Tony Argent (above) has led a violent life, even by the standards of most professional criminals, but today he is trying to put his violent past behind him and become a functioning and contributing member of society. The trouble being that Tony was recognised as an asset from a young age by older criminals and was used by them to terrorise and intimidate rivals. Now older, wiser, and with many years wasted in prison and the pursuit of crime, he wants to make sure that no other gullible kids go down the same route that he did. Inside Time were lucky enough to get to speak to Tony and get his take on life, prison, and how to break away.

Tell me about your early life.

Well, I grew up in East London, Custom House, Silvertown, the old East End really. We lived in poverty, like a lot of people on that manor. We had very little money and were always in debt, it was pretty sad really. My best memories when I was a kid was Christmas, we always had a good Christmas. But there was also violence sometimes.

When did you start your criminal activities?

When I was as young as 10. I was what we used to call ‘ducking and diving’, trying to survive. I was always hungry, so I used to mug people to get a few pence to spend on food. We had nothing and I’m not proud of some of the things I did, but it was a matter of either starving or doing something about it. At around the age of 14 I was knocking about with a little gang of like-minded kids doing burglaries on launderettes, club houses, just nicking a few quid. I had got into boxing at the age of 12, so I could handle myself and violence always seemed to find me.

Were you arrested?

Loads of times, got fines that I couldn’t pay, and Probation, but none of that put me off, I think now that I was severely depressed and my violence was the outcome of that. I was sleeping rough and every day I was having fights, I even started mugging people on the underground and nicking their clothes! I couldn’t afford all the designer gear that everyone was wearing so I nicked what I could. It’s pretty embarrassing when I look back on it now. When I was 15, I got nicked and sent down for a DC (Detention Centre). I went to Hollesley Bay.

What was that like for you?

It was a cruel world with a serious bullying culture. I got beaten by the screws, which led me to hate authority. They were grown men who spent their careers bullying and beating kids. I don’t know how that was supposed to make us better people, all they did was perpetuate our violent lifestyles.

So that didn’t put you off crime?

Nope. I got out of DC and in short order I was doing wages snatches, fighting … the same old. Pretty soon I was nicked again and sent to Borstal. I’d only been out of DC for 3 months. I went back to Hollesley Bay but this time on the Borstal side of the jail. By the age of 18, I had built myself a serious reputation for violence. I was just continuously committing crime. I got into nicking van loads of loot, stuff that was easy to sell. I never really settled down, I loved the life of crime and chaos, but I was depressed at the same time. I started getting into drug dealing, coke. Then I got 3 years for Affray/GBH. Then 6 years for attempted murder. By the age of 23 my reputation for violence was so bad I was ‘minding’ pubs and taking on older villains. I was a bit of a nightmare.

Tell us about your life sentence.

Well, I don’t really want to go into detail because, you know, out of respect for the fella’s family. But I will say that at the time of the murder I was in a very dark place; I was disillusioned with life, I was challenging some of the so-called ‘gangsters’ and finding that their reputations were just bullshit. To cut a long story short, I was convicted of murder and the judge gave me a 20-year rec. Later, the then Home Secretary Jack Straw increased it to 22-years. I was now at the stage where if someone had a go, I could not respond verbally – I just went straight on the attack. I was a very angry man.

You ended up going to Grendon, how was that?

I absolutely hated Grendon…but I needed it. The staff were brilliant, the amount of tolerance they had kind of inspired tolerance in me. Grendon gave me a chance to slow down and look at my life, to see more clearly where I was going wrong. I now believe that they should be teaching kids about therapy in schools, get them early before they go off the rails and teach them about empathy, it could save a lot of kids from going down the same dead ends that we did.

What is life like for you these days?

I’ve got a YouTube channel – Bullet Productions. I talk about a lot of stuff from this life that people who have never been through don’t know about, and try to put kids off crime, knife crime in particular, and stop them wasting their lives.

What advice would you give to those still in prison?

Educate yourselves, study, and always believe in yourself. Change is possible – even when you are at your lowest. Part of being a man is being an honest man.