Reformed gangland criminal to share life story and finding religion

John Pridmore, the infamous former London gangland enforcer will be sharing his amazing life story in Galway City tonight (Monday).

He turned around a life of drugs, organised crime and corruption and now travels the world warning children about the dangers of gun and drug culture.

At 7pm, he will be in St Joseph’s Church, Presentation Road, as part of a Parish Mission.

“I was baptised a Catholic, but never brought up as a Catholic. At the age of ten my parents divorced and I made an unconscious decision not to love anymore. This led me into a life of drugs, organised crime, power, and corruption.

“At the age of 13 I had started stealing. By 15, I was put in a detention centre. When I left home after having been released, my only qualification was stealing, so that’s what I did.

“I was a ‘face’ in the crime circles of London’s East End. Yet with all I achieved in that life, my life was meaningless.

“At 19 I was in prison again and because the way I dealt with my pain was with anger, I was always fighting. They put me on 23-hour solitary confinement and I came out of there even more angry and bitter.

“I liked fighting so I thought I might as well get paid for it! I met some guys who seemed to have everything and I started to work for them. Before long I wasn’t working for them, I was working with them. These were the guys who ran most of the organised crime in London.

“I had what I thought was everything. Money, power, girls, drugs the lot. But yet there was something missing. This struck me more than ever, when I thought I had killed someone outside of a nightclub I was working at.  After nearly taking that man’s life, something incredible happened and my life began to change.

“I ended up at a retreat where my life was changed. I came to a deep understanding of Jesus’ love for me, through the sacrament of confession.

“After I met Christ in a personal way, my life began to change, and I ended up working with Mother Teresa of Calcutta and now I am a full-time evangelist and founder of the St. Patrick’s Community,” he said.

John has recently returned from Washington and Canada after speaking at international conferences and speaking to thousands of young people in schools and prisons.

Since then, he has travelled internationally personally speaking to over 2.5 million people warning kids about the dangers of the gun and drug culture.

At 6’5” with a shaved head, the 52-year-old looks more the hard man than motivational speaker but he leaves a deep impact on the young people he meets.

On the back of his bestselling biography ‘From Gangland to Promised Land’, he has released his latest book entitled ‘Journey to Freedom’.

In it he delves into the theme of inner awareness and healing and speaks of his work with young teenagers and ex-gang members into becoming important members of society.

Recently John travelled to LA to meet Paul Kelmenson, the Hollywood producer who was responsible for the blockbusters ‘Ronin’ and ‘American History X – he wants to bring his story of hope to the big screen.