- Served 10 years in Royal Marine Commandos with tours in Iraq (1991), Northern Ireland and locations around the world as a qualified sniper in reconnaissance troop 40 CDO.
- First Aid Instructor.
- Full-time boxing for the Royal Marines and the Royal Navy, winning various championships.
- Unarmed Combat Instructor for the Royal Marines.
- Black-belt in Kung Fu.
- Trained in Judo.
- Trained in Greco-Roman Wrestling (Olympic).
- Operated a Door security company from 1993-2004.
- Certified Bailiff since 2000.
- Trained in Apache Knife Arts (Ghostdog Apache Knife instructor).
- Reality Based Martial Arts Level 4 Instructor.
- Kapap Instructor.
- Krav Maga instructor.
- Executive Protection operative and consultancy.
For me, organised contact sports started fairly early on, at 16, I was working as a Butcher’s Cutter on a YTS course
(who remembers them!) One the Butchers, Dave Lee from Huddersfield, was one of the first in the UK to be qualified in
Preying Mantis Kung Fu at Instructor level. We became good friends, and I began training with him. We trained in the
local Sports Centre in Whitehaven, Cumbria. I trained nearly every day for over 15 months, and in this time, cross
trained with all the other people who used the Centre, covering Ju-Jitsu, Wing Chun,Karate, Muay Thai.
At 19, I began Amateur Boxing which was not very well supported in Cumbria as the main sport was (and proberbly still is) Rugby League. At this time I was doing Judo (this was to complement my stand up skills) with John McGlennan (GB sqad level), Neil Ferry, and my brother Simon, who ran their own Club. At 22, I joined the Royal Marine Commandos, during my service I all over the world including; Iraq, Northern Ireland, Southeast Asia, Middle East, Norway, Caribbean , the Med, and South Africa. During this time I boxed for the Corp, and then the Navy. I was an Unarmed Combat Instructor, kept very busy on deployments, and was also Wrestling at Amir Esmali`s Gym in Bristol, whilst cross training with other “Bootys”.
I began working the “Doors” in 93` When I left the Corp in 2000, I was already running Doors, and trouble shooting around the country for different companies, so my next natural step was to start my own security company, I became a Certificated Bailiff, working for various Courts, enforcing their Warrants. Following on, I also got involved with a lot of CP work, but this work is intermittant at best; you have to be able to work at very short notice.
I came across Krav Maga when I was working in France. I had never heard of it, so when I came back I looked it up and did the course. This is where I met Dave Shorter, who mentioned Jim Wagner, and his Reality-Based Martial Arts concept. Dave was also hosting a training package for Jim in London for the Met`, and I managed to wangle a place (where else can you get to beat on police, and not be arrested!!)
Through Jim, I travelled to the US on various occasion to further my training, and I met Robert Redfeather and Avi Nardia, and as they say, the rest is history
At 19, I began Amateur Boxing which was not very well supported in Cumbria as the main sport was (and proberbly still is) Rugby League. At this time I was doing Judo (this was to complement my stand up skills) with John McGlennan (GB sqad level), Neil Ferry, and my brother Simon, who ran their own Club. At 22, I joined the Royal Marine Commandos, during my service I all over the world including; Iraq, Northern Ireland, Southeast Asia, Middle East, Norway, Caribbean , the Med, and South Africa. During this time I boxed for the Corp, and then the Navy. I was an Unarmed Combat Instructor, kept very busy on deployments, and was also Wrestling at Amir Esmali`s Gym in Bristol, whilst cross training with other “Bootys”.
I began working the “Doors” in 93` When I left the Corp in 2000, I was already running Doors, and trouble shooting around the country for different companies, so my next natural step was to start my own security company, I became a Certificated Bailiff, working for various Courts, enforcing their Warrants. Following on, I also got involved with a lot of CP work, but this work is intermittant at best; you have to be able to work at very short notice.
I came across Krav Maga when I was working in France. I had never heard of it, so when I came back I looked it up and did the course. This is where I met Dave Shorter, who mentioned Jim Wagner, and his Reality-Based Martial Arts concept. Dave was also hosting a training package for Jim in London for the Met`, and I managed to wangle a place (where else can you get to beat on police, and not be arrested!!)
Through Jim, I travelled to the US on various occasion to further my training, and I met Robert Redfeather and Avi Nardia, and as they say, the rest is history
