A former St Albans burglar who began committing crime when he was 14 years old has recently turned his life around through a unique Herts police crime reduction programme.

Following intervention from ‘C2’, the man, who is now working in the building trade, has not committed an offence since January 2011.

C2 is a three year programme which aims to give prolific criminals, usually with some form of addiction which drives their criminality, the opportunity to put their lives of crime behind them.

It is run in partnership by Herts Constabulary and probation services along with drug services and other third party agencies under the direction of the resident judge at St Albans crown court.

The 36-year-old, who cannot be named, was given a community order in November 2011 after admitting all his offending and showing motivation to turn his back on a criminal lifestyle.

At a court appearance in 2011, following his arrest, he pleaded guilty to two burglaries in Hatfield and St Albans, which took place in August 2009 and January 2011 respectively. He also asked for a further 32 offences to be taken into consideration.

The man said: “I am very grateful for the help and support I was given by the C2 team and am now in full time work and feel that I have real prospects in life.”

Det Sgt Joady Ealham, who runs the programme, said: “C2 project is not a soft option. If candidates don’t comply with all the stringent conditions of the programme, they face the order being revoked and going to prison to serve their sentence.”

She said of the reformed man: “He took on board the help available from a number of agencies and worked very hard to battle his addiction, which was causing his offending. Previous victims of his criminality know that the person responsible has been dealt with and he can influence other prolific criminals about the choices that are available to them.”