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It took 16 years but I’ve completed my law degree

As he is opening his results after finally completing his law degree, our scholar Andrew Morris (pictured left at Longford Lecture with Mandy Baldry) takes a moment to look back on the barriers put in his path, how he found the resilience to overcome them, those who sustained him, and what it means to him now to be a university graduate

Today I received my final result in a Law degree that has taken me 16 years to complete.  One of the first things I want to do is to say publicly a massive, heartfelt thanks to the Longford Trust for sticking with me.  Let me explain. In custody, for some reason, when you study at degree level, you have to do it over six- years, not the usual three that apply outside in the wider world. So, when I began studying with the Open University in 2010, I thought I would be okay, that I would have time. The prison system had other ideas.

After nine months of applications through the prison, I was finally approved to study but, a few weeks later, I got ghosted from one establishment to another with no reasoning and definitely no warning. I had to begin the process all over again. My next challenge, access to a computer, was beyond difficult and inconsistent. What I wanted, I should explain, was a not computer connected to the internet – that is not allowed at all in prisons – but rather just one that allowed me to type assignments and see the word count. At times I had to complete work by hand and literally hope for the best.

I achieved my first two modules (out of the six needed for an OU degree) but decided that study was no longer for me. The prison system appeared to make access more difficult than I felt that it reasonably should be. During this time, I wrote to the Longford Trust for help post-release and was awarded a scholarship. However, a move back to closed conditions soon put a halt to that. I very nearly gave up completely.

People who change people

One of the things that resonates with me is something that Gethin Jones of Unlocking Potential often says. ‘It is not the system that changes people, it is people within the system’. For me one of those people was Mandy Baldry, who worked in education in HMP Coldingley, and who encouraged me (and many others) not to abandon my education.

Following my release, I went back to the Longford Trust to see if the support that they had offered was still there. To my amazement, it was. Part of me wanted them to say no, so that I had an excuse not to carry on! In 2022, more than a decade after I first began on the path to study, I picked up where I left off once released and continued working towards my degree. Initially I had some difficulty with accessing online material – the OU took a little while to recognise that I was no longer studying from a secure environment – but once I managed to resolve the issue, I was away.

I was paired by the Longford Trust with Neil Cavanah as my mentor. He had done a law degree. We have met almost weekly for the past four years. He has been incredibly supportive. At one point I felt like I might take a break, but instead I was persuaded to carry on, studying alongside full time work and now, finally, I have my 2:1 degree.

Looking forward and back

I am grateful to the Longford Trust – Peter Stanford, Tom Pakenham and to all of the staff and trustees – as well as to Mandy Baldry and those individuals within the system who try to make it better for those passing through it. I am now making plans for the future, talking to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, who must pass anyone who has a criminal conviction before they can join the legal profession, as well as continuing with my work with the New Wave Trust. But just at this point in time I want to take a moment to pause, reflect and pay homage to the late great Rudy Narayan, barrister and civil rights activist, who told me many years ago, that I should do a law degree. I also salute the late, great Darcus Howe, writer, broadcaster and racial justice campaigner, who encouraged me on my journey.

Thank you all for guiding me to the person I am today.

Andrew received a Patrick Pakenham Award from the Longford Trust in 2022 to continue with his law degree.  If you have spent time in prison, and would like to study law at university, contact Clare.

 

Fedor Bryant-Dantes: a fellow scholar’s tribute

Today, Thursday 30 April, the funeral takes place in Hastings of our Longford Scholar Fedor Bryant-Dantes, who died suddenly at Easter, just eight days after being released from prison. He was on the cusp of a new life with his fiance Jacqui, soon to complete his degree, having just won a prize for his business plan from Project ReMake. As his family and friends gather to mourn and celebrate his life  – including his Longford Trust mentor, Alistair Davies –  we publish this tribute  by his friend and fellow Longford Scholar Cathy McGuinness. You can  read his brother David’s tribute here. 

They gave you back
Too late.

That is where all thought begins
and where it breaks:
after years of incarceration,
after all that waiting,
all that endurance,
all that life held in suspension,
You stepped back into freedom.

And within days,
The world had lost you.

There is no soft way
to carry that truth.
No careful phrase
that can make it sit gently.
A man survives years in prison,
comes through all that confinement,
all that effort,
all that inner labour
of trying not to be reduced
by the place that holds him,

and then dies…..
just as life is opening.

