‘I turned schoolkids into gangsters in 2 weeks’

A FORMER gun-toting gangster has told how he used to turn schoolchildren into drug runners in just weeks.

Matthew Norford, 35, was head of Manchester’s feared Rusholme Mandem gang but turned his back on crime after his brother was stabbed to death in a botched robbery.

He said: “I could groom a kid to be in a gang in two weeks, it was easy. I would put them in the car with me, let them touch my gold chain, smoke weed and give them £50.”

He quit when brother Gary was killed. The community worker, who has a bullet lodged in his leg, said: “Those boys could have been footballers, doctors... not gang members. Now I’ve got a chance to make a difference to other kids.”