Street Boys: 7 Kids. 1 Estate. No Way Out. The True Story of a Lost Childhood. Tim Pritchard

      JaJa did what he was told. He knocked on the door of a big house in Brixton. The porch light went on and the door opened.

      ‘Is Stuart there?’

      ‘No, mate. Stuart doesn’t live here.’

      ‘Oh, sorry. Wrong house.’

      Then they would move on to the next house. This time it might be empty. JaJa would stay outside while the others would jimmy open a window and they would come out with everything they could lay their hands on. They’d store it all in a cupboard in someone’s flat, then take it round to George’s the next day. George introduced them to people who would buy the TVs and music equipment. JaJa got a cut each time, sometimes as much as £70. He now had money for weed and trainers.

      That’s when a new thought struck him.

      I thought, this was good. But I also thought I could do this by myself. I don’t really need those guys. I could do this with my friends and get more money for me. I could get more than £70.

      In Angell Town, a school friend of JaJa’s, a white boy named Mark, had noticed JaJa’s new trainers.

      ‘How come you always got all this new gear?’

      JaJa told him about the burglaries he was doing. After school one day the same kid came back to him and introduced him to some older white guys.