John Willmott students learn about dangers of crime in inspirational talk

Students at John Willmott School heard about the importance of making the right life choices to avoid the dangers of crime, knives and prison – from someone with personal experience of all of them.

Reformed offender Gary Williams spoke to students at the school – which is part of the respected Arthur Terry Learning Partnership – as part of the Precious Lives programme, which is funded by the office of the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner.

Gary explained: “I had a problematic childhood, with a family background that involved drugs, alcohol, prostitution. When I was eight years old my mom took me to London, and from then onwards I had to forge my own way through life.

“Because I didn’t have a family to be there for me, the streets got hold of me from a young age and by the time I was 15 I went to prison for the first time, for wounding somebody in a fight. By the time I was 19 I got a six year sentence.”

41-year-old Gary, who is originally from Wolverhampton, was released from prison at the age of 23, but was soon back inside.

He said: “At the age of 25, I got a life sentence, with a minimum tariff of seven years to serve. All in all, from the age of 15 to 33, I did more than 13 years in prison. All of my adulthood I spent in prison.

“It’s an experience that has given me an opportunity to warn young people not to make the mistakes that I made, and to understand the consequences of the decision they take.

“When you’re young, and particularly if you come from a broken home, sometimes you do not care about a lot of stuff, but as you grow older you become more compassionate and learn that what you do affects the people that love you.

“So now that I’m older, I understand that people who love me and need me suffered when I got locked up.

“I realised that their experience was worse than mine, because while I was mentally prepared to be locked up – they had done nothing to deserve the consequences that my actions brought on them.

“So, my message to young people is that they have to see that they affect other people with their actions.

“While the presentations I make are about knife crime, but they’re also about life choices and giving an insight into the mistakes that young people can make.”

He said the rection from John Willmott students had been ‘amazing’.

“You could hear a pin drop when I was speaking to them, and a lot of them came up to me afterwards to ask questions and thank me.

“It’s a very rewarding thing to do, and I hope it makes a real difference. I’m just trying to give young people the benefit of the mistakes that I have made.”

Teacher Demitrius Smikle said: “I thought Gary’s talk was inspiring and a fantastic opportunity for some of our students to hear from someone who has lived real life experiences that illustrate how making the wrong decision can impact on you and others.

“Listening to someone like Gary, the students make the connection themselves to him, because he speaks so honestly, and I think the message gets through much better that way.”

John Willmott headteacher Nicky Gould said: “We’re very grateful to Gary for coming in and speaking to our students about his experiences in life.

“Our Character Virtues scheme aims to help students grow as individuals, alongside the learning they do in the classroom, creating a feeling of community within the school, and encouraging students to support each other.

“Presentations like Precious Lives encourages them to think about the consequences of the decisions they make.”

The Precious Lives project sees a team of trainers, who have real life experience of crime either as a victim, offender or professional, speak to young people in order to help them understand the consequences of carrying or using a knife.

Caption:

Reformed criminal Gary Williams with students from John Willmott School.