BBC News: 'Doing time didn't put me off crime'

[...] His first time in a secure unit was at 13. It was to become somewhere he got to know well.

Dale says at first he was nervous, he had no idea what to expect in custody, but the reality came as a relief.

He says: "I got in there and it was basically like Butlins, a little holiday for me," he says. "When I got out I thought it was the place to be, so I came out and I did exactly the same thing and had to go back."

Dale describes how, inside, he had use of his own TV and a games console. Life inside felt more regimented and secure than the outside. He just did not view it as punishment.

Appearing before courts, being arrested by the police, spending time locked up, none of it made any difference to him.

"I wasn't scared of it so it didn't stop me," he says. "I reckon it's just too easy really. If it had been harder for me I might not have gone back." Read more

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