A YORK burglar who has raided hundreds of properties over 30 years vowed today: "I will never, ever, commit another crime."

Tony Davidson says he finally decided to go straight during his last stretch in prison, when in just 90 minutes York psychiatrist Bob Johnson made him realise he was "like an animal in a cage who didn't know the way out."

Tony, 42, of Walmgate, said Dr Johnson got him to understand why he had always been pressing the self-destruct button - it had been in compensation for the appalling childhood he had had.

Having been put in care at just three months old, and spent most of his life in institutions, he had been constantly searching for a mother substitute. And prison, far from being a crime deterrent, had simply provided a source of security and comfort.

"I knew I was pressing the self-destruct button, but didn't know why I was doing it. When I saw Bob, it all made sense, and realised that crime wasn't doing me any good. He made me realise I had been using my childhood as an excuse and I had to grow up.

"I was released from prison on February 12, and I haven't even thought about committing another crime. I am totally confident I will stay straight."

He said he had been helped in his new honest life by doing gardening work at Brunswick Organic Nursery at Bishopthorpe, and also by volunteering to go on a scheme run by PACY (a partnership between York Arclight Project, City of York Council and York Association for the Care and Reform of Offenders) to revamp York's Memorial Gardens.

He said the scheme - one of the York Pride projects backed by City of York Council and city businesses - had been "great," but said he would like to work with people with learning difficulties.

Another massive boost to his new honest life had been given by being given a "lovely little flat" under a scheme run by YACRO (York Association for Care and Resettlement of Offenders).

Tony said he was keen to help turn others away from lives of crime, and had spoken at a conference organised by Dr Johnson.

Dr Johnson, who dramatically reduced violence among serial killers and other dangerous inmates while working as a psychiatrist at Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight, met Tony at Hull Prison while preparing a pre-sentence report for court.

He said burglary had become an obsession for Tony.

What he tried to do in such cases was turn the switch inside criminals' heads from "twisted to straight", so that they preferred to be normal. "Essentially, it's growing up emotionally. Tony simply demonstrates this more dramatically than most."

Updated: 10:42 Thursday, May 13, 2004