A FORMER drug addict has credited volunteering with helping to turn his life around.

Martin Elliott, 54, is currently in charge of distribution for Sue Ryder Care charity shops across Essex, based at its premises in Century Drive, Braintree.

Prior to that, he managed the charity's shops in Clare Road and Panfield Lane, Braintree.

Life now is far different to just a few years ago.

Mr Elliott was just 15 when he started committing crime to support his drug habit, which included amphetamines and cocaine.

However, he decided to tackle his addiction when he began his last prison term a few years ago.

He was jailed for six-and-a-half years for possession with intent to supply drugs and it was while in prison that he came off the drugs.

At Hollesley Bay open prison in Suffolk, Mr Elliott was offered the chance to do voluntary community work at a Sue Ryder Care shop in Hadleigh, Suffolk.

It was part of the charity's prisoner volunteer programme, which aims to increase the number of volunteers while helping prisoners gain the skills they need to find work and stop re-offending.

"It was good. I really enjoyed it. The ladies were lovely. It was a bit frightening, a bit daunting, but after two years in prison you're shut away and they literally dumped me in Ipswich with directions to Hadleigh."

After prison, he tried applying for paid jobs - he had been a trained butcher - but his prison record put employers off.

But he managed to get a job with Sue Ryder Care in Clacton, where he worked two days paid and three days voluntarily as store manager for about a year.

Mr Elliott has worked for Sue Ryder Care for around three years now across the county and he has found customers and fellow staff to be accepting and supportive.

"My circle of friends was all criminals and people taking drugs. But all of a sudden you are interacting with people who haven't a clue about drugs.

"You're questioning yourself to give them an answer and I was always open and honest about it," said Mr Elliott, who lives in Suffolk.

Mr Elliott, who met his partner Jennifer Miller through his work with Sue Ryder Care, said working is now his "new addiction."

He hopes the charity's prisoner volunteer programme will expand to help other ex-offenders like him change their lives around because he said inmates enjoy working and prison does not offer enough rehabilitation to help them rebuild their lives for the better.

"I'm not proud of my past but it's what happened and I'm more proud of what I've done now," said the father of three.