Diane Newton Chair of the INQUEST Board and Senior Policy Manager Expand Diane’s background is in psychology and counselling developing group and individual programmes. She has worked in the criminal justice sector for over 20 years including Turning Point, London Probation (as it was then called) and most recently at the Mayor’s Office for Policing And Crime for over eight years where she led on Health (specifically mental health and wider vulnerabilities). She has worked extensively with young people, women and more recently adult males in a forensic setting. Diane holds an MSc in Forensic Mental Health and has been a Magistrate since 2019. Diane became chair of the INQUEST board in February 2022.
Professor Steve Tombs Vice Chair of the INQUEST board and Professor of Criminology, Open University Expand Steve Tombs is Professor of Criminology at The Open University. He has a long-standing interest in the incidence, nature and regulation of corporate and state crime and harm. He has long worked with the Hazards movement and the Institute of Employment Rights, and was a founding member and Chair of the Centre for Corporate Accountability (1999-2009). He joined INQUEST as a Trustee and Board member in 2014, and became vice chair of the board in 2022.
Professor Joe Sim Professor of Criminology, Liverpool John Moores University Expand Joe Sim Is Professor of Criminology and Co-Director of the Centre for the Study of Crime, Criminalisation and Social Exclusion at Liverpool John Moores University. He was a member of Radical Alternatives to Prison and has written a number of books on prisons including British Prisons (with Mike Fitzgerald), Medical Power in Prisons and Punishment and Prisons.
Ruth Bundey Partner, Harrison Bundey Solicitors Expand Ruth’s background is in race relations and criminal defence. Her first Inquest experience was judicially reviewing the Leeds Coroner concerned with the death of Helen Smith, a nurse in Jeddah, and winning the right for inquests to be held into the deaths of British nationals abroad. She continued to represent families from 1990 onwards following deaths in custody, despite a lack of funding, and acted in the Jamieson inquest where further higher court proceedings led to verdict restrictions. She still represents Janet Alder whose brother Christopher died on the floor of Hull Police Station, and continues to act in prison and police station deaths. She was recently involved in the Hillsborough Inquests on behalf of three families.
Kevin Blowe Coordinator, Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol) Expand Kevin joined INQUEST's board in 2010 and was a staff member the late 1990s. He is currently the coordinator for the Network for Police Monitoring, a coalition that brings together many of the UK's most experienced campaigners, lawyers and researchers to highlight and challenge public order policing that violates rights to freedom of assembly. For twenty-five years, Kevin was an activist and volunteer for the Newham Monitoring Project, an east London anti-racist organisation. He was also the secretary of the United Families & Friends Campaign between 1999 and 2009 and active in the family campaigns in support of the relatives of Jean Charles de Menezes and Ian Tomlinson.
Geraldine Isherwood (Treasurer) Senior Finance Executive Expand Geraldine is a thoroughly experienced finance director and manager, having joined the Board of Trustees in 2009. Her previous work experience includes the Queen’s Nursing Institute, the Dystonia Society and Reach Volunteering.
Daniel Machover Solicitor, Hickman & Rose Expand Daniel joined the Board of Trustees of INQUEST in 2007. He qualified as a solicitor in 1998 and is a partner and head of the civil litigation department at London law firm Hickman & Rose. He specialises in civil litigation on behalf of people who have suffered wrongs at the hands of the criminal justice system and has brought many successful claims against the Ministry of Justice, Home Office and police. He has represented many families at inquests following contentious deaths and is a co-author of the Legal Action Group book ‘Inquests – A Practitioners Guide’ (2015, 3rd edition). He co-authors a regular inquest law update in Legal Action magazine. Daniel also works for victims of war crimes, torture and crimes against humanity, helping them seek prosecutions in the UK and elsewhere under the principle of universal criminal jurisdiction for such crimes. He is a trustee of Legal Action Worldwide, which helps gain access to justice for those who need it most in fragile and conflict-affected states. Daniel was chair of the INQUEST board for ten years until February 2022.
