'GOING TO PRISON WAS A TURNING POINT... I KNEW I HAD TO MAKE A CHANGE'

Chauncey Taylor has turned his life around after being jailed for his part in a county lines drug operation in Cardiff

- LYNN RUSK

A FORMER drug dealer who served a prison sentence for attempting to supply Class A drugs in Cardiff is now supporting vulnerable young people through sport after turning his life around.

Chauncey Taylor was 21 when he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his part in a county lines drug operation in the Welsh capital in October 2020.

Mr Taylor, who served less than a year of his sentence, said his time in prison was a “massive turning point” in his life and inspired him to make a positive change.

Now aged 25, he has returned to sport having completed a coaching apprenticeship.

“Rugby was my main sport growing up. I got to play for school, county and even academy level,” Mr Taylor, from Crawley, in West Sussex, told the PA news agency.

“Unfortunately, I got released from the Harlequins Academy when I was 16, and being released at that age was really disheartening.

“I gave up on the sport, which was sort of the turning point for me in my life, which led me down the wrong path.”

Mr Taylor went from playing rugby five to six times a week to having too much free time on his hands.

“I started hanging around the wrong sort of crowds. One thing led to another, and I started getting just more and more involved in criminal activity. This was from when I was about 16 to about 20,” he said.