A man who spent eight months in prison on remand after he was arrested at age 16 has started a business designed to steer people away from a life of crime.

Leo Burgess, 25, has launched Beyond The Stars Elevation to help youngsters and adults beat problems and “become the best version of themselves”.

He said: “I’ve been through a lot and I want to help little boys going to the streets.”

He added: “I want to help the youth see past today and tomorrow, past their circumstances and understand that it gets better.

“I want to help them discover what they want to be and help them pursue it.”

Mr Burgess, then 17, was cleared of aggravated burglary and possession of a firearm in Supreme Court in 2011.

He had been accused of being part of a four-strong gang who raided a former jeweller’s home in Southampton and of stealing $65,000 worth of jewellery. He spent several months in prison before the trial.

Mr Burgess said: “That jail experience was the wake-up call for me.”

He added: “When I went in there, that’s when I picked up my Bible and I started reading and understanding life.”

Mr Burgess said: “When family came to visit me, I had to watch them leave. I saw who truly loved me, seeing them leave from the window of my cell hurt.

“When I came out, I said I am not playing around any more. I am going to make something of my life, pursue my dreams.”

“I made a decision that no matter what it took, I would turn my life around.”

Mr Burgess said he grew up in an unstable environment and fell in with the wrong people, which led to his arrest as a teenager.

He added: “There were good times, but there were challenges.”

Mr Burgess said his mother had worked three jobs and suffered problems as the single mother of four children.

He admitted: “At 11 years old, I used to wish I was never born.”

Mr Burgess added that he was devastated when his two younger brothers were taken into care by family services.

He said: “In my mind no one was there for me, so when I became a teenager I started looking to groups that I think could provide me with a sense of belonging, of family.”

He felt a sense of self-worth when he got into fights.

Mr Burgess said: “I was searching for something — people praised me when I did wrong. I used to run the streets, sell drugs, drink alcohol before I even turned 16.”

Now that he has managed to turn his life around, he wants to help others to do the same.

Mr Burgess said: “I wanted to be the one who broke the cycle in my family.”

Beyond The Stars Elevation offers mentoring for young people, one-on-one coaching sessions for adults as well as group coaching.

The company’s services can also be accessed online.

Mr Burgess said his business was in the early stages, but that he had plans to help at-risk young people avoid criminal activities.

He has joined with other life coaches from around the world to create his online platform.

He said services would be offered at low cost because often the people who need them most were least-equipped to pay.

Mr Burgess added: “It’s not really a financial target. It is about helping people to release that gift and to become the best version of themselves.”

He added: “I want people to be fully empowered to live a life by design and not one that’s subscribed to them.”

Mr Burgess added that he wanted to leave a legacy where “every time people think of my name, I want them to be inspired to dream, act and believe in themselves”.

Mr Burgess, who plays football for Somerset Eagles and is a youth-team coach, is also working on a book, The Blueprint to Effective Dream Chasing, to outline ways to achieve success, based on his own failures and the lives of inspirational figures.

• For more information, visit btselevation.com.