Back to my roots

But his boyish face belies the fact that Lee has probably lived more than most people twice his age.

Already, Lee has broken all ties with his family, slept on the streets, joined the army, lived in America, was looked after by Mormons, shared a house with illegal South Americans and lived the high-life as a manager.

Now the former St James' School prefect is back in Bolton, where he lives in a council flat and got himself a new job in a store.

It's as though his life has started again - but adventurous, ambitious, Lee has already set his sights on the future. He wants to be the new Richard Branson, and go back to America.

In a way, it will only be another escape from himself in a long line of get-aways.

Lee spent his childhood in a nice semi-detached house in Harwood with his mum, stepfather, stepbrother and sister. But it wasn't a happy time.

To the outside they looked like they had "not a care in the world".

But inside not all was well, said Lee. He tried to commit suicide several times - childishly, unsuccessfully - and would run away.

He loved school.

"It was like an escape, I suppose.

"I had lots of friends and had a great laugh."

At his real dad's, where he would run away to, it wasn't much better. Recently, Lee even changed his name by deedpoll so as not to be reminded of his father anymore.

He'd also stay at friends' houses, but found it hard to adjust to their family lives.

"That's when I ended up dossing on the streets."

Lee doesn't like talking about this episode, but admits it was "scary" at first. He'd sleep on top of one of the skips at Ashburner market and steal food from unattended stalls in the early morning.

"I was always one for being on my own," he said.

"No-one in charge - that's how I like it.

"Because of what my stepdad did, it made me distrust people."

Eventually he ended up at his grandmother's, from where he started planning his escape to the army.

Attracted by their exciting adverts, he soon found himself in Surrey for his basic training, then Catterick for phase two of his infantry training.

"I loved it, met all these people from different walks of life, all in the same boat, learning to get on as a team and we did!" Unfortunately, Lee and a handful of others - "none of them bad lads" - were then "singled out" by their corporals and treated badly.

"It brought everything back to me.

"I was there to escape all that."

As much as he wanted it to work out, in the end Lee left the army - with £500 in savings.

If the army couldn't offer him the life he wanted, he would create it for himself.

He had read about America and working abroad, and in the end flew out there and managed to stay for three and a half years.

"I told everybody I was going on holiday but I was going and not coming back."

Newport Beach in California was his first port of call, next Phoenix, Arizona.

Getting off the Greyhound, Lee was greeted by a group of Mormons.

"They had a stand at the bus station, giving leaflets out.

"I had nowhere to go so I talked to them."

His new religious friends found him a place with the Peterson family. Devout Mormons, they already had five children and took Lee in as one of their own, even arranging a place at college and a students' visa.

"They were feeling sorry for me, I suppose," said Lee.

But expectations of college-life being like on TV's 'Saved By The Bell' were quickly shattered.

The more the Petersons persuaded him to join in their religion - he was baptised and asked to visit the Mormon school and church - the more Lee started to see of the students at the International Club.

It was on one of his outings that he met an English woman walking her dog. After a number of visits, he moved in with Jean and her husband.

A new job was also just around the corner. But little did Lee know that he would end up living with nine illegal South Americans in a two-bedroomed apartment while doing the work.

The offer came at Thanksgiving, from Jean's son who came to stay. He was to help him at his haulage company in Florida.

"Not one spoke a word of English," remembered Lee of his flatmates.

"I remembered a bit of Spanish from school but not enough for a full-blown conversation.

"It was something different I suppose."

But when Lee found his chance to go elsewhere, he took it.

One day a group of kids tried to sell him perfume, then asked if he would like a job. That's how he ended up doing the "$20 hussle", selling big bottles of scent in Florida, keeping a few dollars and handing the rest over to the boss.

It was, however, "the best time he had ever had."

"Everybody was really great, the best bunch of people I've ever met."

From sleeping in the company van (called Frank) he went to staying with the company owners, Dave and Robin. They became best of friends and Lee went on to be a manager in the firm. He is still in touch with them today.

There were good times - operations moved to Washington DC, there were skiing trips with his new friends and visits to New York...

But in the end, Lee grew homesick and worried about his illegal status. If he'd get deported he couldn't get back for another 10 years, and he "didn't want that".

"It was a good life but it was all going to end," said Lee.

He ended up at his mother's in Great Lever once again.

He says doesn't need his parents, anymore.

"I'm successful for myself," he said.

When he hears other people talking about their holiday in Florida, he thinks: "I saw a different America from what they see.

"I loved the American way of life from going to school to being in business."

On his return to Bolton, Lee worked for his uncle tarmacing gang for a while, but fell out with him and "ran away" because it was "easier".

On Christmas eve he signed the lease of his flat in Deane and he is happy there now.

His ex-girlfriend's mother and a social worker-turned-barmaid are the two people who have supported him in setting up on his own.

He has just started work at DDY Sports and Leisure in Higher Bridge Street. He has never got drunk, smoked, done drugs or had a criminal record, he said, pleased.

"It's a big wide world.

"No-one in my family has ever done what I've done - make something of myself."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.