SAD NEWS : Leeds Rhinos Former super star Chev Walker confirm dead at 40 from a fatal car accident 😢😭

Chev Walker on the prison guard who helped inspire his rugby league redemption

Leeds Rhinos assistant coach spent time inside aged 20 but won a Grand Final on his release

Chev Walker rebuilt his Super League career on his release from a young offenders’ institute(PA)

Chev Walker has revealed how a prison officer helped inspire his rugby league redemption after a spell behind bars as a youngster.

The Leeds Rhinos assistant coach was sentenced to 18 months in a young offenders’ institute aged 20, for his part a street fight that also saw team-mates Ryan Bailey and Dwayne Barker and Rochdale full-back Paul Owen spend time inside

Walker had already played for England in the 2000 World Cup as a teenager and in the Challenge Cup final at Wembley while on bail.

His career could have been torn apart by the incident, but Leeds stood by him, Bailey and Barker, and Walker featured in the triumphant 2004 Grand Final before later having spells at Bath RU, Hull KR and Bradford.

Now he has shared how one prison worker helped show him what he was missing during the seven and a half months he served behind bars.

In a podcast with Rhinos hooker Brad Dwyer, Walker explained: “At that moment in time it could have gone and been taken away from me.

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“I had a decent prison warden that came in on a Friday night. Where my jail cell was I could see their unit, and he’d put the game on and push the tele so I could see it. He wasn’t a rugby league fan but I got on with him and chatted with him.

“I remember Leeds getting beat by Wigan at Headingley in 2003, and that was the day when I thought I’d let my team-mates down. I was sat there thinking ‘I’m never going to let them down again – I can’t do that.