Children in Need: How being stabbed saved County Lines teen

Wes CunliffeWes Cunliffe

Wes was only a teenager when he first got involved with County Lines - needing money to support his family

Getting involved in drug dealing was the only way 13-year-old Wes Cunliffe could see a way out of poverty.

With younger siblings to support, the money enabled him to buy them clothes, food and pay the bills.

But Wes, from Pill, Newport, soon came to the realisation "nobody wins" in the County Lines game - and almost died after being stabbed by a rival.

Now a group community leader for the St Giles Trust, he helps other young people escape the drugs world.

Growing up "poverty-stricken" in the most deprived area of Newport, and brought up by a mother dealing with her own issues, Wes said money became a "driving factor" in order to provide for his siblings.

"With the issues that were going on in the home, for me I felt I had no choice. That was my only way - you legally can't work at 13, 14, I can't do that," he explained.

"At that age I was mum and dad to the siblings really."

As Children in Need donations raise millions of pounds for young people across the country, Wes said organisations like St Giles needed the funds to help stop exploitation and grooming.

"We work with young people and adults who are identified as at risk," he said.

"We're giving them the positive support, the positive choices to make to walk away from that lifestyle."

'I see the world through their eyes'

Wes, pictured left, now helps young people escape the lure of drug-running

But for every young person who walks away from County Lines, another is ready to take their place, he said - and that's why his and the team's "lived experience" is so crucial.

"I walked out of it and there was someone else [who] walked into that position straight after me," he said.

"We're not psychologists, but what we can do is we approach it from a lived-experience point of view.

"When we go and work with these families and young people and I tell them my story and my background, I get it, I see the world through their eyes.

"Lived experience is so important… to give them tools, give them knowledge of what this could actually look like."

'No-one wins'

For Wes, this experience involved being attacked and stabbed - and seeing the effects on his family as he lay in hospital with 14 stitches, having narrowly survived.

"I remember my grandparents' faces at potentially losing their grandson. I seen what that put them through, I seen what they went through, I seen the aftermath of that," he said.

"Whether it's with serious violence, worst-case scenario fatalities or getting a long prison sentence, either way it doesn't end well. No-one wins.

"The reason it ended well for me was because of the doctors."

As an athletic youngster, Wes had been used as a runner to take drugs and money from one place to another - and could leap over fences at speed.

After channelling his natural ability into sport as a rugby player, Wes was able to walk away from the drugs gangs and surrounded himself with new friends and a healthier, safer environment. But he knows it is not easy for other youngsters.

"With the young people that we support, they are being exploited, they are being put at risk, they are being groomed, it is being glamorised to them and we need that support, always," he added.

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