From Prison to Premiership : The Amazing True Story of Britain's Hardest Footballer

Few footballers have 'Jailhouse Rock' played over the PA when they make their professional debut, but that's what happened to Jamie Lawrence when he came on as a substitute against Middlesbrough in 1993. In a life that has seen him go from prison cell to Premiership, Jamie has one hell of a story to tell. In his long career, he has faced some of the world's best players (including David Beckham), won the Liverpool Cup with Leicester and even played for Jamaica in the World Cup qualifiers. But his path to footballing stardom has been anything but conventional. Jamie's natural skill with the ball was evident from an early age, playing for local teams in Battersea as a schoolboy, but when his parents returned to Jamaica when he was 17 he fell into a life of petty crime. It was back in the UK, during his second spell in prison, that he was spotted by a scout when the prison team played a local, semi-professional club. Three months after his release, he was signed by Sunderland.