Former gang member gives cautionary talk to students

Students at Plantsbrook School heard about the dangers of drugs, knives, guns, crime, prison and gangs - from someone with personal experience of all of them.

Reformed drug addict Paul Hannaford has made it his mission to share his life experiences with 1 million young people and has so far spoken to more then 600,000 at schools across the UK.

He returned to Plantsbrook, in Upper Holland Road, for the second time in six weeks to tell Sixth Formers how making the wrong choices led him to a life of crime, addiction and ill health.

He said: “I share my life experience, which is drug and alcohol addiction, my experiences in gang life, being stabbed and nearly dying, going to prison 15 times and how lucky I was to survive it.

“The idea is to get the students to reflect on my experiences and understand how the choices they make outside the school gates can impact on their lives.

“When I was a little boy all I wanted to do was play football, but I got thrown out of school for drug use. I ended up in a pupil referral unit, where I was groomed by a gang.

“I slowly worked my way up to the top of the gang, then at the age of 21 I went to a party and tried heroin.

“That was me done - for the next 15 years it was story of hospitalisation 27 times, being stabbed by drug dealers and nearly losing both my legs. ”

“I left school at 13, barely able to read and write, but I 've got 23 years of brutal experiences which I think provide a valuable lesson for young people. It 's emotional and exhausting but it 's very rewarding. ”

Head of Sixth Form Lisa Proctor said: “We are so grateful to Paul for coming back to talk to our students again. What he had to tell them was hard-hitting, but his story has a real impact on them because he is speaking from experience. ”

Pictured: Reformed drug addict Paul Hannaford with students from Plantsbrook School