‘I used kids to sell my drugs, now I save them from gangs'

‘I’m helping turn lives around, that’s more satisfying than any money I made off drugs’

- SCOTT HESKETH

A FORMER gang boss who groomed children to be drug mules is now a powerful police weapon in the fight against County Lines crime.

Matthew Norford, 37, rose through the ranks to become a chief drug dealer, raking in up to £2,000 a day.

He recruited youngsters, showering them with clothes and cash before sending them away from Manchester to sell crack and heroin.

It was only when his brother was stabbed to death in a botched armed robbery in 2011 that the dad of four turned his back on crime.

He now helps steer vulnerable children away from the violent life he once led, and works with the officers who arrested him while patrolling the streets of the Moss Side district.

But Matthew warned that bigger challenges lie ahead as the County Lines gangs become more ruthless.

He said: “They’ve become more violent. Kids are getting raped, young boys having their manhoods taken away and they’re terrified of their attackers.