 This week's episode is sponsored by Hair Replacement Glasgow. Men's non-surgical hair replacement. For exceptional value they use only the best ultra realistic non evasive men's hair systems. You can wash it, style it, play football, go to the gym and even swim with confidence. So if you are looking for an instant transformation with 100% human hair styled exactly the way you want it, contact Hair Replacement Glasgow for your free consultation. You've been shot over 20 times. I thought 50 cent was lucky getting shot 9 times but you're that's, I've never heard that. A story as heavy as that to being shot over 20 times and still here to tell the tale. We were running the back, one of them pulled out of peace and proceeded to shoot me. I was with my mate on the floor for a bit and then I had to get off. I had to take whatever was there out of the scene so the police didn't find it. Boom we're on. Today's guest we've got Manchester's Darryl Leacock. How are you brother? Good thank you. First of all big man thanks for coming on. You're welcome. You've got a very interesting story. We've got here 19 different prisons shot over 20 times. Crazy story mate. I've seen you and Sean Atwood podcast so shout out to Sean. It was a very interesting podcast, bit nuts. I've not watched it but... How do you know what's your own stuff? I don't know I just get a bit embarrassed and stuff. Cringe a bit watching your own shit. So Manchester bad boy, let's go right back to the start Daza. Kind of where it all began for you. Obviously I'm from Moss side. Born in Ym. Born in Ym. Went to Manchester a year old. Moss side sorry not Manchester. Moss side which is like the overspel from Ym. Grew up in a house full of domestic violence. Dad beating mum on a regular basis. My mum left my dad. And got with another man for protection. Ended up having a kid with him. My brother Lawrence. Couple years down the line he was... His dad was African. He was kidnapped by his dad. His dad come and took him off the street and he wasn't seen for 30 years. Choken? So then... So my mum had a problem. Obviously she missed her son and things like that. There was a lot of drinking in the house. Mostly my dad. My dad would be drinking and that's when he'd be violent with my mum. But he would never violent with the kids. But he would hit my mum in front of us. So he was violent towards my mum. Mum put up with that for years and years. When I was young in primary school. I had to go see child psychologists because I hit somebody with a chair. Pretty bad. I was only 8 years old. It was like learnt behaviour so to speak. From there things just spiraled out of control. I used to go and see a child psychologist all the time. For years. Then one night I still drank involved. I can't say my dad was a bad person. He's done bad things to my mum that I've found out since they both passed over. But I can't say he was a bad person because when he was sober. He was mostly the nicest man you'd ever come across when he had a drink. He was like a devil. Jekkel en I so... It was bad seeing my mum go through what she went through. Do you know what your dad's upbringing was like? What was your dad's upbringing do you know? My dad was born in Jamaica and come over here part of the Windrush generation. Do you know? I know my dad seeing his dad beat my grand. Do you know my grand was beat until she was blinded. Or semi-blind but she's fully blind now. My grand outlived my mum and my dad and my grand dad. She's still alive. I don't know if it learnt behaviour. I ask because you tend to see it passes down from generation to generation. And that's where your violence probably comes from. The trauma that you've seen accepting maybe that it's okay if I do whatever the frustration. So that's when your life probably started spiralling. Like I was saying learnt behaviour was very violent, very angry as a child. I was very funny but I was angry. Obviously now looking back obviously it was trauma that I was dealing with. But I was dealing with it myself and lashing out with the people. So cut a long story short. I went to secondary school. After the second day of being in secondary school I was excluded for hitting a teacher. Because she put her hand on me so I just thought nobody puts her hand on me. So I excluded, cut a long story short, not long after that. My dad was still beating my mum. He was in and out of our lives, in and out of our lives. And he was still beating my mum and my mum ended up stabbing my dad. Do you know, so I'm not blaming my mum for my violence. Because I chose to do that kind of thing. So I went on the streets at early age 12, 13. I was selling crack and heroin at them ages. But everybody thought I was selling it as part of a gang and all that. I was, I had a cousin who was a smackhead and I was doing it with him first. And then I went on to the streets and it was like to escape what was happening at home. You know, seeing what was happening. What was happening there, the drink, the drink, the drink, the smoking, the smoking and so on. And I was on the streets with a group of friends. Some of them went through similar things, some of them went through nothing. But we all was on the estate. Some of the ages are 14 as well. You are giving a gun. Yes, some elder person, he was supposed to be the man. But later on we found out him to be an idiot. And he gave me a gun, made me mind a gun. Asked me to use a gun at a specific time, a specific person. I didn't but he still left me with the gun. What were you to do with the gun? He asked me to shoot somebody. Somebody was going to come and meet him in a pub. And he asked me to shoot the person. Did the show up? No, they didn't show up. But I wouldn't have shot him anyways, not that person. So, you started selling crack on the streets. You started dabbling not just in drugs but guns. What age did you start really getting into the violence? When I was like 15, loads of fisticuffs. 