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"For me to be alive is a blessing."

Former gangster Darryl Laycock was speaking on his 46th birthday - a milestone he reached against all the odds.

He bears the scars of a man who's been killed several times over, having been stabbed in seven different places and shot an astonishing 22 times.

Most of his fellow gang members were murdered before even reaching 25, but Darryl lived to share his vital message that there's no gain in gang life, only death and suffering.

It's a lesson he's learned the hard way, having watched his friend shot dead in front of him and after spending 12 years of his life behind bars - including at HMP Birmingham.

Accused of stabbings and shootings himself, at one point he was the most dangerous man in the North West and was banned from his hometown of Manchester.

So instead he spent his time on bail for attempted murder with his grandma in Birmingham - the city he called home throughout the 80s and 90s.

Since turning his back on the deadly tit-for-tat violence in 2011, Darryl has spread his grave warning across the UK - speaking to over 160,000 schoolkids.

And just last month, he spoke out against violent crime at the Birmingham Says No event in Victoria Square, as shown in the video above.

Now he says he has plans to return to Birmingham, where he has visited universities, to share his story with schoolkids.

"I left the gang scene behind to make a difference"

"My message is loud and clear. When you go in gangs, it's not your gang mates who come visit you in jail," he cautions.

"It's not your gang mates that pay for your funeral, it's not your gang mates that go to your grave, it's your family. You need to think of your family first.

"Don't do it because you don't have no real friends, no real life, always looking over your shoulder.

"Go and get a job, make yourself proud. I left the gang scene behind to try and make a difference."

As a child, Darryl says he regularly saw violence at home.

"I come from a broken home, I couldn't do nothing at the time," he explains.

"So I went on the streets to escape what was happening at home. I got into the violent side of things later on, tit-for-tat violence."

It started with selling cocaine as a 13-year-old schoolboy and then for years he was an 'instigator' in the vicious gang war in Manchester.

By 17 he had witnessed trauma most could never imagine as his friend was shot dead in front of him in a bakery up North.

Darryl himself was shot at over 70 times, blasted with a gun 20 times in one brutal attack, and shot on another two occasions.

He was also stabbed seven times in a vicious knifing during the gang war in Manchester.

His chest, back, both arms, head, foot, leg and buttocks are marked with the scars of his violent past, but he has his life thanks to a bulletproof vest.

"Nobody gets shot over 20 times on one occasion and stabbed seven times do you know? I don't know how I lived," he said.

"I was shot on three occasions, shot 20 odd times coming back off a date, she was shot twice.

"I've been accused of shooting people. It's been alleged that I've shot people. I've been charged with murder and been cleared of murder.

"I was the most dangerous person in the North West of England, I weren't allowed in my home town."

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He returned to Birmingham throughout this troubled period, including when he was banished from Manchester as part of his bail conditions for attempted murder.

He then served 11 months of a 17 year and 10 month prison sentence at HMP Birmingham - where he was accused of stabbing someone in the face.

"I have friends from both sides of the war in Birmingham but it's nothing to do with me, I don't get involved," he adds.

"For me to reach 46 today when most of my mates have been killed before they're 25, but it is what it is, I've survived. Something's kept me alive. It's crazy. There must be a higher power out there."

The last time he served time in jail it was for possession of ammunition.

He says: "I was guilty as hell, last time I got caught with 500 bullets. It was the best thing to have ever happened to me getting caught, because if they had got back to Manchester, people would have been killed, maimed or shot.

"People would have got shot."

"I was at war, I was at war right until 2011"

The turning point finally came when something tragic happened to a loved one - and they pleaded with him never to go back to jail.

He made a promise in 2011 to leave the gang life behind and deter others from taking the path he took.

"I was at war, I was at war right until 2011," he said.

"It's horrible in jail for the simple reason you've got to live with it, you're away from your family and friends. When I came out in 2011 I made that promise."

But in 2013 his mum, was diagnosed diagnosed with terminal cancer and sadly died. Even as he said goodbye to his mother, the gang warfare went on.

"Someone was shot at the wake of the funeral. It was a gang related shooting," he says.

Now he travels the country, despite having no funding or support from the government, and warns kids of the dangers and consequences of joining deadly gangs.

He says: "I get no help, funding or support from Government & only the twins ARF & Jez from the fashion company twinzz fund me."

Darryl has worked with University College Birmingham and the University of Birmingham, speaking with students who work with 'gang-affected kids.'

"A lot of people go into it because of poverty or from not having father figures. A lot of people go into it to gain, but there's no gain in being in a gang," he said.

"Austerity has a lot to play, living in the wrong area, do you know? Having nobody to look up to, their role models are the guys on the streets.

"A lot of kids go into gangs because their parents don't be parents, they treat their kids as friends. A lot of knife crime it starts from home.

"People blame the police schools colleges, no it starts at home, because parents aren't parenting their kids. They are treating their kids as mates when they should be setting boundaries, learning kids manners and respect."