"You can't do graft and have empathy." The words are spoken by Mark, as he explains how he felt no emotion as he committed crimes - whether it was holding up a Post Office with an imitation gun, or terrorising families in Asian gold burglaries.
He has just been released from a jail sentence of more than a decade. Since his childhood he has known only one profession, crime.
But, for the first time in his life he now has a job. Aged 39, he is one of 30 ex-offenders who have been given a chance to walk a different path.
They have been referred to a charity based on an inner-city Salford estate. For some it is more of a last chance than second chance. READ MORE: Institutionalised by years - even decades behind bars, and unable to escape the lure of "easy money", the trappings that go with it, and the adrenalin rush of risk-taking, for these criminals the Broughton Trust is their final hope.
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