My name is Craig and I´m serving time for murder. My tariff is 8 years and I’ve done just over 6 years. I am 22 years old and I’ve been in prison since I was 16 years old. I turned 16 on 5 February 1995 and 13 days later I was sat in a cell charged with murder and attempted murder looking at a life sentence, which is what I got. I never ever thought something like this could ever happen to me or that I would be capable of doing what I did, but it did happen to me and it could happen to anyone. On the night it happened, I was under the influence of drink and drugs. I´m not saying that it was because of the drink and drugs that I did it - it wasn´t - but it didn´t help. I could have said no to the drink and drugs, but I didn´t, so the fault is mine. I started taking drugs when I was 11 years old. At first I started sniffing gas with some older boys, but as I got older I started smoking cannabis and taking LSD and magic mushrooms and also speed and downers like Temazapam. I was also drinking as well. I also started getting into trouble. I started stealing from shops and cars and from garden sheds - more from boredom than anything else. About 5 - 6 weeks before my 16th birthday, I started going out clubbing on Friday nights which I did every Friday until the night it happened. On this particular Friday night I went out as normal with a few of my mates and we went to a club where I started drinking quite heavily. Pretty soon I was drunk, but I carried on drinking. Also one of the boys I was with had some downers (Oxazypan) and he gave me a couple, which I took, which made me even worse. We then went on to a different club where I met a girl who I stayed with the rest of the night until closing time. I was supposed to be catching the last bus, but I missed it, so the girl I was with offered me a lift. So I went with her, her sister and two friends down to the kebab shop where we were getting picked up. While we were there, an argument started between a few lads. I didn´t get involved. They all went outside, including the girl´s sister and two friends. After about 5 minutes, me and the girl went outside as well. Across the road, the girl´s sister was on the back of one of the boys. He then threw here to the floor so the girl I was with automatically went over to help her sister. As she got there, the boy punched her in the face and she fell to the ground. He then started kicking her in the head. Now I don´t like seeing women getting hit, so I went over to stop him, but as I was making my way over, one of the other girls had a knife on her, which she gave to me. I took it without even thinking. I then went over to the boy. I can´t remember what I said, but he came towards me as if to punch me so I pushed out with the knife. As I did this, I felt someone punch me from behind, so I turned round and pushed out with the knife again. I kept pushing out with the knife 8 more times. The first boy I stabbed died. He was 21 with all his life ahead of him and I took it away. I never intended to do what I did that night. * * * * * So stay away from drugs because you´ll only end up in prison. Maybe not straight away, but, believe me, it´s only a matter of time.