Before his conviction, Andy was a manager in a mental health charity responsible for sending staff and volunteers into the community to support people suffering from phobias.

Andy received 2 sentences of 4 years to be served concurrently for his crime and was near his release date of July 2006 when he made his presentation to Startup at HMP Wandsworth on setting up a gardening business.

Looking back on his time spent in Wandsworth Andy reflects that being in prison, for him, was not all bad. “You are given the opportunity to really reflect on your life and what you are doing with it. Once I accepted that the only reason I was there was entirely due to my own selfishness and that I was there because I was guilty, I just buckled down and made the best of it.” Andy regrets the pain his sentence caused his family but feels that he came out of prison a better person, and father, than he went in. “And I was one of the lucky ones – I still had my family waiting for me.”

While in prison Andy looked around for worthwhile activities to fill his time. He found what was on offer to be limited but embarked on a gardening course. Additionally, many of the courses that were generally available to inmates in the main part of the prison were not open to those on his special wing. Unfortunately the gardening course was withdrawn as there was not enough student uptake to justify its continuing and he enrolled on a Business Course in the education department.

Andy believes his love of horticulture came from his mother who was a keen gardener and being on the course in prison allowed him to develop a creative side of his personality that he had never really explored. Embarking on the business course gave Andy the germ of an idea that perhaps he could combine his love of gardening with earning a living and starting a new life on the outside.

Andy sought help to develop his ideas and approached other outside organisations for help. “Startup came along and unlike some other organisations they were really hands on in their approach. They really made it easy for me by coming into the prison. Making contact with them before I left Wandsworth was very helpful.”

On leaving prison Startup helped Andy to get his business off the ground, firstly by introducing him to a peer mentor who has been successfully running his own gardening business since leaving HMP Standford Hill in 2005. Startup then bought Andy essential equipment including protective clothing, a rotary mower and hedgecutter.

His business is now up and running and Andy remains in touch with both his Startup business adviser and mentor. Even in winter, when Andy expected business to be slower he is managing to find additional work in patio cleaning, recycling and planning planting for the spring. “I’m doing OK and making a reasonable living. I’m very happy with that state of affairs.”