Boy branded ‘Britain’s naughtiest child’ has grown as much as earn £360,000-a-year operating a private developmental college in Thailand

A boy who was branded ‘Britain’s naughtiest kid’ has turned his life around and now earns £360,000-a-year running a personal developmental school in Thailand.

Tom Roberts, 24, featured on Channel 4’s show Mr Drew’s School for Boys in 2014 as a troublesome 11-year-old, who struggled with behavioural problems as he fought and swore his way through the show.

It took seven years for Mr Roberts’s needed existential ‘wake up call’ after he was sentenced twice as a teenager for grievous bodily harm in 2020 and 2021.

Mr Roberts, from Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, said he ‘got into a lot of trouble’ as a child, leaving the label of ‘Britain’s naughtiest kid’ a hard one to shake.

He added: ‘I was always fighting and didn’t know how to control my emotions.

‘The death of my dad made things a lot worse and I was pushing everyone to their limits.

’The show labelled me “Britain’s naughtiest kid” and it was hard to escape that.’

Mr Roberts turned to self-help books and sought advice from wellness coaches, including Canadian author Bob Proctor, after he was released following a two-year stint in HMP Hindley, Greater Manchester.

His new look on life – and hope to help others – inspired his move to Koh Samui, Thailand, where he set up his own personal developmental school called Generation 1 in December 2023.

He said: ‘After two jail sentences I knew I couldn’t keep living this way.

‘I had to make a change and found comfort in reading about wellness and the mind.

‘It inspired me to help others and for those not to make the same mistakes I did.’

Mr Roberts’s behaviour spiralled, becoming ‘out of control’, after his father Lou died from alcoholism aged 56, causing him to climb out of windows and wreak havoc in the classroom.

His mother Christina Sadler, 53, reached breaking point after he was expelled mere weeks before finishing primary school, causing her to put him forward for the show, which she saw in a magazine.

The show was described as a ‘rehabilitation programme which documented “other naughty kids”,’ Mr Roberts said.

He continued: ‘Behind the scenes, the staff were trained specifically in helping those with behavioural management problems.

‘They also helped support the parents. It lasted for four weeks and I wouldn’t say for sure that it helped shape me to become better.’

Mr Roberts started secondary school shortly after the show and was expelled for the second time after three months, leading him to join the special school Archers Brook, Cheshire.

However his temper continued despite passing all his GCSEs and pursuing business studies at college.

And in November 2020 Mr Roberts was sentenced for 11 months, suspended for 18 months, at Chester Crown Court under charges of grievous bodily harm after punching a man in the face at Tenpin, Cheshire Oaks.

He was later charged with grievous bodily harm in September 2021 after breaking a man’s jaw in a nightclub, and handed an 18 months sentence in a young offenders institution.

This included 10 months for the suspended sentence breach and an additional eight months for the new assault.

Mr Roberts described his time spent imprisoned as a ‘massive time for reflection’, during which time he became ‘hooked’ on developmental and self-help books.

He added: ‘I found more peace in prison because I had structure.

‘I would eat, sleep, train, walk and go outside at the same time every day.

‘It was sort of a blessing for my ADHD mind’.

The time Mr Roberts spent self-reflecting in prison motivated him to set up his own business as he became ‘disciplined’ and ‘didn’t give up’ despite not having any entrepreneurial experience.

Mr Roberts made the move to Koh Samui, Thailand, in November 2024 – more than a year after his release – and set up Generation I a month later.

The online company currently has 240 clients across the world, designed to help people ‘transform their lives’ and ‘rewrite their own story’ through personalised plans.

Mr Roberts described his job as ‘fulfilling’, especially after being told as a child that he would ‘amount to nothing’.

He added: ‘Looking back at my younger self, I agree that my behaviour was awful.

‘But I also see a boy who needed help and guidance.

‘People thought I was just a little s***. But my heart has always been in the right place.

‘You are not defined by your past and I’m living proof that you can always turn a new leaf.

‘Never give up!’