Sheldon Thomas (activist)

Sheldon Thomas
Born
Sheldon Sebastian Thomas

November 1964
NationalityBritish
Known forFounder and chief executive of Gangsline Foundation Trust

Sheldon Sebastian Thomas (born November 1964) was a British gang member and is the founder and chief executive of Gangsline Foundation Trust, a nonprofit organisation established in 2007 to provide assistance to young people involved in gang culture, and which also deals with grooming and radicalisation. He has contributed to television and radio and has been involved in work with Scotland Yard and the Home Office.[1]

Early life

1981 Brixton Riots

Sheldon Thomas was born in November 1964,[citation needed] to Jamaican parents.[2] During the 1970s, he was a member of a gang in London.[3][4][5] He later told the Evening Standard “we called our gang the Black Moriah Posse after the infamous Jamaican Shower Posse, but unlike today, we were more concerned with fighting the National Front and racist police than killing other gang members”.[6]

Career

In 1981, he was active in the Brixton riots, and recounted his memoirs in interviews 30 years later.[2][4][7] In 1985,[6] 1986[4] or 1988,[3] he became influenced by Haringey council leader Bernie Grant, and left gang culture.[6] He subsequently gained a Certificate and Diploma in Management and a BA (Hons) in Marketing and Statistics.[3]

Gangsline

Thomas founded and became the chief executive of Gangsline Foundation Trust, a nonprofit organisation established in 2007 to provide assistance to young people involved in gang culture, and which also deals with grooming and radicalisation.[6][8][9] The organisation was incorporated as Gangsline Foundation Trust Limited in 2013.[10]

He has contributed to television and radio and has been involved in work with Scotland Yard and the Home Office, when he was also advisor to Theresa May.[3][11]

Thomas and his wife Michelle are also directors of the associated for-profit company Gangsline Limited from which they drew salaries of £72,443 for the year ended 30 September 2018, the last year for which accounts were filed.[12]

In April 2020, he reported to Sky News that social distancing measures and increased police checks during the coronavirus pandemic in the UK resulted in a change of behaviour in frightened drug dealers, and a reduction of cuckooing activity and county lines drug trafficking.[13][14]

Personal life

He is married to Michelle Stead-Thomas and they have four children.[6]

References

  1. ^ Antonopoulos, Georgios A. (2016). Illegal Entrepreneurship, Organized Crime and Social Control: Essays in Honor of Professor Dick Hobbs. Springer. p. 279. ISBN 978-3-319-31608-6.
  2. ^ a b McCormack, Peter (20 January 2020). "An Ex-Gang Member on UK Knife Crime | Sheldon Thomas". The Defiance Podcast. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d "Founder: Gangsline". www.gangsline.com. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  4. ^ a b c Briggs, Daniel (2012). The English Riots of 2011: A Summer of Discontent. Waterside Press. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-908162-21-2.
  5. ^ Darbyshire, Robyn (17 May 2019). "Former gang member on why London's children are getting sucked into gangs". getwestlondon. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Ex-gang leader: how I was saved from shooting two rivals by a call to". Evening Standard. 20 December 2013. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  7. ^ "Sheldon Thomas: We must nurture a forgotten underclass". The Independent. 14 August 2011. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  8. ^ Wheatle, Alex (2016). Crongton Knights: Winner of the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 978-0-349-00233-0.
  9. ^ HC 199 - Gangs and Youth Crime. The Stationery Office. 2015. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-215-08170-4.
  10. ^ "Charity Details". beta.charitycommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  11. ^ Gayle, Vicky (13 June 2017). "'Gangs are complex' - Former gang members shed light on how young people are groomed and exploited". Clacton and Frinton Gazette. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  12. ^ Gangsline Limited, accounts year ended 30 September 2018, 8 August 2019.
  13. ^ Gillespie, Tom (9 April 2020). "Coronavirus: Gang life 'has stopped' because of COVID-19". Sky News. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  14. ^ Gillespie, Tom (8 April 2020). "Gang life 'has stopped' because of COVID-19". www.msn.com. Retrieved 10 April 2020.