me a buzz and I felt great! I feed off this feeling at it soon became addictive.

It all started off with my first car, a red Ford fiesta RS Turbo 1991 J registration , all the older boys were at the pub, boys I was not allowed to talk to by orders of my brother Paul as they were his friends, however this was my chance to make a name for myself and I drove it to them to show off, I didn’t know how to drive, but had been taught at school and by Mick in the families Ford Cortina when he let me drive it up the school drive one day aged about 12, trying to remember what he taught me I got into the driver’s seat and was off, wheel spinning up the road! Not stopping at any junctions in fear of stalling it I eventually pulled up in the brand new Rs Turbo, I was the hero, everyone talked about me, I had became something, I was known, I was a somebody, and my big brother Paul started to notice and respect me too, after that it I had to up the ante and stole a Porsche then a Lotus esprite, and many Rs Cosworths.

This lead to me Being constantly arrested and I ended up being put into a children’s home called Grafton house, because of my behaviour the courts bailed me to that home and I wasn’t allowed to me mums until the many court cases I had were dealt with. I spent a few months there until the courts sentenced me to a probation order. I was freed to live back home and free to commit more crimes.

My stealing and appetite for reputation and the hunger to be respected and wanted rapidly escalated, once I was respected I could start my own gang, then they would be my family and I would be in charge, that way I would be in control and wouldn’t be at risk of being rejected or abandoned. I was stealing 2-3 cars a day and formed a gang of car thief’s, aged 15 I was stealing high value cars and joy riding them all over the place, then I started to strip them for parts, the money started to come in and I felt some worth, I would buy my mum stuff and felt like the bread winner, the families failure had become something, albeit a car thief, I was in the money I felt some worth and that made me happy. Maybe my dad and brothers had heard how great I was and might even want me?

First time in prison aged 15

I first got sent to prison aged 15 for robbery, I had pulled out a bladed article (knife) on some staff at a leisure centre during my attempt to rob the money out of the hairdryer machine! due to the seriousness of the charge the courts felt they had no choice but to remand me to prison!

I can remember the drive there in the back of a police riot van, as we entered HMP Feltham my guts were turning over. Used to being away from my family I thought I could do jail but I was wrong, Feltham was a horrible place, 10 times worse than the boarding school id spent 4 years in, full of people that had hate deep in their hearts, and full of gangs that i had no part in. it was dog-eat-dog and I found myself coming unstuck to the older boys when they came into my cell and took all my canteen, my cell mate stuck up for me and managed to keep some from being taken, I only did a week there, I never left the cell that whole week not even to shower except for a visit from my Mum and Mick. I was so frightened, I can remember sitting there talking to them begging them to get me out. Sadly they could do little to free me. I prayed to God to help me and he did by sending a man named Tim Clewer, Tim was a youth worker and a Christian, he found me a children’s home in Kingswood Surrey that the courts agreed to bail me too. Thank God!

I can remember the feeling of being let out of the court cells. I smelt quite bad and the drive from Reading to Kingswood must have been a smelly one for Tim and the social worker. Me and Tim often talked about God and I can remember our conversations still, I believe God sent Tim to plant a seed, and it worked.

THE HOME

I arrived at the home, it was a big posh house in a very posh area of Surrey, it was heaven to me, I got my own room, I can remember to this day having that first shower for over 8 days! I can feel the hot water running over me washing away the hell id been through. The home was a great place they gave us money each week for clothes and trainers, they had a great team of youth workers there, one man named Lewis got me an apprenticeship in his mates garage, “Austin’s garage” in Herne hill near Brixton, Lewis was a good man bless him, he tried so hard with me, and his friend Austin did the same opening up his business and trusting me, I never stole of him, I had a respect and love for him, I can remember him taking me to the pub, I had my first pint, I felt like a man and I felt loved and wanted. I had some real good people in my life and the opportunity to break free from this life of crime was in my hands. But I didn’t. Despite all the help I had, as soon as I left the home and the job with Austin I was alone again looking for belonging i soon went back to stealing cars, Tim had got me a lovely flat in Sutton Surrey and I abused it by hardly staying there and using it as a storage place for all my stolen goods, by now I was spending 12-18 hours a day out stealing cars and from cars, the destruction I was responsible for was out of control I was a crime wave breaking into 20 plus cars a day!.

By now mobile phones were out, and I was stealing about 5 a day, I even burgled the home I had just left trying to steal the safe! Nothing was safe from me! I was stealing everything and anything I could get my hands on, I didn’t have a drug habit, I wish it was as simple as a drug habit but what i had there was no known cure for.

(More detail to come) estimate 1 pages