Paul’s Story

Paul was on ROTL and earned an early parole as the result of his job facilitated by Tempus Novo. After this, we supported Paul’s move away from Northampton and facilitated his move to Clipper Ollerton. Below is a testimonial written by Paul himself!

“My name is Paul, I’m very humbled and grateful to be around to tell you this today. I have been invited here by Tempus Novo. A charity that supports ex-offenders and people with criminal records. They help to seek full time employment with partnerships and companies such as Clipper logistics.

I’ll begin by telling you a little about myself. In 2012 I was convicted of a serious offence of armed robbery. I received a discretionary life licence. With a 10-year minimum term before I could be considered for release back into the community. Having time to understand and reflect on the impact my actions have caused to others has had a life changing effect on me.

I’ve used all my time constructively and been very pro-active in addressing my criminal behaviour. I have worked hard to get to an open prison where I have been able to use the support from Tempus Novo and gained full time employment for Clipper logistics in Northampton.

I’ve been unemployed for most of my life, I’ve been in custody for 10 years. I had no money, nowhere to live and did not know how I was going to financially support myself and survive until support was offered. I was given an opportunity of full-time employment with Clipper which I accepted gratefully. I started this job on 14th Nov 2021. I’ve been employed for 6 months. I’m now a fully trained warehouse operator. I’m also cross trained in many different roles. I now have work colleagues that I admire and respect plus I am able to save enough money to cloth myself, support my family and have a deposit for accommodation upon my release once I leave my brother’s family home.

So firstly, I would like to say thanks to everybody at Tempus Novo but especially the people who I have interacted with. My caseworker Olivia , The founders of Tempus Novo and also everybody at Clipper Logistics in Northampton, My line managers, who are wonderful people, Lumi , George , Arron and all my work colleagues who have treated me without bias or judgement and made me feel part of the team from day one. Also, a big shout out to Inditex shift 2. They always meet their standards and complete their tasks.

Without tempus Novo and Clipper Logistics working so hard creating these opportunities a lot of ex-offenders would almost certainly have little hope and this includes me too. They would be more likely to end up back re-offending and back in prison and that is a fact.

My journey is still continuing, and it is a lifelong process, but I’m now building strong foundations to cement my future. My parole is in Aug 2022 and hopefully I will be released back into the community. Most importantly I have been guaranteed a transfer to Clipper logistics in Ollerton in Mansfield which is 15mins away from where my family live.

So please embrace and support these charities because without opportunities like these ex-offenders such as me still have no hope or direction because you can’t experience what it’s like being locked behind a prison door.”