{"id":123,"date":"2016-07-09T22:35:52","date_gmt":"2016-07-09T22:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/?page_id=31"},"modified":"2026-04-24T17:23:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T17:23:14","slug":"career","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/hugh\/career\/","title":{"rendered":"Career"},"content":{"rendered":"

My first job after university was as a psychologist in Wandsworth prison<\/strong>. After six years on prison landings, I transferred to the Prison Department\u2019s South East Regional Office and subsequently became the Regi\"Longonal<\/strong> Psychologist<\/strong> when, amongst other things, I played a part in securing the future of HMP Grendon Underwood, removing young offenders from HMP Wormwood Scrubs, introducing tactical management to the regional office at a time when the prison population was increasing steeply, responding to prison disturbances and industrial disputes, designing procedures for the operational assessment of all aspects of prison establishments, managing the overflowing numbers of prisoners in police cells, and assisting the police with some high-profile cases. I introduced computing to the regional office and set up an email system between prisons in the 1970s.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a professional psychologist, I was a founder member of the British Psychological Society<\/strong>‘s Division of Criminological and Legal Psychology<\/em> (now known as Forensic Psychology), a member of the BPS’s Professional Affairs Board<\/em>, served on the BPS’s Working Party on the Registration of Psychologists<\/em> and was one of the people who initiated postgraduate forensic psychology training for psychologists working in prisons.<\/span><\/p>\n

After nearly 20 years as a psychologist, I moved to the central Home Office as an administrator, working first on charities (including enabling the first Red Nose Day<\/em>), charity law, the voluntary sector, reform of the Charity Commission, new religious movements and the founding of INFORM.<\/a> I then moved jobs to work on scientific procedures on living animals for the initial years of the Animal Procedures Committee<\/em> (now superseded by the Animals in Science Committee<\/em><\/a>); animal welfare, including the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991<\/a><\/em> (a reference to this critique<\/a> is also here<\/a>), the regulation of puppy farms and the discontinuation of tail docking; the protection of seals during the phocine distemper outbreak; and legislation to improve protection for badgers and their setts. My next post was as Deputy Head of the Probation Service division with responsibility for probation\/bail hostels and the introduction of National Standards; probation service voluntary sector grants; the supervision of sex offenders, the setting up of the Wolvercote sex offender clinic, and the Stop It Now!<\/em> child protection initiative. I implemented electronic tagging in the UK, following which I was appointed an OBE in 1996.<\/span><\/p>\n

I then took charge of the Home Office\u2019s Criminal Policy Strategy Unit<\/strong> and dealt with cross-cutting criminal justice system issues like the Crime Reduction Programme<\/a> especially in relation to persistent offenders and violence against women and girls; race equality and race crime, particularly following the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry; representing the UK at EU level in respect of violence against women; violence against national health service staff, including ambulance crew; highlighting the emerging dangers of computer, internet and high-tech crime, including child abuse and internet fraud (in 1998 when people thought that was nothing to worry about); high-profile sex offenders; the implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998<\/em> in the criminal justice system; the Crime and Disorder Act 1998<\/a><\/em>, information sharing and sec<\/a><\/em>tion 115<\/a><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

My last job before retirement was as the first Crime Reduction Director<\/strong> (which became known as Home Office Director when the responsibilities were extended beyond crime in the Government Office for the South East<\/a>. \u00a0My main task was to reduce crime across the region\u2019s 84 local authority and five police force areas, but I also took on significant responsibilities \"\"across the South East in relation to the voluntary sector; drugs; and race equality and race relations, including an initiative promoting BME professionals in public life (this was long before the days of a “hostile environment”) and promoting race equality in the NHS.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I took up post, the South East sat in third place for crime nationally. During my time as Home Office Director, <\/strong>crime in the South East fell in each successive year. After the first year, it had bettered the South West. The following year it bettered the East and remained in the top position so that<\/span><\/span> the South East became the safest part of the UK, <\/strong>including Scotland and Northern Ireland.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whilst my main work was reducing volume crime, like burglary and car crime, I became well-known for my work on violence against women, including particularly domestic violence; racial and homophobic crime; distraction burglary; and how to reduce the fear of crime. When regional British Crime Survey<\/i> data for domestic violence first became available, the South East was shown as having 296 victims per 10,000 adults \u2013 in round figures, twice that of London and three times that of the North East. The following year, this had reduced to 177. A year later it had reduced it further to 116, bringing the South East down to the national average and making a major contribution to a national reduction in domestic violence. High-profile initiatives across the region bringing statistically significant falls for successive years meant that domestic violence had reduced in the South East by around 60%.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I remain passionate about these issues so have put up some of my public statements on this website although they are now very old. However, sadly these messages are as vital as they always were: like the extreme danger women (and their children) face<\/strong>\u00a0when they tell their partner that they wish to end a relationship<\/strong> – for that is the trigger for so many murders. The world would become a safer place if that single, simple fact were more widely appreciated not only by potential victims, but also by the police, family and friends, professional advisors (like solicitors), the courts and journalists who write about crime.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Since retirement I have worked entirely in a voluntary capacity, including<\/span><\/p>\n