One of Britain's most feared gangsters has sold the rights of his life story to Hollywood as his book is set to be turned into a film.
Stephen Gillen had been part of street gangs which terrorised the East End during the 1980s, before he received a 17 year prison sentence in 1991.
He was shipped to Belfast when he was six months old, where he witnessed horrific violence and death at the height of the Troubles.
He moved to East London at the age of 10, and was shortly later known as a notorious figure in the criminal underworld, involved in heists and brutal fights.
Stephen Gillen had been part of street gangs which terrorised the East End during the 1980s,
GB News
Following his release, Gillen decided to turn his life around and became an author and TV personality.
Speaking on GB News, he said: "I certainly paid for that [crimes] as I should have done. And you know I've since gone on to transform my life and use those experiences.
"I was a habitual recidivist criminal. It has to be said that people can change? You know, and I'm living proof of that.
"I saw through that life for a long time. People talk about epiphanies, there were many. I really had to change my life. I couldn't hurt people no more, I wanted to be the best of myself and I had to make amends for the life that I was living."
His book The Monkey Puzzle Tree, details his upbringing and his dealings in the world of crime.
"People say, you know you're bad, you're mad, all this stuff. I say no I just had the courage, the opportunity, the timing, the intervention to find my way back to myself," he said.
"After all the imprisonment I served, I've done a lot of voluntary work. I went back into prisons, I've done a lot of that stuff, public speaking.
"I went to university, I got a degree. I went to Business School and I started to build companies."
The film, written by former Poirot actor David Suchet's son Kieran, has a budget of £30million.
Stephen Gillen decided to turn his life around and became an author and TV personality
GB News
Gillen added: "It's a bit of an exclusive now on this film, it's quite a journey doing a project like this.
"I talked to the producers in LA just the other week. It's back in the writers room, it's actually going to be a trilogy because it's all in there.
"It's the humanness of the story, that really is the thing, you've got the excitement, you've got all the stuff you would expect."
The film is due to be released early next year.