What are we to call that?
If not cruel?
What are we to call it?
If not, an injustice
too deep for ordinary language?

Systems know how to count.
They count years,
conditions,
risk,
time served.
They count what can be recorded,
measured,
filed away.

But they do not count well
what prison takes.
What it leaves behind
in the body,
in the mind,
in the hidden rooms of a person.
They do not count
the cost of surviving.
And they do not know how to answer
for a freedom
that arrives only briefly,
like light at a door
already closing.

You were a big man,
broad in build,
broad in presence,
a veteran,
a sergeant,
a man shaped by discipline,
danger, and endurance.

You could call yourself
a hard bastard,
And people would believe you.

But those who knew you better
knew that hardness
was never the whole story.

Because there was warmth in you.
And humour.
And intelligence.
A dark wit,
never cruel.
A gift for story.
A way of drawing people in
without effort,
as if something in you
recognised something in them.

You were the sort of man
who made people feel
there was still a way forward.
Not by speeches.
Not by performance.
But by the way you carried yourself,
by the way you treated others,
by the simple fact
that you had known difficulty
and had not let it hollow you out.

That is rare.
Rarer than strength.
Rarer than charm.
To have lived through enough
to harden a person,
and still remain kind.

And kindness was there in you.
Not a sentimental kindness,
but something steadier,
forged.
Compassion with weight behind it.
Patience.
Generosity.
Belief in other people.
A willingness to help them learn,
to help them keep going,
to help them imagine
more for themselves.

You were not standing still.
You were in motion.
Building.
Studying.
Writing.
Redrafting.
Training.
Encouraging others.
Holding yourself to account.
Holding yourself to a standard.

You had chosen growth,
not as an idea,
But as a daily practice.

And that, perhaps,
is what makes this ache so sharply:
You were not merely hoping.
You were becoming.

You were nearing graduation.
You had work ahead of you.
Plans.
Purpose.
A next chapter already taking shape.
The future was no longer abstract.
It was close enough to touch.

So close.

And perhaps that is one reason
this loss feels unbearable,
because after all those years,
after everything prison took,
You had come so near
to the life you had worked for,
the life you had earned.

You were a lighthouse in the dark.
That is how you remain in my mind.
Not because you were perfect,
You were not,
and you knew that better than anyone,
But because you were human
in the fullest sense of the word.
Complex.
Weathered.
Thoughtful.
Deeply alive.
And still able,
despite everything,
to give light to others.

You loved poetry.
That matters to me.
Your love of Idyll matters.

Because it tells its own truth:
that beneath the strength,
beneath the soldier,
beneath the years of prison
and all the armour life had required of you,
there remained sensitivity,
reflection,
an inwardness,
a soul still reaching
towards meaning,
towards beauty,
towards something gentler
than the world had often given back.

My heart breaks too
for Jacqui,
who waited all that time
for you to come home,
only for that homecoming
to be cut so painfully short.

And for your children,
your grandchildren,
your family,
your friends,
and all those whose lives
were warmed by your presence,
There is no arrangement of words
that can make this right.

Only this:
that you were here.
That you mattered.
That the life in you
touched other lives
and changed them.

Only this:
your name,
your voice,
your humour,
your strength,
your humanity,
still moving through the people
who knew and loved you.

Fedor,
you should have had longer.

And if there is peace now,
let it be the kind
that was denied you here,
open,
unmeasured,
free of walls,
free of waiting,
free at last.

 

Oxford helped me rebuild and find my place again

On leaving prison, Haidar Razzak set himself the goal of a place at Oxford. It proved a bruising and challenging undertaking, but with the support of the Longford Trust he achieved it and, since graduation, has gone forward into a successful career as a business leader and entrepreneur. Here, he urges others in the same situation ‘don’t assume Oxford is closed to you because of your past’.

I was reasonably academic during my A-levels, so I was aware of Oxford and Cambridge and the status they carry. But before I really had the chance to explore that properly, my life went off track and I ended up in prison. At that point, I felt like I’d completely derailed what I thought my future was going to be. When I came out in my late 20s, I believed that period of my life was going to define everything that came after it.

