Richard Kilty tiptoes to the front door of his old home, careful not to muddy his new trainers. It is semi-derelict and the windows are boarded up, soon to be demolished as this notoriously tough Stockton-on-Tees council estate is redeveloped. A man repairing a garage roof warns our photographer to conceal his camera but there is barely a soul about. 'It still gets eventful on the evenings,' says Kilty, pointing out a black gate blocking an alleyway entrance, installed at the behest of police officers tired of suspects they were chasing disappearing into nooks and crannies. Sprinter Richard Kilty poses on the deprived estate where he grew up in Stockton-on-Tees . Kilty waves on the podium after receiving his 60m gold medal at the European Indoor Championships . The 25-year-old, who briefly retired from athletics in 2012, works out at Deny's Gym in Stockton-on-Tees . Kilty no longer lives on the estate after experiencing success on the world stage over the last 18 months . Age: 25 . From: Stockton-on-Tees . Events: 60m, 100m, 200m . Golds: 60m - 2014 World Indoor Championships, 4x100m relay - 2014 Europeans, 60m - 2015 European Indoor Championships . Nickname: Teesside Tornado . 'It was usually just kids' stuff,' he says, but delve a little deeper and you realise how remarkable his rise has been from the deprivation of the Victoria estate to one of Britain's fastest men. A block of flats on the edge of the estate was a 'no-go zone' says Kilty, recalling mother Melanie asking him to rescue his younger brother Jack. 'I found him in a room with about 30 heroin addicts. They weren't physically intimidating, they only weighed about six stone but you didn't know if one of them was going to pull a knife on you.' In the moments before the 60metres final at the European Indoor Championships in Prague last month, Kilty glanced around the call room at his competition and his mind flickered back to life on the estate. 'I recognised the look of fear in their eyes, I've seen people in much more dangerous situations on the estate and they looked less scared than some of these athletes. 'On the evenings after I'd got home from school there'd always be fights. People would get stabbed or hit with hammers. We'd hang around in little gangs, that was just something you had to be part of. Kilty gets away from Pascal Mancini (left) and Christian Blum to win gold in Prague earlier this month . Kilty poses outside his local gym in Stockton-on-Tees after returning to the area where he grew up . Kilty shows off his 60m gold medal at the World Indoor Championships in Poland in March last year . 'All of us have gone down different paths, my friend David drowned in a river, another friend just got out of prison for aggravated burglary with a gun. I've managed to run my way out of poverty so why should I be scared standing on a start line for a race?' A year to the day after winning the World Indoor Championships in Poland Kilty, 25, won his second international title. The circumstances were very different. He was favourite, whereas 12 months earlier bookmakers had made him a 33-1 outsider with Jamaican Nesta Carter in the field. Six-and-a-half seconds and 33 strides later his life had changed. 'I went there with £17 in my bank account and by the time the plane landed back in the UK I had six figures — £40,000 from winning the race, a British Athletics bonus and a four-year contract with Nike. 'I can remember sometimes not having much money for food and clothes. When I eventually do have kids I want them to live a comfortable life not like I did. I feel I'm doing a good job of that, a couple more years like this and I'll be OK.' He knows all too well what it's like to have it all snatched away. 'I've been homeless twice,' he says. 'The first time I was five and a half and we were put in a hostel up the road, six of us sharing a room in the same building with prostitutes, asylum-seekers and drug addicts. Looking back it was crazy and dangerous but it just seemed like a bit of an adventure at the time. Kilty was made homeless twice and lived in a hostel with prostitutes, asylum seekers and drug addicts . Kilty poses with Adam Gemili, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and James Ellington (L-R) after winning the 4x100m final at the European Championships in Zurich last year . Kilty holds his head as he discusses his childhood and rise to becoming one of Britain's fastest men . 'We moved to the estate after that, my parents owned a pub and made good money for a time but my mum was an alcoholic and addicted to amphetamines. Somehow they lost all their money and we ended up with nothing. 'When I was 14 we were back in the hostel and I had come to my senses. I realised how dangerous it was, luckily my dad was strong and could protect us. I was living there when I won the English Schools title.' Kilty represented Great Britain through the junior age groups but struggled to make the leap to the senior team. Linford Christie took him under his wing before London 2012 but Kilty missed out on selection for the London Olympics despite achieving the qualifying standard for the 200m. 'I had no option but to return home to live with my mam on the estate,' he says. 