I was born in Leatherhead in Surrey in 1970. I had a good marriage, two daughters, then round about 2007 I lost two very close friends. One was a guiding figure and he just dropped dead. Second friend, he was killed in a motorcycle accident.
In 2008, I wasn’t coping really well. The recession started again, hitting the building trade, and there was lots of pressure trying to keep everything together for the family. Things started to go wrong.
I started to drink. Not heavily, but it was a support mechanism, trying to forget things. I didn’t realise, but depression started to creep in. I was becoming more distant from my family, losing interest in things that I enjoyed and loved, and eventually got into trouble with the police.
At this point the country was in full recession. There were lots of spending cutbacks. I was going to probation once every fortnight. Because of the cutbacks I was seeing a new officer each time. There was no continuity. I’d tell my story, and in the following weeks I’d see a totally new person and had to tell the story again. I was never achieving anything. We were wasting each other’s time. I stopped going. This landed me back in court and led to a 12-week prison sentence.
I was in prison in Bedford when my wife moved out of the marital home with the children. I discovered she was having an affair. She moved in with her boyfriend somewhere in the depths of Oxfordshire. It was a good thing I was in prison at that time, otherwise I would have got myself into a lot more trouble. It gave me time to get over it, think about it, by the time I was released. Although my wife is still supportive, I came out of prison to the family home and it was empty.
Eventually the house was repossessed and I found myself having to find somewhere, renting a bedroom in Hemel Hempstead. But offences led to more prison time, until I was released in April 2017. And that was me done.