My dear friend ..Duch Pete ...53 ..an inspiration to all.....
(you can find him on you tube )..
"Thalidomide victim Ray "Duch" Peter was born with two club feet and underwent numerous painful operations as a child to have his legs straightened. As a result he has had to walk with crutches for most of his life.
But this didn't stop him from becoming a criminal known as "The Regulator" selling guns and drugs.
The former gangster, from Lewisham, south-east London, said he has now turned his life around with a mix of martial arts and music.
He hopes his story, told in his autobiography, "A Fighting Chance", will have a positive impact on young people by teaching them to stay away from crime.
"The prison system saved me and I have now moved my life on."
"Guns, drugs, you name it, I've done it," he said. "In fact, it's better for me to tell you what I've not done."
"But I am not proud of what I have done but I feel that my story needs to be told.
"I wrote the book because I wanted to put back into society what I had so dearly squeezed out.
"I wanted to put together a message together for kids to say that prison is not cool, it destroys and takes away years of your life."
Mr Peter, who is now married with four children, walks with the aid of crutches and £4,000 splints, made from titanium.
He spent most of his childhood in care and most of his adult life in prison for various offences.
One of the "worst moments" of his childhood was when he spent time at Princes Lodge in Limehouse, east London, which he described as for "down and outs".
"It is where I came across all sorts and basically got caught up in a world which I couldn't escape from," he said of the place, now called The Mission.
Between the ages of 16 and 35 he spent nine years in some of Britain's most notorious jails, including Belmarsh Prison.
But the turning point in Mr Peter's life came when his son told a teacher he was going to get his father to shoot him when he got reprimanded at school.
"I was in prison at the time and when I heard this I was so ashamed," said Ray.
"I decided that I was not going to allow my son to be a gangster. I knew I had to stop what I was doing."
Although he had an unhappy childhood, one of Mr Peter's best memories was being looked after by a family from Singapore and became a karate expert.
As well as martial arts, he also has a passion for music.
He formed a band, Harlequin, 18 years ago and now hopes to land a record deal.
"I want to show disabled people and everyone really that there is a fighting chance.
"There is life after prison. If I can do it with my disability, anyone can do it," Ray said.
Mr Peter feels prison has given him another chance.
"The prison system saved me and I have now moved my life on," he said.
"I'm ashamed of my past but my life is now brilliant.
"I'm enjoying life, I have been given a chance, and I'm going to make the most of it."
