Prison poetry winner spurred on by his Christmas regrets

A REMORSEFUL prisoner has won a novel poetry competition by writing about his regret at having to spend Christmas away from his family.

In the verse, the former drug abuser says his present to his loved ones is that he has turned his life around.

The winning poem was selected from a variety of works by inmates who entered the contest run by the Northern Ireland Prisoner Ombudsman Pauline McCabe.