16, knives, guns. 17. There had been a couple of murders when I was 17. My mate was killed in a bakery. I was with him and that's when I vowed to avenge's death. I'm not only the vowed to avenge's death. I pled me loyalty to him from a young age. Nowadays, you don't get the kind of loyalty that you had back then. People sell you out now. Nobody's old talk. Walk back, you open things like that. Then it started. Throughout the years, I lost over 30 friends and family. Over 60 people that have been murdered. Most people don't know. Six people that have died from natural causes. What have you been dealing with this all my life? Trauma, constant pain. Constant as worry as well. No matter how tough you can act or how many guns you can have in your fucking inside trouser pocket. It's a trauma in that what if it's me next door. You've got two ways. Either have the death wish and not give a fuck. Or you grow the conscience and try to stay. You try to change. You're doing massive things, we'll touch on that in a bit. To make the changes and make the sacrifices to change, it takes massive respect. So I take my hat off to you. When your friend get murdered in the bakers, you were there that day? Yeah, yeah. What was that story? We went to get some food, some toasters. We seen some people from another estate that come towards us. We were running the back, one of them pulled out of peace and proceeded to shoot me. My mate, they left the scene. I was with my mate on the floor for a bit and then I had to get off. I had to get off because I had to remove, I had to take whatever was there out of the scene. So the police didn't find it. I'm not going to say you had it, whether I had it with my mate or somebody else. But I had to flee the scene. I left my mate with my other mate's mum. He was happened to pass him by and she stayed with him. But he was dead before I had left. What age were you then? I was 17. So after that, what was your head like? You know what, people say that you forget after time but you don't forget after time every day. But even up to now I think to myself if we would have went a different way to that place the dynamics of life would have been different. It might not have happened, it might have been me. But my head was fucked in my head. I still think about it. I've said that many times but they say times are here but it's not. You learn to adapt to what's happened and you'll repeat it. What if I went this way? What if I could save him? There's no point but you've got to understand now all the shit that you've went through in the past. Now you're speaking at schools, now you're helping other kids. Not to make the same mistakes that you've made or your friends have made. So you've got to give yourself credit. It is difficult because we can numb the pain where it's drugs, women gambling to masks, whatever the fuck demons we're fighting. So when your life after that, how did that affect your life? It just went hectic after that. Obviously there's been a couple of deaths before him and all that from opposing sides. And it just got hectic on site. You see somebody and it goes off. Obviously I can't say too much because the police might investigate. Because no case is ever closed, is it? But there was tip for tax shootings for years and years. Numerous murders to deal with the almost side issues. So was that a tough war for people fighting over postcodes? Nothing to do with postcodes. It's nothing to do with postcodes because for the simple reason we're all from the same postcode. We all went to school with each other. For nobody owns any property there either? Nah, it's definitely not postcodes but what it is, elder statesmen, elders was having beef and then everybody grew into it and followed, picked a side and so on. But back when we was young we all used to go to same schools, go round with each other, get on. But we listened to elder people and nowadays you get kids listening to elder people do this and do that. So I'd go round and tell them it's not worth it because the elder people at some point they run off and leave you and then they've caused all this chaos and they run off with whatever they've made to another city or another town and you're left trying to pick up the pieces. And it's survival innit, you're trying to survive because not necessary you want to kill everybody but you want to survive is killer be killed. So to speak, yeah. You've been shot over 20 times, I thought 50 cent was lucky getting shot 9 times but I've never heard a story as heavy as that to being shot over 20 times and still here to tell the tale. Do you feel blessed even though all the shit you've went through, do you feel blessed to be here? I definitely feel blessed and I'm grateful everyday that I wake up. I might not have the most money, I might be going through a bit of depression I might not be feeling good but I'm thankful that I'm still alive. I thought that my mum would outlive me because of the circles I kept and the things I was doing. So I appreciate that I'm here and I do feel blessed because I'm