I was certain people wouldn’t look past it. So, I made a decision. If I was going to change how people saw me, I needed to do something that carried real weight in a positive direction. That’s what led me, in my late 20s, to apply to Harris Manchester College at Oxford to study maths and philosophy. I chose it because it’s a college for mature students, so I thought they’d be more open to people who hadn’t followed a conventional path, including someone like me.

Navigating the obstacles in my path

Harris Manchester were great. They were open, understanding, and genuinely supportive. The issue came later, when my application was pooled to another college because the maths side of the degree would need to be taken elsewhere. On the UCAS form, I was only asked to declare unspent convictions. Unsure what that meant, I checked with my probation officer and was advised that I didn’t need to declare anything. But the college my application had been pooled to later became aware of my record and refused me a place. That caused the whole thing to fall through.

By that point I’d already been awarded a Longford Scholarship, and the Trust quite reasonably suggested I consider other top universities. But I was set on Oxford, so I reapplied, this time to Mansfield College, and after a bit of back-and-forth, I was offered a place. Once I was there, the reality was very different from what I’d expected. Most tutors and students, whether they knew about my background or not, were welcoming and treated me normally. Of course, there were a few exceptions, but nothing I wasn’t prepared for.

At the start, especially in first term, there was a lot of curiosity. It’s a small college, and people had looked me up, so I ended up having a lot of conversations about my past. It wasn’t always comfortable, but it settled down pretty quickly. Oxford has a way of making sure everyone’s attention ends up where it should be, on the work.

‘Fairly or not, people make assumptions when they see Oxford on your CV’

I probably would have enjoyed other universities too, but the reason I stuck with Oxford is simple. It carries weight. Fairly or not, people make assumptions when they see it on your CV. In my case, it helped shift how people saw me. It opened doors and gave me opportunities I might not have had otherwise. Ten years on, I run my own fitness business across two sites in London, with a third on the way. Looking back, the process of getting into Oxford probably taught me more than the degree itself in some ways, especially how to deal with setbacks and rejection. That’s something I’ve used a lot in business.

It also showed me that I could rebuild and find my place again. I even met my wife there. If I was speaking to someone with a similar background thinking about university, I’d say this: there are lots of good options out there, and Oxford isn’t the only path. But if you’re considering it, don’t assume it’s closed to you because of your past. It’s not easy. Getting in takes hard work, persistence, and sacrifice. Once you’re there, it’s demanding and will challenge you. But the path does exist, and for those who choose to take it, it can be a rewarding one.

Professor Beth Breeze OBE adds: I am so pleased that Haider is sharing his experience of applying to, and studying at, Oxford. As the current Principal of Harris Manchester, Oxford’s only college that is exclusively focused on mature students, I am glad to add my voice to his and encourage others with a similar background to apply. We exist to ensure that the world’s best higher education is accessible to everyone who has the talent and desire to seize this opportunity. We value having a diverse cohort of students and are proud to be working with the Longford Trust to make this a reality.

For further information: contact Clare, our scholarship manager. Or to join the prospective student mailing list, have a real or virtual tour, and read some of student stories, go to Harris Manchester’s website here or email admissions@hmc.ox.ac.uk

‘What defined him was his determination to become a better man’

Over Easter, our 2025 Longford Scholar Fedor Bryant-Dantes died at the age of 48. Here his older brother, David Pentek, himself a past Longford Scholar, writes of how hard Fedor had worked  to build a new life through higher education, taking every chance and helping others to do the same. He was within touching distance of achieving his goals.

My younger brother Fedor passed away suddenly on Easter Saturday from a heart attack, with his fiancée, Jacqui, at his side. His death has left a deep void in the lives of all of us who knew and loved him. Fedor — or ‘Ween’, as I knew him — was a charismatic, intelligent and deeply likeable man with a natural warmth that drew people to him. He had a dark sense of humour that was never offensive, an incredible gift for storytelling, and an ability to connect with people from all walks of life. He was inspirational without trying to be. Simply by the way he lived and treated others, he gave others hope for the future.

As well as Jacqui, he leaves behind his three children Lily, Ellie and Alfie, his grandchildren Athena and Otto, and our sister Claire. He wasn’t always a perfect man, and he would be the first to admit that he had made mistakes, but what defined him was his determination to grow, to learn, and each day to become a better man.

