Grandfather changes name to Mick Jagger to escape past plagued by gambling addiction
Rob Setchell spent the day with Jagger to hear how he has turned his life around.
A recovering gambling addict who legally changed his name to Mick Jagger to escape his past says more needs to be done to tackle Britain's betting problem.
The 62-year-old, known as 'Jagger', spent decades on the streets after placing his first bet on a horse race when he was just 12.
His addiction cost him hundreds of thousands of pounds. He now owns almost nothing. His family has disowned him and he has never met his grandchildren.
"I've had plenty of low points when I've thought it would just be better to end it all," he told ITV News Anglia.
"I've had flats. I've had jobs. I've lost them through gambling. I spent more time in the betting shop than I did at work.
"I never paid my rent or my bills because I always gambled it away.
"Desperation is when you're on the streets and you've got no money. You're living in skips, picking things out of bins just to survive."
Jagger was living in a tent by the Leeds and Liverpool Canal when he came across the homelessness charity Emmaus.
Five years later, he lives at the charity's base in Ditchingham, Norfolk, where he looks after the garden and allotment. He hasn't gambled in 18 months.
"When I was younger I used to look on the floor to see if I could find a fiver or a couple of quid," he said. "Now I look in the sky at nature.
"Now I'm not gambling, I'm a new person. Just because we suffer with addiction we're not bad people.
"This place [Emmaus] has brought the best out of me. I've started saving now. I can go out and have a coffee now. I can go to town and buy stuff.
"Before I was just existing. I wasn't living."
The NHS in England has seen a steep rise in demand for support for gambling addiction.
New figures from the Gambling Commission also reveal that rates of problem gambling could be much higher than previously thought.
The Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB), which questioned almost 10,000 people, concluded that 2.5% of adults have struggled with problem gambling.
Campaigners and charities insist a "bombardment of betting advertising" is contributing to the rise. Jagger says he still "fights" the urge to gamble every day.
"You dream about gambling," he said. "It's all over the place. It's on the radio. It's on TV. Football is run by gambling advertising now.
"We have got an issue with gambling and it's increasing year on year."
Jagger is joining three other residents at Emmaus in taking part in a 450-mile fundraising walk from Wales to Norfolk.
They hope to raise £360,000 to transform part of the Norfolk site - an old 19th century convent - into a social enterprise bed and breakfast.
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