not big-headed or anything but there's nobody been shot more times than me and survived so I believe that I was put on this earth for a reason. I was shot once one night I was riding through a park and the ironic thing is I'd had something come me earlier and I put it on and then about 10 minutes later I got to ride through this park when I say I had something come me I mean I was armed and dangerous and I put it away for the night. It was on my way somewhere and riding a bike through a dark park and I seen someone jump out from behind the tree so I let go of the bikes, turned around and started running I heard the shots and one of the shots caught me underneath my foot and come out the side of my leg. That was the first time. So I got round two corners and I couldn't get round no more but that person had fucked off by that time, excuse me language. So yeah, that's the first time I got shot. I've done some jail in between the four and a half year sentence. After I got shot I was arrested for a couple of attempted murders and a conspiracy to murder. Charge went to trial. I found not guilty. I found guilty of possession with intent and supply. Class A's was given four years for the class A's and for two bullets I got six months consecutive which is six months on top of the four years. Usually you get concurrent but obviously I was building up a bit of reputation and intelligence and so on. So yeah, I was in jail. Waas was in jail. Obviously it doesn't stop. People think you might go to jail and the beef doesn't stop so it was tick for tat fighting inside the jail. Because there was a ruling saying that people from my estate and other estates that I had conflict with wouldn't be on the same wing and they kind of kept it like that but they can't control the visits so you'd go to visits or you'd go to the gym not that I go to the gym nowadays but you'd bump into people. You'd bump into people and it'd go off. Obviously if you've lost friends to murder you're going to always have anger. A lot of people can control anger and think I'll wait till I get outside but I wasn't one of them people. Anytime I saw any of them in jail it was on. Most of them tried it with me but some people didn't. Because you know yourself some people ain't nothing without the tool without a blade or anything. It doesn't matter 10, 15 of them. From what I've seen that day when my mate was killed I would rush no matter how many. Not caring if you died. No this I'm talking about in jail I wouldn't care if I died I was always prepared for death. Did you ever go and see anybody in the jail psychologist or mental health? No because you know what it is as men pride you know that people say pride kills and it really does because we don't open up our feelings whereas now I will tell the people I was suffering but I had to this reputation to keep and so on. As with a girl I had this pub met her at the pub got drunk walking home got about I say about 300 meters from where I lived but you know the states and some people jumped out from behind the wall I was holding guns out to me and I walked towards him and said what obviously the drink made me brave the drink made me really brave and I shouldn't have done it but every time I've been shot I've been going towards the people so that's why it saved me so I say what what what the fuck and that's when I felt the bullets started hitting me my arms was peppered up my chest, my back I threw the girl on the floor shot in her chest and I lay on top of her and took some more bullets and that was that situation I managed to get up off the floor and get to my mate's dad's house he was just round the corner and he refused to let me in because he didn't want no repercussions at his house somebody come in a car and took me to the hospital gets to the hospital and they're rushing me down to theatre I'm responsible there by this time some cheeky cunt of a copper Darrell do me a favour what that gives you lottery numbers like to say I was lucky to be alive and that was that time that was not long after it had been released from a four and a half year sentence when I got shot that time after that went back to jail for a stabbing was charged with stabbing some kid and making him singing dance to Spice Girl music and went to trial I got not guilty under the air say evidence act law because he aired that I was called Darrell Lake or he didn't know I was called Darrell Lake or someone told him after the fact so my barrister who I'm still in touch with still great friends with now and brought loads of case files about air say evidence and the judge threw it out ordered the jury to find me not guilty get out back on the graft back doing what I did one night stood outside a club talking to some girls my mate was I thought my mate was shouting come here but he wasn't he was shouting go away but I started walking towards my mate and obviously he was near the people who shot me on the last occasions so they shot me once in my left leg and that done me bad that because all of the times I was only in a week two weeks when I got shot in my leg I got that thing called MRSA so I was in hospital for nine months with a leg shot and that was the end of the shootings it wasn't the end of the shootings people tried to shoot me after that have you ever think to yourself I'm just going to get to to fuck man do you know what I mean it's a hell of a lot of times to be somebody having a paw pat you was there ever a time to say right I'm out I'm off I don't know