With the book I wanted to do it properly,” he added. “There are things I am not proud of and I thought that if I have to humiliate myself I wanted to give a clear message about how I got clean and managed to stay clean. There is also advice for parents. My story is in the book to give hope, which is something I desperately needed at the time.” After leaving the Met at the age of 23, Nicholas worked for estate agents in Radlett and Borehamwood but debt forced him to take a job with a property investment specialist in Berlin, who turned out to be part of the Albanian mafia. Nicholas then began drug running for the firm before running up a 40,000 euro drug bill, prompting him to flee to West Berlin. Spending weeks homeless on the streets of Berlin, Nicholas was helped back to the UK by his parents and later got clean through a three month rehabilitation process. He has now set up Help 4 Addiction, an advice centre which gives guidance for those with a range of addictions. Do you need help with an alcohol or drug addiction? Email either nick@help4addiction.co.uk or adam@mynewsmag. co.uk in confidence to have your problem assisted by Nicholas in the pages of My Radlett & Shenley News by Adam Parris-Long