LIFE has been far from plain sailing for Jamie Lindsay, with many of his darkest moments - by his own admission - coming as a result of poor personal choices.

Having been kicked out of school and on the streets from the age of 13, the Pennyburn boy got caught up in a spiral of petty crime, substance abuse and drug dealing whilst growing up in Bourtreehill.

Spending years in prison over several different custodial sentences, Jamie’s high points have been tempered by extreme lows; from childhood abuse and neglect, to being stuck on the wrong social path, handcuffed to drug dealers and hooked on methadone.

Now aged 43 and living in Kilbirnie, the reformed criminal has documented his decades of offences and mistakes, along with some of his fondest memories, in a recently-published diary, titled Bouncing Back.

“I’m not fully recovered but I’m nearly there,” he told the Times.

“I decided to write the book during lockdown, as I had diaries from my time working in Holland.

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“It’s stuff that you don’t want to tell people, and it feels like there’s a lot of weight off my shoulders now and people can just read it and not need to talk to me about it.

“I am proud of how I’ve bounced back from where I was a few years ago.”

Jamie, who has been out of prison since 2007, admitted he has plenty of regrets that he must live with every day, and said drugs fueled his life of crime.

In his hard-hitting book he is not shy in sharing details of his illegal exploits, revealing he felt like he was “living the life of Riley” after becoming a successful drug dealer, and recalling one occasion when the lifelong Celtic fan scammed former Rangers chairman Sir David Murray out of £90,000 through cheque fraud.

However, his main motivation in releasing the frank account is to help steer other youngsters away from similar situations.

He said: “Kids need to know that they’ve got choices in their life no matter what their background is.

“Don’t look up to your peers and think that’s the best way of going about things.

“Avoid drugs and avoid gang fighting because the only place you’ll end up is in jail or in a morgue.”

The book can be bought on Amazon here, with all proceeds going to the Celtic FC Foundation.

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