what it is because I always see my mate lay on the floor so it was always in my head I had to avenge his death when I tried plenty of times obviously throughout the years I was charged with numerous attempted murders as questioning loads of actual murders charged with a murder cleared of a murder and so on but it doesn't it doesn't make it right nowadays people ain't got the same loyalty that they had back then people saw you out and yeah I was charged with murder conspiracy to murder and things like that I never thought that I'd survive but that because I'm in loyalty I thought that was the way to go but nowadays I see I'm not that person it never ends does it if you go down that but just acting for revenge because you get shot in the head as well yeah when I got shot 27 times a bullet glanced off me head and that's the only one I was worried about to be honest it wasn't hurting as much of my arms and my shoulder and my back but when I was laying on the floor before I got up blood was rolling down my eye so that's what I was thinking that that would kill me that one did your girlfriend get shot as well I was with she got shot in her chest in her hand she want my girlfriend we was kind of like on a date kind of like going home to just shagging I didn't even get to get there so yeah she was shot in her she was shot in her chest in her hand but I let her throw her on the floor and lay on top of her did she survive though yeah I didn't know that I'd done that until afterwards because the mentality of people that back then would pull them on to you but I did it and she survived, I survived and I lived to tell the tale have you ever spoke to her sons about two years ago bumped into some girl and she was talking to me and I didn't even have a clue it was there to be honest then she just went I was talking to her about five minutes and I went no adult and she told me I was so ashamed how could you not remember so ashamed honestly but it is what it is because don't forget it's like 20 odd years and people change because back then she was also one of the best looking women ever and she changed trust me so that was me you fucking shot at the mansion your reputation as well with the ladies is pretty high down here assuming about ladies man was that because of the reputation you had down here you spent a lot of time in prison so you came out you made the most of it no I was a ladies man it was like a drug bad addiction I've got an ex mate who's doing life sentence now and he used to always say you're going to get killed going to a woman's house do you know because I was always women but women the greatest thing on the earth the planet and things like that but where they go about women women a lot of women are shallow a lot of women didn't want me for me didn't want me for my looks it was either my eyes because I've got particular colour eyes for a mixed race lad all because of the reputation do you know nobody wants a fat guy do you know being a fat guy saved me innit it's like when I got stabbed I got stabbed 7 times the doctor says you survived because you're fat because you got more blood more blood than anybody else so you've been saved that saved your life the wars you've been through so PTSD yeah PTSD I suffer I'm not going to say I suffer bad sometimes I suffer sometimes I'm alright for months it hits me what triggers that do you think memories back the brain can be a powerful thing I speak about it quite a lot when you think about trauma in the past the brain will release the chemical when you felt 10 or 20 years ago it will release that emotion the brain doesn't know what's real if it's fake it will bring back a lot of emotion it will release a lot of chemicals to the emotion you felt that day it doesn't really know but you can rewire the brain you can change for everything you've went through you ended up being involved in a BAFTA one in documentary I've done a lot of TV work over the years what's a documentary it's called gun number six it's like a docudrama and it won a BAFTA it won a BAFTA last year 2019 it's about a gun the journey of a gun in Birmingham the most deadliest gun in Birmingham where 11 people are doing life sentences for this gun it's killed three people and injured numerous others and it's never been recovered so there's people doing life sentences and the gun is still out there so I got involved in that because they used rehabilitated ex-offenders with gun convictions so me and a few other people was involved with it and it happened to win a BAFTA and it been nominated for loads of other stuff but it's not won no other stuff but I don't do what I do to win awards because I've won a few awards over the years but I do it to spare parents from burying the kids kids thinking their mates are going to die for them and go to jail for the rest of life so I kind of like go round and do work all over the country schools and so on to make people aware the reality of crime jail and so on because everything has that, I always say it with the ripple effect it's not just you, it feels the pain it's also the victims, everybody gets through the pain and they throw them in the post-traumatic stress through their life, do you know what I mean but everything you went through, you ended up in Buckingham Palace with Prince Charles sharing that table with him after coming out of jail and doing all that stuff getting stabbed I started working in the schools I wouldn't allow the Manchester when I come out of jail in 2011 Greater Manchester