Celtic fan who spiralled into gangs, drugs and jail speaks on cycle of violence (2025)

"I want to help break the cycle and show people that you can change your life no matter how dark it has gotten.”

A Celtic fan whose life spiralled into gangs, drugs and prison has opened up on how he broke the cycle of violence.

Billy Lafferty was just 13 years old when his uncle James McGhee, the man he called his “father figure”, tragically took his own life. The loss sent Billy into a downward spiral of street violence, substance abuse and eventually a jail sentence.

In 2020 Billy from Cranhill, Glasgow, was sentenced to 12 months for a serious assault. It was during his time in HMP Addiewell he began to reflect on his path and the choices he was making.

Now aged 29, he told the Record: "As I got older, after my uncle passed, I started falling into the wrong crowds. I began getting involved with drinking in the streets, taking drugs and gang violence. That lifestyle followed me from when I was 16. My life was chaos and madness. I was getting the jail every weekend.

“I saw a lot of things and people in prison. It made me realise that this was definitely not how I wanted to spend my life. I said to myself that there was more to life than getting the jail every weekend and getting full of drugs.”

But the real turning point came in November 2021, when Billy’s son Blaine was born.

He continued: “The biggest change in my life was when my son was born. I want to be a positive role model for him so that when he grows up he can break the generational cycle of violence that boys in Glasgow fall into.”

Billy credits his uncle James, the man who once took him to Celtic games and for showing him what a father should be.

He said: “My uncle and I became really close because my father was not on the scene. He really stepped up. He made an effort to take me to every Celtic game he could. Just days out in general whether that was football or the circus.

“He wanted to show me what a positive male role model looked like, which I never had elsewhere.

“It’s something that I take inspiration from now that I have my own boy. I know how much a boy needs a fatherly figure in their life and he showed me that.”

The Daily Record's Our Kids... Our Future campaign aims to highlight and end a spate of horror attacks on young people across the country.

The campaign has also recently raised the importance of young men having places to go in the community and to have access to positive male role models, similar to what Billy found in his uncle.

It came as youth experts warned toxic masculinity is on the rise among young men in Scotland in the wake of harrowing Netflix drama Adolescence.

Meanwhile, Billy is now preparing for the challenge of a lifetime - a 900km walk from Glasgow to Amsterdam this August. But it is more than just a physical journey.

He added: “I am doing this challenge to honour my uncle James McGhee and to raise awareness for men’s mental health.

“In this day and age too many men suffer in silence. I want to help break the cycle and show people that you can change your life no matter how dark it has gotten.”

He’ll walk alongside friend Connor Schofield, with the journey expected to take around 45 days. “We looked at the route to just getting the ferry over to Amsterdam but we wanted it to be the hardest of challenges.”

Through a GoFundMe campaign, Billy is aiming to raise £10,000 to support men’s mental health charities.

To donate to his fundraiser, visit his GoFundMe page - https://www.gofundme.com/f/walk-for-james-900km-for-mens-mental-health.