John McAvoy’s biological father passed away shortly before he was born, leaving him to be raised by a community of women.

As a child, John loved history, was bright and ambitious and wanted to leave his mark on the world. He also happened to be Micky McAvoy’s nephew, a notorious criminal and the mastermind behind Brinks-Mat, the biggest gold heist in UK history.

Soon what started as a childhood dream to own British Telecom turned into a career as an armed robber. But John turned it all around in prison where he found a love for sport. This is the inspiring and unlikely story of a man who went from spending one full year in solitary confinement, or 'segregation' as it’s called in the UK to being a Nike sponsored athlete.

In this episode of Bad People, Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen discuss The Nelson Mandela Rules and the concept of ‘engineered segregation’.

CREDITS

Bad People is produced in partnership with The Open University and is a BBC Audio Science Production for BBC Sounds.