Once Upon a Crime Read Online Free PDF

kicked during a game. In a sense, football was to be my saving grace. The fact that I was a good wee player not only allowed me to win a place in the school’s senior football team but was the factor in my becoming accepted by the other pupils. But it would take me a long time to settle into this whole new environment, with the result being that my school work suffered and my behaviour became more disruptive.
    I got myself on a week’s football coaching course and had trials for both Arsenal and Chelsea, having been selected from hundreds of schoolboys throughout Berkshire. I did well enough but did not respond at all well to the discipline required to make the grade in professional football and another opportunity was wasted. The emptiness I had always felt inside but had managed to hold at bay, came back to haunt me with a vengeance. Looking back it seems obvious to me that what I was looking for was someone to guide me, someone to advise me, someone to show me the way. In other words, a father figure. But I was about to be told some news that would make this a bridge too far.

Chapter Seven
    I n September 1967 I arrived home from school one day to find my da in the caravan. He had managed to get a few days off and I was so glad to see him as it had been quite a few weeks since his last visit. But he and Ma were soon at loggerheads and the arguing developed into a full-scale shouting match.
    ‘Away back up the road to yer old Maw and gie us peace,’ Ma told him. ‘You’re not wanted here and we don’t need you.’
    Hughie said, ‘Look, Sadie. I just cannae settle here with all these yokels.’
    ‘You mean you cannae settle anywhere where there isnae enough drink,’ replied Ma. So Hughie left, and this time it was for good. He would never be a part of the family again. As much as I missed him, it was the first time in years that our home was not a battleground and it became a much happier place.
    Happier I may have been but content I was not and thefeeling of emptiness continued to grow inside me like a malignant tumour. Ma was truly wonderful during these years and she held us all together, but whatever it was I was looking for, unfortunately Ma wasn’t able to provide it. Perhaps nobody would have been able to. I tried to help Ma as much as I could but there was a part of me that just did not care what happened. For lengthy periods all would be well and then I would press the self-destruct button. This would become the pattern in the years to come. Many people were hurt by my behaviour and that is something that I truly regret.
    It was around this time that I lost my virginity. I was 14 years old and on the day that the dog was finally freed from the trap I had been down to the school youth club and I was chatting to a girl from school called Susan. We took a walk out onto the school playing fields and as it was just starting to get dark, we lay down together and events took on a life of their own. Almost before we knew it the deed was done and it was over. I can remember thinking, ‘What’s the big deal?’ and no doubt Susan thought the same. There was never a repeat performance but I will always remember Susan with fondness; she was very gentle with me.
    I started to make the weekly journey by bus into Newbury on a Saturday afternoon to go rollerskating and to have a look around the shops. This was a market town, very different to Glasgow, and I very quickly spotted that it had rich pickings and was ripe for plunder. I was soon back to my old ways and my excursions were very lucrative. I was shoplifting on an almost professional scale, stealing everything from clothing and electrical goods to food.
    There were two main cafes that I would visit to sell my wares and as time went on people got to know me and itbecame that much easier. Before very long I was stealing to order. On a good day I could make as much as £ 20, which was more than the average weekly wage. The secret to this kind of thieving was