EXCLUSIVE: Ex-gang member from Sheffield admits he was forced to carry a knife from the age of 12
The anonymous teenager has been speaking to us as part of our 'Say No To Knives' investigation
A former gang member from South Yorkshire tells us he was 'forced' to carry a knife when he was just 12 years old.
The teenager-who we've agreed to keep anonymous-is now 19 years old & volunteers at a youth club in Sheffield.
He's been speaking exclusively to us as part of our Say No To Knives investigation.
"I got exposed to bad people from a very early age.
"From around the age of 12 or 13, I was the deepest I could be in that environment.
"I would be given the knife because the gang I was in knew I had a lot of anger built up inside me.
"The things that led me to were very bad. People should never be in that position.
"These older people are controlling and getting these younger people into crime and violence.
"They're using these kids to make it easier for them to commit crime.
"I thought by carrying a knife, I'd get this huge release of anger and all my problems would go away.
"Actually, it just brought more doubt into my conscience about what I was doing.
"The people I was hanging about with were maybe in their early twenties or around that age.
"So, for a 12 or 13-year-old to be hanging around those kinds of people, then something is wrong.
"In everyday life, if that was happening, then there'd be concerns.
"However, it doesn't really get seen as much in that kind of environment."
The teenager decided to leave the gang five years ago after they tried to steal a cannabis grow from another property in Sheffield:
"When we got to the property, the occupant hit me with the bottom of the gun in my nose as soon as I got to the door.
"I then woke up in the back of a van, laid on bin bags full of drugs, with all my nose bust up and blood dried down my face.
"When I woke up from being knocked out, I vowed never to put myself in that position ever again.
"I've not seen those individuals I used to associate with since that night."