Dragons’ Den star Levi Roots – the man whose Reggae Reggae Sauce has been launched on shop shelves’ across the country – has admitted serving two prison sentences, one for possessing heroin. The 47-year-old, Jamaican-born businessman was first jailed at the age of 15 for an offence he refuses to talk about, and was later imprisoned again for possessing drugs worth £250,000. But the 47-year-old businessman – real name Keith Graham – said he had turned his life around since being released from jail. He got back into the music industry in 1998 and was nominated as a best reggae performer at the MOBO Awards; he subsequently hit TV fame when he unveiled his special sauce – based on a recipe by his gran – to the Dragons, while serenading them with his guitar. “I want kids to see me as an example of how you can turn your life around,” Levi told the Sunday Mirror. “As soon as I started getting all this attention, I knew someone was going to drag this up. I have gone to prison twice – but it was for nothing like armed robbery or rape or anything. “I have never claimed to be squeaky clean. I am a Rastafarian living in Brixton – I don’t have a spotless past. What I did was what a great deal of black kids living in an inner city have got up to. “This sauce is financial security for my family. This is a success story and I want to concentrate on the positives. What I did years ago is in my past and that is that.”
