Out of the Box - The Story of Leroy Smith

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His then partner agreed, she supported him financially for the year it took to write the book and helped him with parts of the text. I was nervous,” James explained. “[I thought] was I doing the right thing? Did he genuinely want to redeem himself? And was he genuine?” He said: “I looked at Leroy’s life and what happened to his mum, the area he was brought up in and temptation of selling drugs and having all that money.

I know this sounds cruel or whatever, but people trying to kill people shoot [for] their head,” he continued. “When you shoot people in their leg, that's not trying to kill them, that’s slowing them down so you can do what you want to do.”When he encountered the policemen in 1993 he was on the run from jail having escaped while being transferred from Leicester to Brixton Prison under arrest for gun charges. Leroy is Founder of the initiative, Out of the Box Community Effort, which targets young people in inner-city communities. His charity is dedicated to encouraging youngsters to avoid a life of gang inclusion, crime and violence and instead, look towards enrolling in education to ultimately achieve a safe and prosperous career path. My mum was murdered when I was two [and] growing up in South London with my nan I was always going to turn to crime, what else are you going to do?” Leroy said. As he was travelling across the Atlantic his prints were being pulled from the weapon in Brixton. Not only that, his accomplice had been captured and was giving evidence against him. But from the moment they met both were assured of the other's intentions, James said he could tell straight away that Leroy regretted what he did.

Mr Seymour who retired from policing in 2014, said the harsh upbringing and the racial inequalities Mr Smith faced, made forgiveness the only option. So he has written a book, Out of the Box, and he hopes to speak to community groups and schools about the mistakes he made, and how to avoid repeating them. Being shot might have altered James’s sense of danger, but it didn’t mean he was suddenly going to seek out Leroy and become his friend.

FORMER pop star Leroy Smith - a member of 1970s chart-toppers Sweet Sensation - has died, aged 56, alone in his flat.