From a 1991 interview:
'I liked to steal. Other kids would take a packet of crisps and a bar of chocolate. I would lift ten packets and twenty bars. Even then I was different. There were three of us - Nasty, Sticksman and me. The Three Musketeers - it was my favourite film, the one I could relate to most. We moved uptown. Oxford Street. White Ladies' handbags, the shops, whatever took our fancy. We dipped in and out. I say this not to glamorise that time, that crime. It was wrong, but I was young...'

'I was suspended (from school) so many times. Eighteen times in one year! Eighteen times! I was put into care then. But still I continued my boisterous ways. Detention centres meant nothing. At fifteen I was pulling in maybe £700 a week when the average wage packet was £60. I had the works - Italian shoes, mohair suit, money to catch taxis back to Peckham at £15 a shot. You see, we'd steal things - £80 sunglasses, designer shirts, silk ties, the best trousers - and sell them for a quarter of the price in Peckham. We were well known, for I was always fair with the goods we'd stolen. Robin Hood, y'know. My heart was good. It was just the circumstances which were not acceptable.'