A fraudster who was jailed has now opened up about how he has turned his life around.
Daniel Fox, who went to jail seven times, said he saw "the worst things happen right in front of me" in his childhood, reported CoventryLive. Daniel went to jail after he duped three victims into believing their relatives were in immediate danger and demanded huge sums of money.
He used equipment to make his victims believe that the calls came from the mobiles of their loved ones. When sentenced at Leicester Crown Court, the defence said Daniel, from Coventry, was not in a "stable state of mind at the time of the offences" and was in a "vulnerable situation".
It was then heard that Daniel had been a "model prisoner" and had helped others, becoming a "trusted role model" in the prison environment. Now 32 and a father-of-two, he hopes to help others who had the same problems that he had faced as a child.
He said he had been to "hell and back" during his life, struggling with addiction and criminal behaviour as well as a difficult family life. He said: "I got moved around to so many different areas all around Coventry.
"A lot of stuff happened to me when I was a child which affected my mental state - doors always being slammed, my house always being smashed up and burgled. I grew up surrounded by violence and corruption.
"From when I was a kid, I suffered from mental health problems because I had no-one. My whole family rejected me except my grandparents.
"I have received racial abuse and been bullied from a young age and rejected by most of my family. Drugs, violence, I have seen the worst things happen right in front of me."
He said he had attended 12 different schools and had excelled at sports, until an accident which led to further mental problems. He explained: "When I was going through this trauma, I used to play for a football team called Whitley Abbey and I played for them for around 10 years.
"But then when I was at a behavioural school for children, and because my life was so distraught I wasn’t naughty, I had just become the clown of the class, and my concentration wasn’t there. I never used to be able to concentrate very well because of what was going on at home and I was always starving so I never really cared about school."
One day at a PE lesson Daniel broke his leg and lost his place on the football team, which "broke his heart". Tearfully, Daniel continued: "It was like the only thing I had back then that was a day away from my mum because of all the trauma I was dealing with. I lost my place in the football team and it caused me to be depressed and become insecure about myself as I piled on a lot of weight.“
As a teenager he worked on a "party boat" at the Coventry Canal Basin. He said: "I used to work on the little party boat that used to go up and down the canal.
"The man that used to run it was called John. I used to help the families get on and off at Coventry Canal Basin, but I used to love it because he used to give me food and it was cool as I felt like a had a place where people needed my help and support even though it was only helping people on and off the boat. I loved it."
But after an incident with his mother, Daniel had to relocate to Northampton. He said: "When we moved there, I met this guy and I just knew that he was a Godsend. He taught me how to play basketball and also introduced me to his church where I came to find God.
"This man used to cut my hair and do patterns in my hair too when I was a kid. I loved it. He was like a role model for me, as a father figure. He taught me how to play basketball which later I went on to play for the Northampton Pythons."
He was offered a scholarship but had to reject it due to lack of cash. He said: "I had a scholarship offered to me to go to Nottingham to play and then when the scholarship was offered to me I could have gone to America, but I had no money at the time and my mum could not afford much back then anyway as it was, so I missed my opportunity to go there which broke my heart.”
He then became involved in criminality, and people in the prison system weren't interested in why he was struggling. He explained: "Psychiatrists were speaking to me about my problems, but none of them asked me what my true problem was, they did not want to know. I said to them I will always keep committing crimes if you do not help me address my issues, and that was to try and help me take care of the inner child that was abused. And that was always being missed."
Despite the trauma he suffered, Daniel has forgiven his mother, who also changed her life and is now a Minister of her Church. Daniel said: "She changed her life and has seen a miracle.
"I left prison with an addiction and felt myself falling into the same patterns of behaviour with the same people coming around me."
Daniel now wishes to "change the hearts of young people". He is now working with troubled children, some of whom may be facing the same problems that he did.
Speaking about one child, Daniel said: "He was ‘effing and blinding at his mum and dad and they have been suffering in pain for so long and I thought you know what this kid reminds me of myself when I was a kid."
He helped the boy to channel his anger with music and art. He said: "So I spoke to this little boy, he is 13, and he made a visual for my CD cover, and the kid has edited it and has been doing confidence-building and vocal training in the studio that I have built."
Daniel now also runs a barbering academy, Ace of Fades, and teaches music to children. Some has been featured on BBC Radio 1 and Hills FM.
He said: "I teach people how to cut hair, I sponsor six kids' football teams in Coventry, I am a role model now for other people to try and help them change their lives. I feel like my time has come to give back to the world and those that may need my help the most."
