A FORMER Watford pupil who became a drug runner for the Albanian mafia said “it could happen to anyone” after launching a hotline to help people battling addictions.

Nicholas Conn, of Studio Way, Borehamwood, has turned his life around to create ‘Help4Addicion’ after spending more than five years snorting cocaine.

The 33-year-old is now appealing to others in his shoes to come forward and get help before it is too late.

After leaving Watford Grammar School for Boys, he took on a job in the police force – but when the pressure got too much he began doing cocaine.

He said: “I was sailing through my exams on cocaine and everything was great. It was a buzz. I was young, earning a lot of money and didn’t see any problems behind it.

“It’s madness. You wonder how this could happen to you. I had a really affluent upbringing but I got dragged into it all.”

But after accruing thousands of pounds in debt he took on a job as a property developer in Berlin, where he began taking 8grams of cocaine a day.

He fell into a dark crowd and began doing ‘favours’ for the Albanian Mafia by driving drugs from Berlin to Austria.

All brothels and prostitutes in Berlin have to be licensed and Mr Conn also used to escort the women from brothel to brothel across the German capital.

But it all turned sour when he realised he was had debts of £10,000 so he fled to West Berlin when he spent two weeks living on the streets.

When he woke up one morning having been beaten up and covered in blood, he phoned his mother and admitted everything.

He said: “She was an amazing support. She paid to put me up in a hotel and then flew me home the next day. From there, I went to rehab.

“Up until then, I had been too afraid to admit the truth because I so badly wanted my parents to be proud of me and think I was doing well.”

He says getting clean was “plain sailing” and after spending three months in rehab, he wrote a book on his experiences called the Thin White Line.

Mr Conn’s company Help4Addiction, which he runs from his home, is also helping people who were in the same boat as him get the help they need.

He added: “People don’t know where to turn or what to and have no knowledge of rehab and what their prices are.

“I am trying to reach out and show people that it doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from or where you grew up – addiction can happen to anyone.”