'Every young person needs a reality check about carrying knives'

FORMER GANG MEMBER TELLS HOW HE WAS GROOMED AND KIDNAPPED

- By HAYLEY PARKER

"I WANTED to be a gangster." These are the words of a young man who was just 13 when he was groomed by criminal gangs on the streets of Staffordshire.

Soon, the man - who does not want to reveal his identity - was carrying a knife as he tried to fit in with others in his neighbourhood.

He said: "The signs must have been there but at the time I just didn't realise it. I surrounded myself with the wrong crowd, people who weren't interested in an education and making something of themselves."

It wasn't long before he was skipping school and getting into trouble with the law.

"Social media and music fed into the whole thing, glamorising knives and the idea that carrying a knife was somehow cool," he added.