A talented young singer/songwriter whose brother died as a result of alcohol addiction is hoping his story will inspire Scottish prisoners to change their lives for the better.
Henry Maybury, 23, is preparing to walk the line well-travelled by the legendary Johnny Cash by organising gigs next month at Perth, Castle Huntly and Shotts prisons where he will talk to convicts about losing his brother Tom two-and-a-half years ago.
Tom died on February 22 2013 at the age of just 29 after more than a decade of alcohol abuse, but Henry has since thrown himself into music writing songs that express his own personal experiences.
Indeed, his debut song Lost Days achieved over a million views on YouTube in just over a week, with all of the proceeds going to multiple addiction and recovery charities.
Shrewsbury-born Henry is now looking forward to his trip to Tayside’s jails in particular echoing Cash’s famous Folsom and San Quentin prison performances and hopes his story will strike a chord with inmates who have been through their own personal problems with drink and drugs.
“If I can help just one person then I’ll have done my job,” he explained.
“I started going into prisons last year and all the guys I go and talk to have all been influenced by alcohol or addiction in some way, so I hope to go in there and give them support and share my story.
“It’s not just a case of going in there and doing a talk, I encourage them to channel their frustrations into different areas.
“Losing Tom was the most difficult time of my life and I found things ridiculously hard.
“I found it very hard to just get back to normality.
“We tried to help him and tried everything from tough love to supporting him and trying to get him into rehab but as the years went on it took over his life,” he said.
“But it was really hard to see someone so close to you deteriorate the way he did.”
Tom previously ran his own gardening business during the week and worked as a David Beckham lookalike at weekends, but Henry revealed things turned when his brother lost his driving licence.
“It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are from, it can happen to any of us,” he continued.
“He was doing really well but then things just started to go against him.
“He lost his licence, he lost his business and things just went downhill from there.”