‘One-man crimewave’ turned his life around
After 30 years of trouble, once notorious crook now wins awards for helping others stay out of jail
A FORMER “one-man crimewave” who chalked up more than 200 convictions to fund a drug addiction and once lived in a bin has been rewarded for helping crooks to go on the straight and narrow.
Ian Sparshott, 64, spent around 30 years in and out of prison after becoming a notorious shoplifter in Brighton from his teens into his 40s.
He spent time in borstal before getting his first jail term aged 21.
Over the next 27 years he did time in every prison in London, bar one.
He said: “I made many mistakes from a young age and I spent a lifetime in incarceration and drug addiction because of those choices.”
Ian comes from a good family and was doing well at school until taking the wrong path.
He said: “I fell in with the wrong crowd and did my best to imitate what they were doing. Before long I’d chalked off every prison in London apart from Brixton.
“I was a drug addict. First it was cannabis, then opiates, heroin, crack cocaine and amphetamine sulphates. To feed the habit I became a habitual shoplifter and racked up 200 convictions. I was a one-man crimewave.”
He became locked in a cycle of prison, then drugs and life on the streets, then back to prison. He said: “I slept under Brighton station, at Gatwick airport, in a laundrette, squats, on a boat and ended up in a green bin.”
He recalled: “Once I was hooked in, I met my peer group and looked up at the wrong role models. It’s hard to describe the magnetic way it captures you and embraces you.
“You have got no one else apart from your own peer group. As soon as you come out of prison your first thought is to get a can of beer at the next shop.
“Then unfortunately for me it was to go and get a £10 bag of heroin, as I was overwhelmed by life itself.”
Aged 48, as many of those around him died, he had an epiphany. He said: “I figured out I was either going to end up dead, in a bedsit sipping cans of beer or doddering around as the prison librarian. “None of those options appealed to me.
“Of those I was knocking around with, most have died. My lifestyle was an extremely high-risk strategy.” After an appearance at Hove Crown Court, he was accepted into rehabilitation. After a decade of being clean he got involved with Hampshire and Isle of Wight Community Rehabilitation Company to act as a volunteer mentor supporting people on probation to quit drugs and stay out of prison.
His work with the company, over the past few years clocking up 700 hours of service, has now bagged him two prestigious awards.
Last month, he received a commendation from the Butler Trust, which promotes best practice in the prison, probation and correctional facilities sectors. He also received the top accolade for volunteering in the Criminal Justice Service category in the Safer Awards, run by Hampshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Michael Lane.
Ian said: “I wouldn’t wish my journey on anyone, it was no way to live.
“But it has given me the experience and contacts from the agencies I’ve worked with over the years to help others.
“When I meet people on probation, they know I’m not faking it when I talk to them.”