Hampshire man turns around life of crime to help others ditch criminality and drugs for good

During his 20s, Craig Hayler from Southampton spent time in prisons in Winchester and Ford, near Chichester.

But whenever he was released, he was told no help could be given to him in finding a place to stay as he did not meet the criteria.

After years of trying, Craig got support from the integrated offender management team and was subsequently given a place to stay for the remainder of his prison sentence.

In this time, he rebuilt his life piece by piece, and now works in Southampton at the Society of St James - a charity supporting homeless and vulnerable people with accommodation in both Southampton and Portsmouth.

At last week's police and crime commissioner awards, Craig was given the Simon Hayes award for outstanding effort in reducing offending and reoffending.

Presenting the award, Simon Hayes said: 'After completing a successful stay in the integrated offending management house and engaging with Saints4Sport for a number of weeks, Craig started to volunteer for integrated offending management as life-skills and activity co-ordinator and peer mentor. He volunteers 30 hours per week with no pay.

'He has been an inspiration to others and goes above and beyond.

'He takes clients to the gym, to appointments, he supplies advocacy and also teaches DIY skills such as woodwork, gardening, painting and decorating and has assisted the residents of the house with landscaping the garden, building a summer house and completely redecorating the whole house.'

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Craig himself is now fully abstinent from all substances, and lives his life crime-free.

Receiving the award, Craig said: 'First of all I would like to say thank you for the award - it will only continue to reinforce the work that myself and other colleagues do.

'Continuing my role in the house as a positive peer mentor once I had settled in was huge for my progression, I thrived on being positive for other residents and engaging them with activities. Having that sense of achievement was great for my self-esteem and confidence.

'It means a lot in terms of recognition. I was just happy to be nominated.'