By the age of 12, Richard Hall was already living a life of crime. The Wiganer spent his first six years being raised by his parents, who were addicted to heroin.
He says he witnessed regular violence in his home before his mum died. Yet Richard faced further physical and mental abuse after entering the care system, and before he had become a teenager, he was drinking and taking drugs.
It was the traumatic start that would set Richard on a path to self-destruction. But after being saved from a motorway bridge, the war veteran has turned his life around, the Liverpool Echo reports. READ MORE: Join the FREE Manchester Evening News WhatsApp community As a youngster, one of his brothers joined the army and his other brother sadly took his own life.
Richard remained in Wigan where he went down a very dark and dangerous path of crime, drink and drugs. He said: “People talk about having difficult upbringings but mine was as difficult as they come.