‘I never thought I could stop shoplifting and taking drugs’

He would steal pretty much anything he could sell on from shops, predominantly in north Birmingham, becoming a known offender, and also travelled up and down the country stealing.

“I was burgling houses. I was shoplifting constantly. I was even cultivating cannabis at one point,” he said.

“It was just crime. I never, ever thought to get clean. I never thought I’d be able to live a normal life.”

At the age of 33, after about 20 years of offending and addiction, he was approached by PC Stuart Toogood from West Midlands Police to join a new programme to help him change his life.

Central England Co-op funded his rehab place, and he completed 12 weeks and some months in aftercare but subsequently relapsed, PC Toogood said.

Mr Kelly slipped back into crime and went to prison, but the officer stayed in touch with him and eventually got him back into rehab in 2022.

This time it worked, and he moved to a recovery community in Derby and marked two years clean in December.

During that time he started working for the programme that helped him – Offending to Rehab in Nottingham – and Clean Slate who help people with substance misuse as well as mentoring people like him.

“I’ve started to to find my true passion, which is helping other people, but also now businesses as well that I used to steal from,” he said.