EX GANG MEMBER:‘WE’VE FAILED A GENERATION’

Gavin Mckenna grew up on estates in London and joined a gang at the age of 13. Now 28, he runs charity Reach Every Generation and is married with two children.

He says, “I turned to the gang lifestyle because of my traumatic childhood. My mum and I had to escape domestic violence and were forced to move to rough estates in London where the only male role models around me were drug dealers. I saw a man get stabbed when I was ten and, by the time I was a teenager, everyone I knew was carrying knives. I was scared and knew I had to learn to protect myself, so I carried a knife too – a reason many young people are still carrying weapons.

“Friends of mine have been murdered or stabbed. When I woke up each day, I knew there was the possibility I could be dead by lunchtime – someone once tried to stab me, aiming for my heart. By the time I was 19, it was all too much and I was depressed, so I got in touch with Colm Whitty, who runs Air Football across London, Essex and Kent – a charity for disadvantaged adults and young people. He took me under his wing and gave me a place in his organisation.

“I also moved out of the area, so I could get a clean start, and joined a church – which helped me find faith. Now, I want to be a positive role model and show kids that it’s possible to get out of gangs and make something of your life. I’ve lost too many people to knife crime, so it breaks my heart that it’s still on the rise. I feel like we’ve failed a generation.”