Police and Merse Side Police said I was the most dangerous person in the north west of England so I was putting one of them bail hostels for nine months where movements were restricted I wasn't allowed to associate with certain people and yeah but a lot of people think I shouldn't have been put there and it was wrong for me not being allowed in Manchester for two and a half years but I believe it was right because if I didn't get arrested and I didn't do what I'd done they wouldn't have been able to do that but the arrest come after I went to Liverpool in 2008 16th of August 2008 I was caught with 500 bullets so I would have got back to Manchester that was mostly the best thing to ever happen to me I would have got back to Manchester within 500 bullets people would have got killed there's no two ways about it not saying I would have killed them whoever I would have distributed them to might have killed somebody but 500 bullets on the streets of Merse Side Manchester there's bound to be death definitely getting through all that the stabins, the shootings, prison the trauma that you've been through from a young boy what was the catalyst for you to become a better person to try and help others I don't really go into it but something happened to a family member and I just believe and I promise the family member I promise my mum that I wouldn't go back to jail I can't really go into it because I don't want to bring it back up and for them to feel like they're being victimised of somebody but yeah I had to do it for my family because when you think about it and be killed for my friends and when I was in jail they didn't look after me do you know and I'd done a lot for people and I had to think to myself my family mean more to me than anything but when you're in that rigmarole of being on the road living the eye life and things like that you think everything's cushy and when you go to jail you'll know yourself you see your friends are on one hand do you know what's your circle link now my circle I don't really associate with many people because I just work around a country working with kids in schools 90% of it over 90% of it is mostly free I have some good friends good friends who support me the twins as you can see shout out to them we'll leave the link in the description for the clothing range they look after me they support anything that I do I've got a mate who's got a security company he supports what I do proper looks after me and so on but I don't really associate with many people now do you know because I don't really trust no more after going through all that a lot of people think they'll back up their mates and kill for their mates but whenever I got shot or stabbed nobody didn't back me up it was me that had to retaliate and do whatever do you know what I mean everyone claims to be this and claims to be that but they're not have you ever wrote a book no I'm about to I am I have started writing a book a few times and I've started writing one recently in the last couple of months get it done man that's a massive opportunity write your book tell your story turn maybe into a documentary or a film the amount of books I've got in my house Darryl sing books caught by fucking guests is next level master I could have a fucking library that's you though innit that's you but yeah I just want to get the I just want to get the record straight and put it out there this life ain't worth it because who else would get shot 27 times and survive and shot once and two occasions there's nobody I'm not being big edded or being bullish or anything but I must have been sent here to do what I do because I go in schools and I do make a difference sometimes it's cheesy but some people are chosen in life to go to the darkest places because if nobody went to the dark places then nobody would create change to try and better people's lives to try and understand that less than a life of crime is a fucking mugs game everybody who I've nu grew up are dead or in the jail and the majority are dead which is scary and it's a constant battle it's just ego it's just something that we create in one mind who we should be and if somebody kind of goes against that then the back can go up but for you to be through what you've went through is I've had many nut cases on this podcast if I'm honest as of at your stories is fucking up where is the craziest if I'm honest and I've heard some ground stories but to be through what you've went through and to be where you are now man again I said at the start I take my heart off to you brother I just try because I don't want to see mothers burying the kids I don't want to see kids burying the brothers burying the sisters I just want kids to live in peace because we go and celebrate when somebody dies saying rest in peace we should be celebrating the life when they're living do you know most kids go and visit the mates a couple of times after they die in a cemetery they never go on they don't know the things that have happened to me I could go on forever it's like I buried my mum I buried my mum five years ago not buried she got cremated by our funeral somebody was shot at my mum's funeral do you know but it's all it all starts from the beginning if you do bad bad things will happen karma definitely if you do good good things can happen since I've been doing good stuff you know what I've had an amazing life not necessarily amazing riches but I don't have to look over my shoulder no more do you know I can walk anywhere I want