A Bermudian in Britain who turned his life around after years of crime has told the story behind his change of heart.

Tyevon Bean, 29, told the Hull Daily Mail of his arrests and prison time in Bermuda and England.

He admitted a charge of affray in Hull Crown Court in February after he was caught waving a BB gun around on a busy street in the Yorkshire city in 2017.

He was sentenced to 180 hours of unpaid work as part of a 12-month community-service order.

Mr Bean, from the Bransholme in Hull, said he had joined a church group at the city’s Trinity Methodist Church, and had backed a campaign against knife crime in Britain.

He said he had been arrested in Bermuda “multiple times” and came to a “dark time” in his life when he arrived in Hull in 2014.

He added: “Everything felt like it was going wrong in my personal life.

“I wasn’t getting the jobs that I wanted, I didn’t have a place to stay and I was struggling financially.”

Mr Bean said he had had a good upbringing, but that he had struggled with mental health problems and had fallen into “making stupid decisions and not listening to anyone”.

He said he was 22 when he “woke up in prison and had a dream that I was free and thought, ‘What am I doing with my life?’”.

Mr Bean added: “People say you cannot change overnight but I felt I could.”

He later met Mo Timbo, a pastor, who he said was “instrumental” in the creation of the #NoMoreKnives campaign, and started going to church after his last arrest.

Stabbings and knife crime have surged in Britain in recent years.

Mr Timbo, from London, was a stabbing victim when he was a teenager.

Mr Bean is now a member of Mr Timbo’s church and has joined the #NoMoreKnives tour of schools in East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire.

He said that his mission was “to be the best man I can be”.

Mr Bean added: “I still have struggles, particularly during seasons like Christmas, my son’s birthday and Father’s Day when I should be spending time with my son, but I speak to Mo and the church and the youth group there and they help.

“They’re all really strong and I get advice and tell myself, ‘You can do this’.”