A man whose drug habit took him from drug running for the Albanian mafia to lying beaten and bloodied on the streets of Berlin says addiction "could happen to anyone".

After spending more than five years snorting cocaine, Nicholas Conn, of Studio Way, Borehamwood, wants to help people who want to get clean but do not know where to turn.

The 33-year-old set up his own company, Help4Addiction, to help others struggling with addiction to get help before it is too late.

Mr Conn had a comfortable childhood, and after leaving Watford Grammar School took 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.”

After running up debts of thousands Mr Conn took a job as a property developer in Berlin, where he began taking eight grams of cocaine a day.

He fell in with a bad 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 would also 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, where he spent two weeks living on the streets.

When he woke up one morning covered in blood after having been beaten up, 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.”

Mr Conn 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.

His company Help4Addiction, which he runs from his home, is also helping people facing struggles with drugs and debt 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.”