A MUSICIAN who turned his life around after a near-death experience now hopes to help inmates at Thorn Cross prison to break free from the cycle of crime.

Joshua Francis, from Cambridgeshire, travels to Warrington around every three months to host a one-hour concert for prisoners at HMP and YOI Thorn Cross with the help of chaplain Shawn Verhey.

The 44-year-old said: “It started about five years ago. I woke up in hospital in Surrey with liver failure.

“I decided to rethink my life and realised what a silly man I had been.

“As I started to get better I started writing songs.

“Despite the fact that I was physically frail on account of my endeavours it’s not too much for me to travel to Warrington to show the men that it can be done and that they won’t have another chance in their lives to have no distractions and really think about it.”

During the concert, Joshua sings religious, original and rock n roll songs and invites prisoners to get involved with the production and performance.

After struggling with an alcohol addiction for 22 years ago, Joshua was left fighting for his life in a coma.

He had to learn to walk again and rebuild his life.

“There were a lot of obstacles along the way and I had to reinvent myself to create a musical legacy to reflect my new self and take it on the road when I felt well enough,” he said.

“That time is now and I offer myself as an example to the chaps in prison of what not to do and tell them where I went wrong.

“If you told me six years ago what I would be doing now I would have laughed at you. I would have thought it was ridiculous.”

But now Joshua is determined to make the most of his life.

“I have nearly died several times and then you realise all the scrapes you have been in and you are still here,” he said.

“I’m here for a reason and, for whatever reason, I haven’t done it yet so I better get on with it.

“I want to instil hope and ambition – providing it’s a good one.

“They are going to be confronted with reality again and it may not even be the same one that they left.

“It depends how long people have been inside.

“After being drunk for two decades, I woke up from that self-induced condition and the world was not remotely similar to the one I left – it had changed.

“Then I realised the biggest culprit was me and I realised what a calamity that was.”

For more information visit facebook.com/joshuafrancisthegoodlordprotector.