A former gang leader is joining Sir Richard Branson on a hiking, swimming and cycling challenge from Switzerland to Sicily. Karl Lokko, 26, left the gang scene in Brixton, south London, five years ago and now devotes his time to helping young people reform their lives. Describing his time in the gangs, he said: "It got really hairy at one point, to the point that I used to leave my house with a bulletproof vest on every day. I still get pains today because of it. "I was cut on my face at 14, stabbed in my chest the same year, I got butchered in my back at 18 and shot at several times." But he began to see things differently when a fellow gang member's mother came to his aid. He said: "Step by step my mind began to change and see that life is bigger than Brixton. "When I realised that gangsterism isn't an acceptable way of living and that it was actually a deception, I had to tell everyone about the lie. I went everywhere and I said basically, 'Look, I love you but you've been lied to'. "That was my full-time job - I did that seven days a week, 12 hours a day, literally in every kind of surrounding. It had a really big effect." Mr Lokko became involved in Big Change - a...
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