'One night someone was hit with a baseball bat and nearly killed. I got arrested and was later cleared, I was 150m away when it happened but the damage had been done, my face was plastered all over the news-papers. The week after I was arrested for an alleged kidnap which again was nothing to do with me and I was cleared. But I should never have been in that environment. 'I retired from athletics and was about to join the Marines but one day I was walking by the river and I suddenly decided I couldn't let my talent go to waste. I didn't want to become a failed product of the estate so I decided to give it one last roll of the dice.' Kilty celebrates after surprising the field - and the bookmakers - to win gold in Poland in March last year . Kilt beats Christian Blum (right) to the line to win the 60m European Indoor title earlier this month . Kilty believes his success on track has helped bring his family closer together after problems in the past . Kilty's five-year-old niece, Olivia, hair tied neatly in bunches, arrives to watch her uncle have his picture taken. She is the daughter of his half-sister and still lives on the estate. They are a close family now but it was not always the case. His father Kevin, who has 12 children, was granted full custody of Kilty and his three full siblings after social services became involved. 'One side of the family was at war with the other,' he says. 'It was dysfunctional growing up but everything is good and happy at the moment. I think my success has brought the family together.' Kilty is being coached by Christie again as his focus has switched to making the British team for August's World Championships in Beijing. Vehemently anti-drugs, Kilty believes his coach's protestations that his positive drugs test for nandrolone in 1999 was erroneous. 'He'd been retired three years at that point,' he says, 'I don't believe he took drugs. I'm a clean athlete and I wouldn't train with him if I believed he was a drug abuser. 'But there definitely is a doping crisis at the moment. Justin Gatlin (current 100m world leader) is running faster at 34 — supposedly off drugs — than he was on drugs.' 'I line up against a drugs cheat in virtually every race — Gatlin, Tyson Gay, Dwain Chambers, Asafa Powell. It's annoying knowing convicted dopers are out there when you've worked so hard to get where you are.'
Richard Kilty won  60m gold at the European Indoor Championships .
The sprinter grew up on a deprived estate in Stockton-on-Tees .
One of Kilty's friends drowned and another was sent to prison for burglary .
He had just £17 in his bank account when he won his first indoor gold .
Kilty briefly retired from athletics after failing to make the 2012 Olympics .
He is now targeting the World Championships with coach Linford Christie .
Richard Kilty tiptoes to the front door of his old home, careful not to muddy his new trainers. It is semi-derelict and the windows are boarded up, soon to be demolished as this notoriously tough Stockton-on-Tees council estate is redeveloped. A man repairing a garage roof warns our photographer to conceal his camera but there is barely a soul about. 'It still gets eventful on the evenings,' says Kilty, pointing out a black gate blocking an alleyway entrance, installed at the behest of police officers tired of suspects they were chasing disappearing into nooks and crannies. Sprinter Richard Kilty poses on the deprived estate where he grew up in Stockton-on-Tees . Kilty waves on the podium after receiving his 60m gold medal at the European Indoor Championships . The 25-year-old, who briefly retired from athletics in 2012, works out at Deny's Gym in Stockton-on-Tees . Kilty no longer lives on the estate after experiencing success on the world stage over the last 18 months . Age: 25 . From: Stockton-on-Tees . Events: 60m, 100m, 200m . Golds: 60m - 2014 World Indoor Championships, 4x100m relay - 2014 Europeans, 60m - 2015 European Indoor Championships . Nickname: Teesside Tornado . 'It was usually just kids' stuff,' he says, but delve a little deeper and you realise how remarkable his rise has been from the deprivation of the Victoria estate to one of Britain's fastest men. A block of flats on the edge of the estate was a 'no-go zone' says Kilty, recalling mother Melanie asking him to rescue his younger brother Jack. 'I found him in a room with about 30 heroin addicts. They weren't physically intimidating, they only weighed about six stone but you didn't know if one of them was going to pull a knife on you.' In the moments before the 60metres final at the European Indoor Championships in Prague last month, Kilty glanced around the call room at his competition and his mind flickered back to life on the estate. 'I recognised the look of fear in their eyes, I've seen people in much more dangerous situations on the estate and they looked less scared than some of these athletes. 'On the evenings after I'd got home from school there'd always be fights. People would get stabbed or hit with hammers. We'd hang around in little gangs, that was just something you had to be part of. Kilty gets away from Pascal Mancini (left) and Christian Blum to win gold in Prague earlier this month . Kilty poses outside his local gym in Stockton-on-Tees after returning to the area where he grew up . Kilty shows off his 60m gold medal at the World Indoor Championships in Poland in March last year . 