with no worry whatsoever the only thing that scares me in this world it's not a man with a gun I've never been scared of a man with a gun a man with a knife and that's not me being begetted it's just the way I was brought up that was a life I was either going to live or die the only thing that scares me is cats do you know cats and muffs for a man who likes to pussy I'm sure I'm surprised at that biggin yeah that's a different kind of pussy but yeah cats and muffs do you know so yeah like I said I've won a few awards I've been to Buckingham Palace but I don't do it all I do it to make a difference and show people that if you do bad bad will come back when you're lying on that hospital bed or you're not stretching you're getting put in a fridge you're there on your own you live on your own you're born on your own you're dying your own do you know my mum used to say Darryl you're never going to get killed and I used to think oh you're trying rubbish and she went I'm the person that brought you into this world so I'm the only one with the right to take you out of this world and it always stayed in my mind do you know you're feinting for change which is a great thing so when you were at your mum's funeral who got shot my friend my friend got shot was it planned or was it the after party it was just at the after party it definitely planned it was definitely planned I'm not going to go too much into it but you know it was planned and it happened I promise my mum and everybody I won't go back to jail and that thing called karma do you know karma caught upwards a couple of the people do you know was I cold my night do you know I mean not women colds went out the winter years ago colds went out the winter years ago backing 92 93 someone tried to shoot me outside my mum's house and ended up shooting through the window where my mum was sat with a friend do you know that's when colds went out the window not enough kids and girl friends were in the house yeah didn't add but the same person he was he was apprehended the next day not apprehended he was people seeked out retaliation and he was shot a few times in his chest he survived he survived because looking back then I don't want to have been the person to face his kids later on in life do you know anybody used died whether it's from my estate or the opposite estate I've known them pretty well at some point in our lives and I just don't want them when I go and pass a message to the school kids I tell them straight these guys never died in vain I'm keeping their name alive in order to help you but I've got blood on my hands still I feel guilty when the kids get stabbed in Manchester especially in my area I feel like I should have done more because if I didn't do what I done back in the day the dynamics of life you can't think that way because now you're trying to make the change and you've got to understand people bring it down from their grandparents father brothers it's not just you a whole bunch of boys there just trying to make a name for themselves and you tend to see a lot of people who aren't of you who are involved in a life of crime you tend to see the word bullied or abused when they were younger there's some sort of trauma that triggers that anger and frustration where they want to mask the pain they'll mask it where it's holding a gun or having a knife or going to fight because that gives them a sense of power that they've got some power but really it's a sense of insecurity they're out this man it's a privado so I just go round and doing trying to do my bit like I said I don't get no government funded or anything my mate who owns base security there he's so he's just basically plugging his pals so I'll just plug it so it's base security it's services at Manchester it's 0161 850 9616 we'll plug it what does this do? they support my day out fun but twins they're my principal sponsors we've put all the links to their stuff in that as well there Barrow because what you're doing mate is phenomenal should be proud of yourself so you should so see all your beef in the past is that squash with other people or do you still worry about that I don't worry about nothing I don't worry about nothing and to be honest I've seen I've seen people who shot me before and nothing's happened and people have seen me who have been accused of shooting and nothing's happened is what it is it's all played out in it people realise when they get old it's not worth it don't get me wrong somebody could try something at any point but I doubt they will because nobody wants to go jail for the rest of their life back in the day back in the night is you could go and kill somebody you won't even get a knock on the door you know what I mean but nowadays with the cameras and people out there you're going to go to jail nobody wants to go to jail because you know yourself everyone's a big man on the road but when they go to jail it's a different thing the strongest men become the weakest exactly and if you can't read and write you're in trouble we tend to see a lot of people and then you can't read and write I mean read and write about what I was going to say I spoke to a big guy in the jail and he couldn't read and write a lot of the people who were in the jail for the past couldn't read and write I know you were saying fight but you know saying that you're saying about people can't generally read and write when I was in Winston Green I used to teach people how to read and write do you know I don't know and you