By Steve Hawkes BBC News Online

When Michael Groce was a boy, he stole a car. Under the seat he found a box with an air pistol in it.

Michael was given a gun by a friend

The police officers who raided Cherry Groce's Brixton home in the early hours of 28 September 1985 were trying to arrest her son, Michael, in connection with an armed robbery - and they suspected, rightly, that he would be armed.

But Michael was not at home, and in the confusion one of the officers, Insp Douglas Lovelock, shot Cherry.

She was paralysed from the waist down, and spent the next two years in hospital.

The shooting sparked riots in Brixton, which led to the death of a photographer, hit on the head by a brick.

He pulled out the shotgun, and put it in my face Gun legislation 'faces overhaul'

Fifty other people were injured, and there were more than 200 arrests.

A major review of Metropolitan Police gun policy after the incident led to a ban on CID detectives carrying firearms.

The new guidelines said only centrally controlled specialist squads - such as Special Branch - would be armed.

Insp Lovelock was cleared of all criminal charges and reinstated in January 1987.

But for Michael, the chain of events that led to his mother's shooting began when he was just 15.

I thought I was a real gangster, and it gave me a lot of power in the playground

"Guns had always been around in my community," he told BBC News Online.

"I grew up on the Tinworth House estate in Vauxhall [south-east London] - a renowned no-go area for the police.

"I knew a lot of gangsters, and when I was 15 one of them showed me a sawn-off shotgun.

"He pulled out the shotgun, and put it in my face.

"The terror was incredible because I was worried it would go off accidentally.

"Then he showed me he had the safety [catch] on - he was in control, and I started to calm down.

I came out of custody at the age of 20, and I got myself tooled up

"It was a fun experience for a kid - to get that close."

Not every 15-year-old would enjoy coming face-to-face with the sawn-off barrel of a shotgun - but Michael had already been initiated into a culture of gangs and guns.

"There were three tiers," he told BBC News Online, "the older boys, the younger boys, and the middle tier - and the older boys would initiate the younger ones.

"Through them I saw my first air rifle - they would fire them across the flats and around the park.

"One time they made one of the younger boys take his trousers down and bend over the back of a sofa, and told him they would fire a pellet in there if he moved.

"It was better than watching telly - seeing him with his cheeks hanging out."

A friend of mine got stabbed, and it caused a lot of problems - the guns came in, and someone got shot, then someone else got shot, and then there was a war on in my area

"I remember stealing a car," he told BBC News Online.

"Under the seat there was a box, and there was an air hand gun in it."

"I took it home, and it completely changed me - I thought I was a real gangster, and it gave me a lot of power in the playground until my mum found it and told me to get rid of it."

Michael's involvement with drugs and gangs would lead to 50 convictions and 15 spells in jail.

But he listened to his mum, got rid of his gun, and did not pick up another - until five years later.

"I came out of custody at the age of 20, and I got myself tooled up because of what was happening around me," he told BBC News Online.

I had an argument with my girlfriend, and - showing off - I fired it into the wardrobe

Michael was given the gun by a friend.

Asked if he had ever used it to commit a crime, he replied: "I am going to say, 'No' to that question - I have no choice but to answer, 'No'. I do not want to glamorise anything that I went through. But I was out to make money, not hurt people."

Michael will admit to firing the gun, though.

"I had an argument with my girlfriend, and - showing off - I fired it into the wardrobe," he told BBC News Online.

I closed the door on the officer, wiped the gun down, left it on the side and jumped out of the back window

News that Michael was armed spread to the police, and they came to question him in relation to an armed robbery.

"An officer knocked on the door, and I threatened him with the gun," he told BBC News Online.

"I was not thinking straight. I was afraid - I had only been out of prison for two months and did not want to be caught with a gun.

"I closed the door on the officer, wiped the gun down, left it on the side and jumped out of the back window.

ANTI-GUN PROJECTS London: Mothers Against Guns Haringey Peace Alliance Hipstepssistaz Manchester: Mothers Against Violence West Midlands: South Aston Community Associates Turnaround Families for Peace Nottingham: Raw Talent Mothers Against Guns Source: Disarm Trust

"I just wanted to get away - to escape.

"I did not want to hurt the officer - but I do not know what I would have done if he had pushed the door open."

Michael fled to his sister's house, where he hid for three days. Then he turned on the television on.

"I saw my grandmother - she was crying.

"And then I saw the news flash - my mother had been shot . I was numb."

That night dozens of officers dressed in riot gear were injured as they were attacked by groups of mainly black youths with bricks and wooden stakes.

The rioters also set alight a barricade of cars across the Brixton Road with petrol bombs, and some looted shops in nearby streets.

The next day, Michael gave himself up to the police.

He received a three-year suspended sentence for possession of a firearm.

These days you do not need to have even a serious argument and they are getting their guns out

Michael was never charged with any offence relating to the armed robbery - or the riot.

To say sorry to his mother, he wrote her a poem, which was published in the Voice newspaper.

Now, nearly 20 years later, at the age of 41, Michael runs poetry workshops for young people under a project named after his mother, Cherry Blossoms.

His aim is to "allow young people to blossom" - but he knows the lure of the gun culture is even stronger than it was when he was a boy.

"These days you do not need to have even a serious argument and they are getting their guns out," said Michael.

All of them are saying they want to be colder, quicker and meaner than the rest

"There is a difference between being bad and being mad, and they are now crossing that road from badness to madness.

"They have people in their communities who don't mind taking out a person, and that sets the benchmark for what the rest of them have to do.

"All of them are saying they want to be colder, quicker and meaner than the rest."