Future brighter for ex-inmate on Telford and Wrekin Council scheme

Thomas Newton said on other occasions after leaving prison he had slept rough or shared homes with other drug users

A former prisoner said a council housing scheme had helped turn his life around and keep him away from drugs.

Thomas Newton, from Telford, said he got into crime in his teens and by the time he was 21, he was stealing to feed his drug habit.

Now 29, he was released from prison in March and Telford and Wrekin Council offered him a flat to live in.

"I have wasted so many years and I want the next few years to be nice," he said.

'Stealing from family'

Mr Newton said he started taking drugs when he was 15 and hanging around with older people who were stealing and taking drugs.

"I should never have got that far where I was having to steal off people especially loved ones like my family," he said.

On previous occasions when he was released from prison, he said he ended up sleeping rough or sharing houses where people smoked crack cocaine or were violent.

When he was released in March, Mr Newton said he was at a bail hostel in Walsall when a woman he knew at Telford and Wrekin Council offered him accommodation in Newport.

"Staying out of [Telford], away from my old associates has helped massively but I think having my own space, somewhere to build my own and not just a house share has been a massive help as well," he said.

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The council has bought 13 empty or disused properties through its Next Steps Programme to give former rough sleepers their own home.

Councillor David Wright said they were given a minimum 12-month tenancy and support, adding it was "no good just throwing a set of keys at somebody and saying 'carry on'".

"Very often they cannot sustain a tenancy because they have no experience of doing that or they have a fairly chaotic lifestyle for a range of reasons, so they often need intensive support," he said.

Mr Newton said he had remained off drugs since leaving prison and wants to get a job after Christmas as well as seeing more of his daughter.

"I do not want to be suffering or taking drugs and I do not want to be in and out of prison," he said.