tend to see the figures are high in prison or the amount of people can't read and write in Winston Green going back to that time I ended up stabbing somebody in there some guy called me a screw boy I had been moved around all the jails and I thought to myself I'm going to calm down here so I got an education order his job I was collecting registered some guy called me a screw boy and so you know yourself fight calling somebody on nonce do you know I stuck a pen in his neck and in his cheek I had a time I was seeing it I was having an affair with a teacher there and she was teaching the class and prison so she stuck up for me when it come to me a duplication the guy called me a screw boy and he didn't expect me to retaliate like that but he phoned the police he got the jail to phone the police on me yet he's calling me a screw boy but I'm not going to glorify it just letting kids know that things like that do happen people do get stabbed in jail people get killed in jail people commit suicide in jail yeah there's a lot of deaths in jail that go I don't get spoke about enough in my eyes which are longest sentence prison sentence I got eight years sentence my DNA was found in a gun in Liverpool I live in Manchester bit bizarre but the gun apparently had some history to me but my DNA wasn't a full copy DNA it was called a LCN DNA low copy number whereas the people who did it all my bombing years ago had the same DNA and they was found not guilty but obviously because of your reputation your intelligence and so on but you know what I'm not going to act upon about guns and DNA and being innocent and all that because I've been guilty of many of things that got away with it do you know it's just an occupational hazard people might say exactly because if you get wrongly convicted of something you get wrongly convicted of something people will complain but I'm not one of them people to complain for the simple reason every night that I got away with a crime I didn't go and knock on the police station and say arrest me because I've done this did you eat feeten did you get a buzz from it when I used to carry my gun I used to lay it off I used to get an adrenaline rush the buzz I've been known I've been accused I've been alleged to have let off a gun quite a few times one time I was at a club in town I can't admit to anything I was at a club in town that singer Gabrielle was there it was called the X Club dreams came that's what she was singing it went off in there it became a bit of a nightmare it was a shoot out in a club and it was it's alleged that it was the first ever shoot out in a club between two gang members or two people from opposing sides it's alleged that I was an instigator but it's just an allegation and it's not it seems like something for the wild west that's that shit you hear about in the Bronx it's mad because when it was happening I remember it's clear it was people that sat there this is when you could smoke in clubs these people that sat there and these two people shooting at each other not moving, just stood there sat down on the stairs smoking so through all that Darrow everything you've went through the stories what's your plans for the future? where do you see yourself, what do you think you do? my plans for the future is just still doing what I do in schools, colleges, universities youth clubs trying to reduce these deaths on the streets because you know yourself youth violence has gone through the roof and if I don't do it nobody's going to do it so I think everybody has to come together people like me with a bad with a bad past lived experience need to go into schools and educate if they want to make money off it they can make money off it but I don't do it to make money I don't make a difference so I'm going back down the school route I do a lot of school work this week I've been in Carlisle I've been in Sanbach also there's talks about there's talks about doing my life story there's talks there's a publication company that's what I speak to me I'm also one of the biggest publication companies in the world but if I do publish a book I'm also going to publish it myself good on you if you need any publishers I can put you on to a few when you can speak to them you've got to be careful because there's people trying to fuck you left right in the centre a lot of times people want to do life story but not giving editorial rights to me do you know it's your story I've got something coming out on the 27th of January it's called crime and we tough enough part of as I do some work on TV with my barrister my ex barrister who used to defend me we're still very close so the future I'm not going to say the future is bright but I want to make a brighter future why were you around so many prisons why were you in 19 different prisons because of the trouble you were causing I was anti authoritarian fighting the screws not necessarily fighting the screws the screws was getting buckets of shit thrown over them and things like that nothing to do with me but it was alleged that I used to kind of like control certain aspects of the jail like the drug supply in certain jails and with drug supply come addicts willing to throw shit over people and piss yeah so fighting as well they just couldn't contain me they couldn't control me whatsoever but I thought I could beat the system the system system can't be beaten it's like I go into schools and I tell youngsters the system can't be beaten they are now unnamed because rules and regulations