Allen Langham | Speaker, Writer & Story of Redemption
Allen Langham
Speaker · Writer · Author

From seven prison sentences
to a message of hope.

Former professional rugby league player. Career criminal. Heroin addict. And then, in a prison cell in January 2013, everything changed.

Allen Langham's story is living proof that no one is too far gone.

As featured in 🏆 People's Book Prize Finalist 🏆 Sandford St Martin's Runner-Up BBC News Christianity Today Church Times Revelation TV UCB Radio

Nobody saw
this coming.

Allen grew up fatherless on a council estate in Doncaster. He lost his mother at fourteen. By sixteen he had signed a professional rugby league contract — and thrown it all away.

What followed was nearly two decades of violence, heroin addiction, organised crime, and seven prison sentences.

In 2013, alone in a cell at HMP Doncaster and planning to take his own life, Allen prayed a desperate prayer. He asked God — if he was real — to replace the pigeons on his window ledge with a white bird.

A dove landed.

That moment changed everything. Today Allen walks the same streets he once terrorised — bringing hope to those who feel lost, broken, and alone.

Read the full story →

"Everybody had given up on me. I had given up on myself. But God had not."

— Allen Langham

How Allen can help you

🎤

Speaking

Allen speaks at churches, prisons, schools, conferences, and community events. His story reaches people that polished presentations cannot — because it is real, raw, and honest.

Invite Allen to Speak →
📖

The Book

Taming of a Villain — a People's Book Prize finalist. A life written off and then written back. Available now in paperback and Kindle. 2024 revised and expanded edition.

Get the Book →
🤝

Mentoring

One-to-one support for individuals navigating recovery, faith, identity, or the early stages of change. Book a call to start the conversation.

Book a Call →

What people say

"Allen was addicted to violence and drugs, and spent years in prison. By God's grace he has found a path to freedom, peace, purpose, and hope. If you want evidence of the power of Christ to change, heal, and redirect a man's life, you will find it here."

Tony Collins  ·  Editor & Author

"Allen's transformation has been nothing short of a miracle. Gold and diamonds are found in dirty places — and in Allen, I have found a diamond of a guy."

Bruce Dyer  ·  Pastor, Love Life UK & Former Professional Footballer

"Allen's journey challenged me, encouraged me, and gave me a renewed zeal to live for Christ in my own walk with God."

Jamie Jones-Buchanan  ·  Professional Rugby Player, Leeds Rhinos

"The gospel truly is the only answer to the challenges that life brings. As career criminal Allen Langham found, only one thing could release him and lift him back up."

Peter Wreford  ·  Editor-in-Chief, New Life Publishing
People's Book Prize Finalist

Taming of
a Villain

A life written off — and then written back. Allen's autobiography tells the full story of his journey from darkness to light. Raw, honest, and ultimately full of hope. Now in a revised and expanded 2024 edition.

Taming of a Villain by Allen Langham