The People Behind The Longford Trust

Peter is the founding director of the Longford Trust, and is Lord Longford’s official biographer. He is an author, editor, journalist and broadcaster, known for his biographies and writings on the history, theology and cultural significance of religious ideas.

Clare runs the Longford Scholarships programme and works on the Frank Awards. She was a Longford Trust mentor for four years before joining the team in November 2022. Her professional background is in magazine publishing and as an author.

Chris is a current Longford Scholar, studying law at Edinburgh University. He is a former teacher with a love for education. His writing has been published by VICE News, The Independent, and Inside Time. A former prison council leader, he is passionate about human rights and social justice. In July 2024, he joined the trustee board of Human Rights Consortium Scotland.

Veena has two roles at the trust. She joined in March 2023 and runs our mentoring programme. And as Development Manager she builds links between the trust and prisons, prison education team and providers, prison learners, the probation service and partner charities in the criminal justice system. She also oversees our communications strategy. A former community worker, where she worked with prisoners, a trainer consultant and business coach, and a BBC news  broadcast journalist, Veena brings a wealth of experience to both posts.

Sara is the Office Manager for the Longford Trust and also works on the scholarship programme and our social media platforms. She brings over 20 years of experience in office management, accounting, fundraising and event organising.

Hannah has held various roles in marketing, branding and the third sector.

Rachel is a distinguished writer and associate editor of Inside Time, the national newspaper for prisoners. Her first novel, All Things Nice, was published in 1968. She was a reforming President of English PEN from 1998 to 2001 and is now an Honorary Vice-President of the writers’ organisation. She is the third of Lord Longford’s four daughters.

Victoria is a criminologist and lawyer. Her first job was working with Lord Longford on his homelessness project in London’s Soho. She has taught at Middlesex University, specialising in penal history and women. As a solicitor, her practice was in criminal defence work.

Tom is an eco-entrepreneur and investor. He was the founder and director of Green Tomato Cars and currently works in the clean energy sector. He serves and has served on a number of company boards and advisory groups. Tom is a qualified solicitor and has been a trustee of the Longford Trust since 2003. Read about Tom’s vision for the Longford Trust.

John is an author and freelance criminal justice consultant. He was for many years a prison governor. He has worked in Europe, USA, Australia and Mauritius and his most recent international work has been on behalf of Penal Reform International evaluating prison projects in Kazakhstan and training trainers in human rights and prison management in India and for Commonwealth countries across Africa.

Jon is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster, who since 1989 has presented Channel 4 News. His first job was after university was working alongside Lord Longford at New Horizon Youth Centre. He was Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University from 2001 to 2008.

Alex has worked in the finance sector for 35 years. Most recently he founded an ethical lending firm. Prior to that he worked for KKR and Goldman Sachs for 20 years in many different roles.

CJ is national manager of the educational and preventative SOS+ Service at St Giles, an award-winning social justice charity, that uses expertise and real-life past experiences to empower people held back by multiple and complex disadvantages to build better futures for themselves. CJ, a former Longford Scholar, has a Bachelor of Laws degree and is also a trustee of the Criminal Justice Alliance. Passionate about education, and second chances, CJ delivered the first TedX talk in a prison, about the importance of employment to rehabilitation.

Tim is a doctoral research student in Psychiatry at King’s College London, where he researches anxiety disorders. He is also the membership officer at the Howard League for Penal Reform. Both positions directly arose from being a Longford Trust scholar, and Tim is keen to ensure others affected by prison have the chance to do the same.

Pawel is Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of CCm Technologies, which works in carbon capture. A former Life Guards’ officer, he is a senior advisor at Stanhope Capital.

Kyle is a software developer at Arahi, a company specializing in portfolio reporting, board pack reporting and value creation. He holds a degree in Mathematics and is a former Longford Scholar. Passionate about leveraging technology for innovation, Kyle is committed to continuous learning and contributing to a fairer society through his work.

Elliot is a criminal justice professional working for an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice. He is a former senior editor of the Birkbeck Law Review and has contributed academic literature on his field, with his work published in the SAGE peer-reviewed Probation Journal. He is a graduate of Portsmouth University, having studied for an honours degree there as a Nat Billington scholar.