FROM studying together to playing football after school, David Ejim-McCubbin and Stephen Lansana were the best of friends throughout their childhood.
But the pair, who grew up together in Newham, East London, went on to have very different lives – thanks to the opportunities afforded to them.
David, 25, is a private secretary in a government department and has a law degree, as well as a masters in legal and political theory from University College London.
Meanwhile, his pal is serving life for murder at Category A prison HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire – and will be 50 before he’s even considered for release.
The two boys met when they were 11 and were both in top sets at the Royal Docks Community School in East London.
When they were 16 they even made the front of the local newspaper as they celebrated their impressive A grade GCSE results.
But it was after this point that their lives would change forever.
As part of a radical social experiment, David was offered the chance to become a boarder at £35,000-a-year Rugby public school in Warwickshire.
Stephen went to a local college where he was predicted A grades in his A-levels, but he drifted into criminal activity and eventually dropped out of the education system.
In July 2015, at the age of 22 he was sentenced to life with a minimum of 30 years at the Old Bailey along with music rapper Terngu Agera for murdering a builder.
Zydrunas Laurinavicius, 38, was walking to a bus stop with his dad when he was stabbed to death with a hunting knife in a street robbery in Hendon, North London.
Stephen didn’t deliver the fatal blow but was convicted of murder under the joint enterprise law, as well as charges of conspiracy to burgle and robbery.
David told the Daily Mail: “I often wonder what might have happened if he’d gone to Rugby School instead of me. He was so intelligent, I’m convinced he would have done even better than I did.
“But the area in which we grew up made it hard to avoid the influence of gang activity. I love the area, but it has a way of sucking vulnerable people in — both black and white.”
David lived on a rough estate in North Woolwich with his nurse mum, who was born in the UK and of Nigerian descent, but never knew his father.
He was just 12 when he was identified as a bright, but under-achieving student, and take under the wing of The Eastside Young Leaders’ Academy (EYLA), founded by Ray Lewis.
Lewis, an ex-prison service manager turned youth worker, formed a partnership with Rugby school to offer bursaries to support boys who might otherwise be sucked into a life of crime.
David was considered a suitable candidate and after passing entrance exams and an interview with the school’s bosses, he joined the sixth form in September 2009.
It was a huge cultural adjustment for the then 16-year-old and the four other black East End pupils who had also gained a place at the school.
Unlike their new classmates, the daunted schoolboys were dropped off by mini-bus and weren’t used to wearing uniforms of smart jackets, house ties and black shoes.
David recalled the feeling after arriving for the first time as being between “complete awe and a sense of inferiority”.
He left Rugby with three A-levels in English, Business and Geography and went to Brighton University to study law and business before gaining a his masters.
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Throughout his time away from London, David remained friends with Stephen but over the years their paths increasingly diverged.
David said he was shocked and saddened when he found out through a friend that Stephen had been arrested on suspicion of murder.
He added: “That could have been me, easily. I’m not saying that Rugby emancipated me from my greatest troubles, but it helped ensure a particular path wasn’t taken.”
David now lives in East London with his civil servant wife Deborah, 24, who he met through his church.
He remains in touch with pal Stephen, visiting him in prison every few months and sending him books so he can continue his education.
Stephen recently retook his maths GCSE and achieved a grade 7 – an A – and hopes to write a book, he says.
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News Pictures The incredible story of two pals who grew up together in East London and went on to have very different lives
You don’t have to pack away your bikini just because you’re the wrong side of 20. These body-beautiful stars reveal their secrets to staying in shape and prove you can smoulder in a two-piece, whatever your age. Read on and be bikini inspired!
TEENS
Hayden Panettiere
Size: 8
Age: 18
Height: 5ft 1in
Weight: 8st
To achieve her kick-ass figure, Hayden – who plays cheerleader Claire Bennet in Heroes – follows the ‘quartering’ rule. She eats only a quarter of the food on her plate, then waits 20 minutes before deciding whether she needs to eat again.
Hayden says: “I don’t have a model’s body, but I’m not one of those crazy girls who thinks that they’re fat. I’m OK with what I have.”
Nicollette says: “I don’t like diets – I see it, I eat it! I believe in eating healthily with lots of protein, vegetables and carbs to give you energy.”
kim cattrall
Size: 10-12
Age: 52
Height: 5ft 8in
Weight: 9st 4lb
SATC star Kim swears by gym sessions with Russian kettle bells (traditional cast-iron weights) and the South Beach Diet to give her the body she wants. To avoid overeating, Kim has a radical diet trick – squirting lemon juice on her leftovers – so she won’t carry on picking.
Kim says: “I am no super-thin Hollywood actress. I am built for men who like women to look like women.”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/NINTCHDBPICT000435852312.jpg?strip=all&w=723
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