An ex-offender who was jailed for violent disorder after the London riots, is launching a charity to help disadvantaged young people across Sutton and Croydon.

Scott Valero from Carshalton, along with 24-year-old Omar Sentamu, and 21-year-old Michael Till, is launching the Heal our World foundation.

The charity will reach out to young people either caught up in crime or mixed up with the wrong crowd, and will engage with them face-to-face to help turn their lives around.

Mr Valero, 22, who has served time in a young offenders institute and an adult prison, took part in ITV show Bring Back Borstal, which is now airing at 9pm on Thursdays.

The social experiment took 13 young offenders and showed them how they would have been punished in the 1930s.

Mr Valero said: "Back then it was much harder, and I think more effective. Nowadays you go in a petty criminal and come out a class A drug dealer.

"In the Borstal you are up early, doing loads of exercise, doing loads of gardening, as well as cleaning the place from top to bottom.

"After a stint in one of them you do not want to go back."

Valero served half of his 20 month sentence after the London riots, spending 3 months in a young offenders institute and 7 months in an adult prison.

Mr Sentamu lives in Croydon and has also spent time behind bars, but Mr Till from Rose Hill has no offences to his name.

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Co-founders: Omar Sentamu (left) and Scott Valero (right)

The ITV show stated re-offending rates were far lower in the 1930s than today as a result of the Borstal's disciplinarian approach.

The show is aimed at transforming the offenders, with Mr Valero saying his life of crime is now behind him.

He said: "The month in a Borstal did help me to change, but I have also made this decision myself.

"I know a lot of kids who need our help, but no one is giving them a chance.

"We know how to approach these people.

"We don’t have a base yet, but that is something we are working on."

The group has applied for charity status, and will find out if they have been successful on February 9.