VC hero admits he was gun-toting drug dealer

JOHNSON BEHARRY, who became the first soldier in 18 years to be awarded the Victoria Cross, was once a drug dealer who carried a submachine gun.

Mr Johnson, who was 24 when he won Britain’s highest military honour for saving 30 members of his unit in Iraq, admitted to running a gang that sold cocaine in deals worth up to £70,000-atime before he joined the armed forces in 2004.

Now 38 and a father of two, he told The Sun on Sunday: “The Army saved my life. I would have ended up dead or in prison”.

Mr Johnson’s career as a criminal began soon after he arrived in the UK, aged 19, from Grenada, and settled in Heathrow, west London.

He became the leader of a gang of ten based in nearby Harlesden, supplying drugs as far away as Southampton.

“I carried an Uzi in the boot of my black Peugeot 205 for protection, although I never had to use it.”

He said: “The Army rescued me from that life. Two of my friends are dead and two are doing long prison stretches.

“Hopefully, I can help save others from gangs. I’m proof you can turn your life around.”