Kirsty Smallman talks to a former criminal who is making a fresh start

At the age of 13, Kevin Offland started his criminal career by shoplifting. Within a few years he was a £400-a-day heroin addict, funding his habit with daily burglaries across the county.

Now aged 30, Kevin has spent much of his life on the run from police, in and out of prison and looking for his next victim to fund his addiction – even stealing from his own family.

Mr Offland, from Woodside in Telford, admits he has stolen property worth “hundreds of thousands of pounds” in burglaries to fund his addiction, and even committed burglaries when he has had enough money in his pocket for his next hit.

But after finishing his most recent jail sentence, he has been clean of drugs for 23 months and says he has finally turned his life around.

He knows, though, that his every move will be watched by detectives in Telford as he is one of the criminals on the new Prolific and Other Priority Offender list in Telford. A team of five detectives which form the new PPO team are working to stop repeat criminals offending again.

The PPO team works with the probation service and other partners to help rehabilitate offenders.

Mr Offland has revealed his story as police across the county crack down on burglars, thieves and drug-fuelled crime through a new Home Office initiative – Operation Protect.

He says he had a difficult upbringing, turning to shoplifting at 13 and smoking cannabis at 15, and was the father of a baby girl when he was 18 – she died from meningitis when she was two.

“As a teenager I started to rebel and got into more trouble – theft and criminal damage and then went down the wrong path after the death of my daughter.

“I made a choice to use drugs to hide the feelings I was having. I was using Ecstasy and speed and then heroin not long after the baby died and that took away everything – it sort of numbed me.”

Mr Offland’s first spell in prison came when he got caught after going on the run, failing to appear in court for a string of theft charges. He was sentenced to six months for theft and assaulting a police officer.

Admitting his new life is the one he should have taken as a teenager, he says: “Every time you come out you say it’s going to be a clean sheet, and I did try. I started going down the right road because I had two boys but then my partner and I split up and I didn’t see the boys and I started dealing with it like I did when I lost the baby.”

At 21, unemployed and homeless, Mr Offland was using up to £120 a day of heroin – all funded through crime.

It had escalated to fraud and deception as his drug habit spiralled out of control. Despite several failed court orders, suspended sentences and, as he admits, “more than enough chances”, he was back behind bars.

Despite becoming a father again, more attempts to “get straight and clean” failed and the drugs “took control of me”.

“I was using unbelievable amounts of drugs – probably £200 to £300 a day of a heroin and I was doing massive amounts of burglaries to pay for it. In six weeks I’d done 48 burglaries.

“I fell into a pitfall – your family don’t want to know you and the only friends you’ve got are users and criminals. I was using drugs to the degree I knew I was either going to die or be killed.”

Another jail term of 27 months still failed to force him into giving up his life of crime. A rehabilitation order lasted just seven days and on the first night out of jail, while living on the streets, he took a massive heroin overdose.

“I didn’t think there was anything to live for. I had given up on life itself, but not necessarily in a suicidal way. Every time I got out I said I was going to change but being homeless made it so much harder. I think it’s very difficult for the general public to accept people who have come out of prison and have been involved in crime for so long.

“The only thing I knew was my old life and my old friends and I fell back into that again. I was arrested by Shrewsbury police but I had already spiralled out of control – I admitted to 37 burglaries.

Opportunity

“It was 2007 and I was using more drugs than I had ever done before. Sometimes I was doing two burglaries a day – it was all opportunity thefts – laptops, jewellery, TVs. It got to the point where I would take anything. I’d be walking down the street with a TV on my head. I became very greedy with it, taking more than I needed.”

In 2007 he served his last jail sentence – three years behind bars – where he vowed to get clean and change his life forever. Nearly two years on, he as done just that.

Desperate to show his remorse, Mr Offland says: “I’ve stolen hundreds of thousands of pounds of stuff but it’s not just the goods, it’s the damage I’ve caused to people. You cannot put a price on the damage you cause to the victims.”

While in Shrewsbury’s Dana prison, he started going to chapel, had counselling to deal with his childhood problems and the death of his daughter and for the first time accepted the support.

On his release he was given finance through the Chapel for his private accommodation, helped by volunteers at the Salvation Army Kip Project to set up his home, and is now looking forward to helping other youngsters stay out of trouble through Wellington-based scheme Nacro.

Talking about the new PPO team at Malinsgate Police Station, Mr Offland says: “Coming off the drugs was the hardest thing imaginable because like anyone giving up something there’s always thoughts there, especially at difficult times, but with PPO there’s the coping strategies and support.”

He said he was now back in touch with his family. His sister, Donna, 33, who was one of his many burglary victims, had been his “rock” since coming out of prison.

He is now also enjoying being a father to his five-year-old daughter every weekend.

His next aim is to get off the PPO list of 22 offenders and complete courses to be a fully trained counsellor and support teacher.

“It’s been very, very difficult but I’ve turned a corner and I’m pushing really, really hard to get off the PPO list. I’ve reached the three month mark with probation which I’ve never done before.

“But I’ve got so many regrets for things I’ve done and the victims I’ve left behind. If the PPO scheme hadn’t been set up I wouldn’t be where I am now or as strong as I am now.”

Detective Constable Simon Edwards said people on the PPO list had the support of home visits, joint meetings with probation and the opportunity to talk to officers about certain issues.

“If the people on the PPO list continue to re-offend, the PPO team are in a better position to ensure that they go back to prison and are dealt with more quickly. All credit goes to Kevin because when the PPO team started with him he had got himself housed and started the process of employment.”