Mentor who rejected violent past hopes book will leave legacy

Ben Butler recently won an award for his work mentoring and trying to deter young people away from crime and violence

A man who has worked to turn his life around after serving time in prison for violent offences has written a book, saying he wanted to leave a legacy for his children.

Ben Butler from Shrewsbury has described being involved in "postcode wars" with people in other parts of the town, describing pre-arranged fights involving baseball bats and knuckle dusters.

He admitted he "became someone that was just constantly violent and angry," but added that counselling and his own young family had helped him "turn a corner".

Since 2017 he has been working with schools, the police and Telford and Wrekin Council to educate young people and hopefully deter them from violence.

Recently he received a Second Chance Achiever Award for his work, which he said "was quite an honour".

• Listen on BBC Sounds: Ben Butler on becoming a mentor

Mr Butler said he had had a difficult family life and started getting into trouble at the age of 12 or 13.

He said he remembered waking up some days and thinking "God, how am I going to cope today? I feel so miserable."

Ben Butler now works with children to help them make "better life choices"

At the age of 16, he was sentenced to 42 months at Stoke Heath Young Offender Institution for violent disorder, affray and Actual Bodily Harm.

Mr Butler started having counselling at the age of 24 and said the turnaround was "not easy".

"You don't just switch it on and off though, do you? It takes a while to change your behaviour," he explained.

Mr Butler has been receiving counselling for 11 years now and said the birth of his children also persuaded him to change.

"I knew that I needed to be a better father," he said, but added that it had been a struggle to drag himself away from trouble.

Since then, he has set up New Generation Coaching, to give coaching, motivational talks and mentoring.

Mr Butler is now 38 and leads groups in Shropshire secondary schools, in a part of the country which he said had many of the same challenges as urban areas, including racism.

He said his aim was to "help children and young people to make better life choices".

He added that one of the reasons for writing the book was to reach a bigger audience and hopefully help more young people.

Mr Butler said he now felt happier and calm, but it was still a "work in progress".

I've been told I need to just take every moment as it comes, because at the moment it's my time and I need to embrace it," he said.

His book, Misunderstood, is due to be published on 8 December.