A MAN has revealed how he changed his life around after he began to sell drugs at just eight years old.
Jimmy Kyfer grew up on one of the roughest estates in Leeds, Bellbrookes, with a drug addict mother.
He revealed that his mum began taking heroin when he was about 18 months old and remembers his mum taking him and his siblings to go out and find cash to get drugs with.
“She’d be burgling houses, we’d be waiting outside, she’d be popping phone boxes on the school run, to get the change out of them,” he told The Stool.
He said that by the time he was eight, he was ruthless; while his mum sat on the sofa high and passed out, he’d be out until 2am.
Jimmy said the older boys in the area would be out selling drugs, and used him to their advantage.
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“They used to get me on a scooter and I used to be riding around at 8 years old selling heroin,” he said.
In return, the drug dealers would give the young boy hash, ‘gum’ of the cannabis plant and cigarettes.
The problems at home soon became noticed at school, as Jimmy and his sister failed to show up.
He recalled teachers coming over to try and get them in, but when that failed to work, social services got involved and the two were put into care.
Jimmy and his older sister were placed in different foster homes until family finally took them in, but by that time, the damage had been done.
Jimmy moved in with his aunt and quickly began to steal from them, the first item being a phone, and he was moved back into care.
During this time, his mum was able to get clean, find a house and volunteered at work, and the kids were able to go back to living with her.
With Jimmy back at home, he was able to go out again and fell in with the wrong crowd.
At first, he said they just played football together, but they soon got him involved with stealing items like bikes.
It then amped up to burglary, and he even hotwired a car one night to learn how to drive.
GETTING HELP:
If you think that you have a drug addiction then please contact your GP.
You can also visit FRANK for honest information about drugs and to find local treatment services.
If you are having trouble finding the right help, call the FRANK drugs helpline on 03001236600
Or click here to visit the NHS website for more advice and support
At 14, Jimmy decided to steal £200 from his stepdad to buy himself a car, which he would drive to school in and help his friends rob houses and steal their cars.
“I didn’t use to really go in houses,” he explained. ” I just used to wait for the car key to come out.”
Jimmy revealed that by the time he was 15, he was given a tag and taken to court for stealing, but didn’t do his first prison stint until he was 20.
While it was a shock to Jimmy, his two years in prison didn’t deter him from a life of crime.
Over the course of the next nine years, Jimmy went to prison five more times for multiple charges, including burglary and fraud.
Jimmy was left heartbroken when his older sister passed away while he was locked up, but after his next release, he went back to jail again for selling drugs.
As Jimmy was a reoffender, he was forced to take a ‘Thinking Skills Programme.’
“In my head, I’m thinking I’m going to go sit in there, ‘Yes, sir. No, sir. Three bags full,’” he admitted.
“But they make you get involved. You have to go in and cooperate and speak, and slowly, I was getting into it.
“I’d become a big personality in the room.”
After completing the course, other inmates would come up to Jimmy for advice and it was the first time Jimmy had seen he could make a difference.
Jimmy later went on a mentoring course, as well as a graphic design course in prison, which led him to train other prisoners inside to gain skills.
Jimmy has been out of prison since February and has since turned his life around.
Now, Jimmy has used his experience of prison and his mentoring courses to become a youth worker.
He said: “I’ve spent all my life taking from people and doing bad things to people, things that I don’t even want, I can’t talk about.
“I used to think that the world owes me something. But it got to a point now: I owe the world something.”
