Teen on the wrong path who turned his life around wins award named in memory of Bulwell man

Realising he could end up in prison, Jahlil Kumar, aged 15, overhauled his life after a knock on his front door by police officers made him re-evaluate his life.

He is now revising for his GCSEs to achieve his goal of working in electrical installation and becoming an entrepreneur.

And his efforts have now seen him awarded this year’s Lyrico Steede Award – named after the Bulwell teenager who was killed in 2018 – which recognises a young person who may have been involved in gangs, knife crime, or any other form of criminality but has turned their life around and is now an inspiration to others.

Keishaye Steede, Lyrico’s, mother chose Jahlil as the winner of the category and will present him with the award at a ceremony at the end of April.

Jahlil said: “I didn’t want to be having a friend reunion with people in jail.

“There was a lot going on in my early years, my dad was in and out of jail a lot and I started being around the wrong crowd you could say.

“My life started to collide a bit and that caused me to start acting out, to be honest – I wasn’t going to my lessons, I was messing about, smoking weed, all sorts.

“But I realised growing up that a lot of the people around me were either in jail or they were in some mad situations and quite sad situations, so I didn’t want to be like that.

“It was the turning point when I got arrested in school – I was 13 and CID came and picked me up.

“It made me realise the allegations they were accusing me of were quite serious and I didn’t want to be sitting in jail at a young age and wasting my life.

“Things started to change when I met my support worker Stephen last year as I had a referral after I got stopped in a car with a friend.

“We’ve been working on a lot of things, anger issues, communication, being more confident in communicating, and building on basic skills.

“Now I want to go into electrical installation, get my degree in that and then go into property development and get myself on the property ladder, all while maintaining a reselling business as well.

“Coming from my situation, coming from the bottom, the only way is up and that’s where I see my future.”

Stephen, who nominated Jahlil for the award, said: “A referral came through because Jahlil was caught in a car with an adult and he was smoking weed.

"The adult was known to the police, so we met because of that, as I work with children who are at risk of exploitation, youth violence, weapon crime and anything to do with drugs.

“The first thing I did was build a relationship and he came in bouncing full of energy and you could see he had charisma.

“He’s done amazingly over these last 14 months, I’m so proud of him.

“He could be anything he wants now, an entrepreneur, the world is his oyster.”