McAvoy's Road To Redemption: From Prison Cell To Ironman

Former armed robber John McAvoy is acutely aware he could have become just another statistic -- a criminal shot dead by police on the streets of London after a failed heist in 2005.

Instead, with the help of one of his prison officers, he turned his life around to become a world-record holder in indoor rowing and a Nike-sponsored athlete.

The turning point for McAvoy was when he learned in 2009 of the death of his friend, Aaron Cloud, who was killed making a getaway from an armed robbery in the Netherlands.

"It was probably the most profound thing to happen to my life," the 37-year-old told AFP. "He was the first person who had died who I loved and could identify with.

"The manner in how he died made me confront my mortality.

"I reflected on when I got arrested and how easy it would have been for one of the armed police officers to have shot me if I had made a movement."

It forced McAvoy, in his words to "reset", even though he was still in prison.

The influence of prison officer Darren Davis proved pivotal after he rejected the entreaties of British radical preacher Abu Hamza to convert to Islam.

Hamza, who is now serving a life term in the United States, left a Koran on McAvoy's bed in his cell when both were incarcerated in Belmarsh high-security prison.

McAvoy returned it to Hamza.

McAvoy's journey to a life sentence -- he was sentenced to five years in prison at 18 for a previous armed robbery -- had a certain inevitability about it.

His stepfather, Billy Tobin, was described by McAvoy's lawyer at his second trial in 2005 as "the scourge of the Flying Squad" (specialist police unit) and his uncle Micky McAvoy was jailed for 25 years for his role in the Brink's-Mat robbery in 1983.

"Being a criminal was a way of life and the risk you take is prison," he said. "This stemmed back to the adults who brought me up.

"I was not exposed to Warren Buffett and Richard Branson. My role models were all involved in serious crime."

Meeting Davis once he was moved to a lower-security category-B prison enabled McAvoy to channel all the talents he had deployed in a "negative and toxic" manner in a positive direction.

"We would chat, he told me about his family, and he would bring me books," he said. "It was the first time an adult male had shown interest in me unconditionally rather than a vested interest."

Encouraged, McAvoy became a record-breaker, including holding indoor rowing records for distance covered in 24 hours and the 100,000 metres.

Those records have now been broken but the achievements transformed the way he looked at himself.

"It made me feel like I was not a loser," he said. "When I broke them there was this feeling of an immense sense of pride that I had achieved something with my life.

"I remember that craving as a little boy when money was the benchmark of success.

"Landing on the gym mat after breaking the 24-hour record I felt like that little kid."

He will never forget the reception on returning to his prison wing after breaking the record.

"It was like a film, 20 to 30 prisoners all clapping and shouting 'well done'. They (the inmates) had been getting hourly updates," he said.

Back outside prison, he discovered he was too old for top-level rowing but the gruelling Ironman triathlon event -- involving swimming, running and cycling long distances -- suited his abilities.

He marvels at Nike's decision to offer him a contract -- "I am under the same umbrella as Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Mo Farah" -- and says sport has given him "community spirit" and healthy friendships.

McAvoy is heavily involved with helping young offenders and during the first coronavirus lockdown in England earlier this year sent copies of his autobiography to prisoners aged under 21.

He remains close to Davis, in stark contrast to his relations with Tobin, whom he last saw in 2003.

"It was so sad to see a man I hero-worshipped -- he had been my superman -- suddenly so weak and vulnerable," he said.

pi/jw/dj