A FATHER-OF-ONE and former alcoholic who has turned his life around is pleading to be given a second chance after historic offences resulted in him being sacked from a job.

Last month, Gary Wild began a new job as a domestic assistant at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough with Serco.

The 50-year-old, from Middlesbrough, had been working for about a month when he was unexpectedly told his contract would be terminated because he had failed a DBS check.

The decision came as a shock to Mr Wild, who had only recently passed a DBS check as part of training courses in door supervising and CCTV , and had worked with the public in different roles with other organisations in recent years.

Mr Wild believed the DBS check from Serco picked up previous convictions from more than two decades ago, which includes drink driving offences and common assaults.

He was told the check had gone as far as back as 1983, when he was just 13-years-old.

He also used to be an alcoholic and heavy smoker, and was forced to live rough on the streets, but he has since turned his life around and took his daughter, Paris, out of care when she was six-months older and has cared for her ever since.

He is now urging to be given a second chance, and says the way he has been treated by Serco is “disgraceful”.

“The things that happened were so long ago. I am a different person since then. I wouldn’t have been able to get my daughter back otherwise. I have even been recommended to be a foster carer, that wouldn’t have happened.

“I want to do it for my daughter. I want to change her life and make it better. I want to be able to take her to Disneyland. I want her to be proud of me. She was so happy when I got the job.

The Northern Echo:

Mr Wild, who began the role on May 1 and was offered the position two days after he had his final interview, has criticised the way Serco have handled the process.

“They shouldn’t be allowed to mess with people’s lives like this. Why did they let me work for a month and even let me carry on working after first telling me I’d failed the DBS check if I was such a risk?”

Mr Wild also said it was "heartbreaking" to have to tell Paris what had happened, as she has wrote a letter to him congratulating him on his new job.

The letter said: "I hope you do very well at work – you are the best person in the world.

"If I had a different father it wouldn't be the same. What will I do without you?"

A spokesperson for Serco declined to comment or offer an explanation about their DBS check policy, saying "it would be inappropriate for us to discuss or disclose any personal information relating to an individual".