Fedor had served in The Queen’s Royal Hussars, rising to the rank of Sergeant. After leaving the army he worked in close protection, serving in places including Afghanistan, demonstrating courage, resilience and calm strength in challenging environments. Those qualities stayed with him throughout his life. In 2023, he became the second Longford Scholar in our family, pouring his energy into education and personal development. At the time of his death, he was just two months away from graduating in Creative Writing at Portsmouth University. Throughout his time there, starting attending when on day-release from Open prison, and continuing when he was released just eight days before his death, he showed exemplary discipline and purpose: up early each morning, starting his day with routines that reflected his mindset of self-improvement, training regularly, following strict plans, and encouraging others at the gym and university alike. He would spend his days writing drafts and refining his assignments. His tutors recognised his talent, and he was on track to achieve a distinction. Beyond university, he took on mentoring and coaching roles, helping others with Maths and English, particularly during his time supporting education in prison. He did so with compassion, patience and genuine belief in the potential of those he helped.

He was really thriving as a Longford Scholar, and had built a strong relationship with his Longford Trust mentor, Alistair, a retired English lecturer, whose support he celebrated in a blog on the trust’s website back in February, as a ‘quietly affirming’ presence in his life. ‘He reminds me, by example rather than instruction, that wisdom shouldn’t crowd a room. Alistair gives me space to breathe, to think – and, I hope, in time – to offer that same space to others. For his kindness, wisdom, and friendship, I am deeply grateful.’

Recently Fedor won a Dragons’ Den-style pitch with Project ReMake, one of the Longford Trust’s partner organisations, after he presented to their judges his plans to help people express themselves through writing. His future was looking so bright. He had even secured a new job and was due to attend his induction meeting after Easter. He shared with me how excited he was about the opening of this next chapter, about his living life going forward with purpose and optimism. Tragically, it was not to be, but he leaves behind a legacy of resilience, compassion and hope. He will be deeply missed.

We are recruiting for a new role

As the Longford Trust develops, attracting larger number of scholarship applications each year, making more new awards each summer, seeing numbers of scholars working with us growing, we are creating a new senior role at this exciting time for the charity. 

Have a read, and if you think it might be something that appeals to you, something moreover where your work experience, your life experience and your commitment to prison reform could be channeled, then do please consider applying. 

The new vacancy is for an Operations’ Director

• A 3 day-a-week role;
• Reporting to the Director and working as part of the Senior Management Team of the trust, within an overall cohort of eight, all part-time posts;
• Paid pro-rata of £50-55,000 depending on experience via PAYE with pensions contributions;
• The trust has no physical office, so team members work remotely, with flexible hours, but all team members work Tuesdays. There are regular face-to-face team meetings, as well as one-to-ones, so easy access to London an advantage.

The responsibilities of this senior post are as follows:

• Leadership role in following areas: strategy, developing and implementing the 10-Year-Plan; HR; our Frank Awards programme; Communications and Marketing, systems, digital and AI.
• Working with the Director on fund-raising and finance, growing and nurturing our core partnerships;
• Working with other SMT members when needed in delivering their specific programme areas.

And this is the sort of person we are looking for:

Essential qualities you need to be able to demonstrate:

• commitment to prison reform, with an understanding of the prison system and the barriers it creates for those leaving prison (lived experience of the prison or the criminal justice system is valued);
• senior management background either in a charitable organisation or in a relevant area;
• proven leadership skills and ability to represent the trust in public settings;
• track record in expressing yourself clearly and persuasively in writing;
• strong interpersonal skills in regard of team-working, team-building and upholding the values of the trust;
• up-to-date financial and digital literacy.

Our values

Taking our cue from Frank Longford, after whom the trust is named, our values shape every aspect of our work, including all relationships between team members, trustees, scholarship award-holders, our volunteer trained mentors and our employability partners. These values include:

• A firm belief in the power of education to change lives;
• A passion for second chances for those with lived experience of prison;
• A thorough-going can-do, practical approach that is driven by a desire to level the playing field for those who have been to prison and are committed to building new lives;
• A commitment to integration of all regardless of background and circumstances. We assume the best, start from the positive, are curious, are always ready to learn, and reject fixed mindsets.

Application process

Apply to office@longfordtrust.org, with an up-to-date CV and accompanying letter explaining:

• how you fit our job specification;
• why you want to work with the Longford Trust;
• and what you will bring to it.

Closing date noon on Friday May 1. Interviews will be in person in the second week of May.