A Bristol man is using his turbulent past to prevent others from turning to a life of crime, gaining a huge TikTok following for his honesty about the dangers of substance abuse and breaking the law. Paul Simmons spent half his life behind bars off and on as he battled addiction, but is now using his story to stop others following the same path.
The 44-year-old was brought up in Lockleaze with his mum and stepfather and says during the early years of his life, he was exposed to domestic abuse before being taken from his family home at age nine and placed into a residential boarding school. It was there he said he fell victim to abuse himself until he eventually left at 16 with his GSCEs.
The Bristol-born father of two, who now lives in Swindon, said he was “unwilling” to return to his family home after coming out of the social care setting and voluntarily made himself homeless in Bristol. He found himself living close to the city centre where he would squat inside a St Pauls flat, and begging for cash in the infamous Bearpit.
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He said his life really began to spiral when he was introduced to heroin and crack cocaine later while inside a Gloucestershire hostel in his late teens. “I had never taken it before in my life and I didn't know what it was but I was a messed up kid who didn't understand what was going on inside my head. I went crazy over it,” he added.
He said the years that followed saw him commit a string of offences including a robbery charge and he was sentenced to two years inside a young offenders' institution in Portland, Dorset. He said once he was released he fell straight back into a life of crime and substance abuse through the late 90s and early 2000s. “I went from begging on the street to having an imitation firearm threatening people,” he added.
In 2004 Mr Simmons was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for convictions of robbery, attempted robbery, GBH, ABH, kidnap and firearms offences, in a case that was reported on the front page of the Bristol Post at the time. Following his release, he says he stayed in a hostel in Weymouth for 10 months before returning to his criminal ways which resulted in a nine-and-a-half-year EPP (extended) sentence of which he served seven due to recalls by probation.
He said in the years that followed he fell in love with his partner Zasha Mcgregor but found it hard to quit his drug addiction, and unfortunately landed back inside the prison system. "Even when my head was crazy when I was using, I knew I wanted to get myself sorted," he added.
While at HMP Dartmoor he passed a degree in health and social care from the Open University after being helped by the prison education trust (PET) which funded his degree and the books needed for him to study. He also worked with Dartmoor education, Shannon Trust and Storybook Dads.
He said his self-recovery program stemmed from his ability to avoid substance abuse which has taken him a long time. He said following the prison 12-step programme (support groups for people battling a variety of destructive behaviours, including substance use) has "never worked for him" as it felt like he was "taking on the addiction of other people".
But in 2019 he said his partner gave him an ultimatum to either change his ways or leave. Mr Simmons is no stranger to sleeping rough on the streets and living in car parks but said "being faced with losing everything" he had worked so hard for was not worth it and he knew what he had to do to break the cycle. "Something just clicked in me," he added.
Mr Simmons now has an NCFE level 2 award in mentoring and for the last three years, he has been on a mission to share his story of redemption with others to "show that the worst of addicts can do a complete turnaround and make a positive impact in the world". He has 12,000 TikTok followers who tune into his live morning and evening sessions to listen to him speak.
He added: "I am not your average TikTok user who monetises from the platform, for me, it's about giving people information." Mr Simmons says he has a large number of UK and American base listeners with an almost equal split male-female ratio visiting his Pauldrugmentor account.
Mr Simmons is a huge Bristol Rovers fan so calls his community 'Recovery Rovers'. "I worked with the Bristol Rovers Community Trust BTEC students, the Kickstart program run by Bristol Rovers and I'm in talks with the local schools to see how I can help the children avoid county lines and all drug-related behaviour," he added.
Today, he is "living his best life" after finding a place in society where he can encourage others to turn their life around. He said: "When I was homeless in Broadmead all I ever wanted was someone to love me and to have a place to call home.
"Now, I have that dream and I am able to use my past as a warning to others who are on the edge of wasting their lives. I am living the best life with my partner Zasha and my beautiful boys Frankie (eight) and Lindon (six) and being able to help others is amazing."
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