A former soldier turned heroin dealer is now a successful artist when he finds his passion while serving a 13-year prison sentence.

After leaving the army at the age of 21, Kevin Devonport fell into crime and struggled with drug addiction.

After turning his life around, he has won many awards, exhibited in London, obtained a university degree and has a studio in Leeds.

The 52-year-old man told the BBC how he forged a new path for himself while still behind bars.

Mr Devonport was 35 when he was caught dealing heroin in 2007 and was a self-proclaimed “career criminal” who had already served three prison sentences.

Once again facing the prospect of a long prison sentence, he took the advice of another prisoner, who told him to “let time serve you, not time.”

“I tried to use the time constructively,” said Mr. Devonport, who served as chief of artillery in the First Royal Tank Regiment.

“I really wanted to get my life together by then.”

He enrolled at the Open University and earned a first-class honors degree in sociology, but his life changed course when he stumbled upon an art class organized by the charity Care After Combat.

“I’ve never really been an artistic person,” he said.

“I would look at it and admire it, but I never thought I could do it on my own.”

But Mr Devonport, who grew up on a council estate in Leeds and left school at 15 without any qualifications, said he entered the classroom “like a fish to water”.

His first painting – “a small landscape” – may not have been his best work, but it was the process of creating it that really attracted attention, he said.

He won his first national award while he was still in prison because he never thought he would become an artist.

“It’s not a conscious decision, it’s like life led me in that direction,” he said.

Despite his accomplishments, his survival, reintegration into society, and the stigma of incarceration were challenging after his release in 2014.

His last brush with the law was in 2018 when he was jailed for producing marijuana.

Mr Devonport, who is now father to eight-year-old Sinead, said his art was what sustained him and inspired his first exhibition, titled “Unlabeled”.

“When you come into a world where you’re not accepted, you’re a little bit like driftwood,” he said.

“Being an artist gives me a sense of who I am, a sense of identity. I was lost. It gave me something to connect to.”

Identity, his experience with the justice system, and his time on active duty in the military in Germany and Northern Ireland are themes that often feature prominently in his paintings.

“I tell stories, every object has a meaning,” said Mr. Devonport, who works with criminals and teaches fine arts.

“Once you learn my art, you can read it like a book.”

Some of his latest work is currently on display at London’s Leadenhall Market as part of the ‘Nothing Ordinary Here’ exhibition, and he has studio space at Assembly House in Armley, Leeds.

Although his journey into art was an unconventional one, he said he has no regrets about his past.

“The things I have done through my own life experiences have made me who I am.

“In terms of my art, I think it makes me a better artist.”

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