are there to keep us safe especially in school and some of them 19 times 19 jails I went to some of them 4 or 5 times going back and forth because they wouldn't have me staying in one 2 days 5 days but you know yourself that when you go to jail and you got a reputation you got people from other cities with reputations trying it but you've also got screws trying it try to test you most screws wouldn't but you always get the one when he's backed up with 20, 30 people Tom Hardley as well you met Buckingham Palace he was there as well how did they all treat you everyone was alright with me everybody was shocked at I survived what I've survived everyone was nice everybody was respectful things like that it's mad because we started obviously Clarence House is a Buckingham Palace it's the Queen Mothers the Queen Mothers residents won it and that was my mum's favourite Royal so I took some of my mum's locks of air and just dropped them all around around there so yeah it was good so your story Darrow is like I said before it's fucking nuts man it's nuts but you should be proud of yourself do you feel how do you look at yourself now do you feel proud of what you're doing I still put myself down sometimes I feel proud but sometimes I feel I've not done enough because I was willing to take people's lives I was accused of taking people's lives and do you go and see anybody now pardon do you go and see anybody now it's shameful I feel shameful of what I was willing to do in the past knowing what I do now do you know what the only way I get over it is because everything happens for a reason and the dynamics of my life has brought me to the place I am today if I didn't get shot on that day so that's how I come to terms with it but I'm not proud sometimes I get a little bit lifted about something but I think I need to do 100,000 people this year within 12 months 100,000 kids educate 100,000 kids and I think I might be proud after that you should be proud of anybody that makes the sacrifices and the changes especially the life you were in it's very hard to difficult to come out and anybody will tell you that it's been involved and a lot of people talk shit let's be honest a lot of people talk they talk but don't really walk it a lot of people talk shit I've had a lot of people on the show people have made changes but I can see yourself you want to make changes in your try not balance it out but if you've done wrong in your past you want to do good because like I say you do good then you will attract good it's like I've mostly done more bad than anybody in Manchester I don't offer anything but people hold it against me but I've mostly done more good than anybody in Manchester as well I've worked with over under 80,000 people in 8 years 9 years do you know so I try to look at the positives at what I've done what's your daily routine like now it's hectic no two days are the same I'm in a school kids home foster carers with social workers no one day is the same when I leave here now I'm going to go to a semi independent house and do some shifts there so I'll leave you and I'll go there and I'll be there till Sunday then I'll go to the boxing I've got some boxing I'm going to on Sunday afternoon do you know it's not so it's it's not a bed of roses if you've got to keep busy yeah I try to keep busy and then it keeps a mental health away so I try to keep busy but you're not always busy don't forget 90% of my work is done for free if it wasn't for the twins and base security I won't be able to get to these places you need to start valuing your work now putting a price on your knowledge putting your price on I know it's difficult if you want to do good then you feel as if maybe you're trying to help everyone but you still need to look after you as well and keep you right yeah I'm going to try and practice so what's your social media as well so in case anybody's got any books or documentaries that you want to get involved in what's your social media Instagram's is dweits nvr2l8 and it's the acronyms for d it's never too late to show people it's never too late to fix your life up and things like that my twitter is dpl2310 my linkedins darrel laycock yeah that's it you're going to start doing your own stuff on youtube? yeah I've got it what's your youtube channel I think it's called your life matters send me the links anyway and I'll put everything in the description for people to get involved you want to do interviews or just tell your own story not necessarily I want to do a bit of everything but more so it's about raising awareness so our youngsters can see that they can't believe they can't achieve they can't do this instead of having to follow people going and grafting and all obviously if there's a bad road there's a good road a lot of our kids they need empowering they need governance they need male role models darrel for coming on today big man and telling your story I'm grateful and I'm genuinely rooting for you to keep striving and making change would you like to finish up on anything? I just thank for having me and if you've got a longer spot next time I assure that we could do something again listen anything you want back on just let me know and it's done then I could do I could put a timeline of where everything went of where everything went because we were in Newcastle earlier we had a couple of guests then we drove straight here and you've got work so you need to shoot it's an absolute pleasure and I do I'm wishing you all the best God bless