'All of us have gone down different paths, my friend David drowned in a river, another friend just got out of prison for aggravated burglary with a gun. I've managed to run my way out of poverty so why should I be scared standing on a start line for a race?' A year to the day after winning the World Indoor Championships in Poland Kilty, 25, won his second international title. The circumstances were very different. He was favourite, whereas 12 months earlier bookmakers had made him a 33-1 outsider with Jamaican Nesta Carter in the field. Six-and-a-half seconds and 33 strides later his life had changed. 'I went there with £17 in my bank account and by the time the plane landed back in the UK I had six figures — £40,000 from winning the race, a British Athletics bonus and a four-year contract with Nike. 'I can remember sometimes not having much money for food and clothes. When I eventually do have kids I want them to live a comfortable life not like I did. I feel I'm doing a good job of that, a couple more years like this and I'll be OK.' He knows all too well what it's like to have it all snatched away. 'I've been homeless twice,' he says. 'The first time I was five and a half and we were put in a hostel up the road, six of us sharing a room in the same building with prostitutes, asylum-seekers and drug addicts. Looking back it was crazy and dangerous but it just seemed like a bit of an adventure at the time. Kilty was made homeless twice and lived in a hostel with prostitutes, asylum seekers and drug addicts . Kilty poses with Adam Gemili, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and James Ellington (L-R) after winning the 4x100m final at the European Championships in Zurich last year . Kilty holds his head as he discusses his childhood and rise to becoming one of Britain's fastest men . 'We moved to the estate after that, my parents owned a pub and made good money for a time but my mum was an alcoholic and addicted to amphetamines. Somehow they lost all their money and we ended up with nothing. 'When I was 14 we were back in the hostel and I had come to my senses. I realised how dangerous it was, luckily my dad was strong and could protect us. I was living there when I won the English Schools title.' Kilty represented Great Britain through the junior age groups but struggled to make the leap to the senior team. Linford Christie took him under his wing before London 2012 but Kilty missed out on selection for the London Olympics despite achieving the qualifying standard for the 200m. 'I had no option but to return home to live with my mam on the estate,' he says. 'One night someone was hit with a baseball bat and nearly killed. I got arrested and was later cleared, I was 150m away when it happened but the damage had been done, my face was plastered all over the news-papers. The week after I was arrested for an alleged kidnap which again was nothing to do with me and I was cleared. But I should never have been in that environment. 'I retired from athletics and was about to join the Marines but one day I was walking by the river and I suddenly decided I couldn't let my talent go to waste. I didn't want to become a failed product of the estate so I decided to give it one last roll of the dice.' Kilty celebrates after surprising the field - and the bookmakers - to win gold in Poland in March last year . Kilt beats Christian Blum (right) to the line to win the 60m European Indoor title earlier this month . Kilty believes his success on track has helped bring his family closer together after problems in the past . Kilty's five-year-old niece, Olivia, hair tied neatly in bunches, arrives to watch her uncle have his picture taken. She is the daughter of his half-sister and still lives on the estate. They are a close family now but it was not always the case. His father Kevin, who has 12 children, was granted full custody of Kilty and his three full siblings after social services became involved. 'One side of the family was at war with the other,' he says. 'It was dysfunctional growing up but everything is good and happy at the moment. I think my success has brought the family together.' Kilty is being coached by Christie again as his focus has switched to making the British team for August's World Championships in Beijing. Vehemently anti-drugs, Kilty believes his coach's protestations that his positive drugs test for nandrolone in 1999 was erroneous. 'He'd been retired three years at that point,' he says, 'I don't believe he took drugs. I'm a clean athlete and I wouldn't train with him if I believed he was a drug abuser. 'But there definitely is a doping crisis at the moment. Justin Gatlin (current 100m world leader) is running faster at 34 — supposedly off drugs — than he was on drugs.' 'I line up against a drugs cheat in virtually every race — Gatlin, Tyson Gay, Dwain Chambers, Asafa Powell. It's annoying knowing convicted dopers are out there when you've worked so hard to get where you are.'
crannies. Sprinter Richard Kilty poses on the deprived estate where he grew up in European Indoor Championships . The 25-year-old, who briefly retired from athletics in 2012, works local gym in Stockton-on-Tees after returning to 60m gold medal at the World Indoor Championships of prison for aggravated burglary with a gun. Indoor Championships in Poland Kilty, 25, won his bank account and by the time the plane landed struggled to make the leap to the senior team.