Rajiv Menon KC Criminal defence barrister, Garden Court Chambers Expand Rajiv joined the board of INQUEST in 2016, having been a supporter of the organisation for many years. He is a barrister and Queen’s Counsel at Garden Court Chambers, specialising in criminal defence, inquests, police actions and other related criminal justice work. He is particularly interested in cases involving human rights violations, miscarriages of justice, political protest and the abuse of power by the state. He was junior counsel for Dwayne Brooks at the Stephen Lawrence Public Inquiry, a landmark event in the history of race relations in the UK. He has represented many families of those who died in custody, including the families of Mikey Powell, Paul Coker and Adam Rickwood. More recently, he was leading counsel for ten of the bereaved families at the new inquests into the deaths of 96 Liverpool football supporters who were unlawfully killed at Hillsborough stadium. Rajiv is committed to holding power to account in the courts, in our communities and on the streets.
Pete Weatherby KC Barrister, Garden Court Chambers Expand Pete joined the board in March 2018. Pete is a human rights barrister who practices domestically in public inquiries, inquests, criminal, public, prison and police law. Pete led the team representing 22 of the bereaved Hillsborough families at the new inquests, and continues to act for them in a number of matters, including their campaign to get the Public Authorities (Accountability) Bill 2017 (Hillsborough Law) enacted (see www.thehillsboroughlaw.com). Since the conclusion of the Hillsborough inquests, Pete has appeared for the partner of Anthony Grainger at the Public Inquiry into his death (a police shooting) and advised lawyers for the victims of the Grenfell disaster.
Dr Patrick Williams Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University Expand Patrick joined the INQUEST Board of Trustees in 2021. He is a Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, and undertakes research and publishes in the area of 'race' and ethnicity, with a particular focus on racial disparity, disproportionality and differential treatment within the Criminal Justice System. Patrick also advises and supports the development of interventions premised upon the principles of empowerment for a number of local and regional statutory and Voluntary and Community Sector organisations. In conjunction with colleagues in the Policy Evaluation and Research Unit (PERU - MMU), he was involved in the evaluation of short-term prisoner resettlement projects delivered by HMP Manchester and HMP Preston.
Marcia Rigg Activist and campaigner Expand Marcia Rigg is an activist and campaigner on issues which impact families and their personal lived experiences following a controversial death in state custody, particularly police deaths following restraint, mental health and the criminal justice process. Marcia spearheads the United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC), a coalition of families whose loved ones have died following a state related death across the UK in police custody, prisons and mental health units. She has been working with INQUEST since the death of her brother Sean in 2008 and is a member of our Family Reference Group. Marcia is one of the 100 Great Black Britons 2020.
Dr Rebecca Montacute Head of Research and Policy at the Sutton Trust Expand Dr Rebecca Montacute joined the INQUEST board in April 2023. Her mother, Julie, died in 2018 following several failures in the mental health care she received. Rebecca was supported by INQUEST throughout her efforts to uncover those failures, and previously worked together with the charity to release figures on state funding for lawyers at mental health inquests. Rebecca is the Head of Research and Policy at the Sutton Trust, an education charity.
Douglas (Doug) Cave Campaigner and founder of The LEARN Network Expand Doug, a retired veterinary surgeon and business owner, joined the Inquest Board and Family Reference Group in April 2023. His daughter, Stephanie, unexpectedly died in 2016 in an NHS-funded mental health hospital, 125 miles from home. He is a co-founder of The LEARN Network, has qualifications in mental health first aid and suicide prevention, and is an ASIST Trainer. He is a passionate advocate for the use of Lived Experience to shape learning which can improve policies, systems and practice, and organisations as a whole.
Chris de Grasse Senior HR Executive Expand Chris has more than 25 years of experience working in Human Resources which includes 20 years at senior management level at organisations including The Refugee Council and Greenpeace UK. Largely working in unionised environments, Chris developed constructive and respectful consultation and employee relations processes, reflecting the values of the organisation. Chris studied at the Open University obtaining a BSC Hons and later qualified at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. She was a trustee (with particular responsibility for HR), for seven years at a medium sized charity supporting street homelessness, until 2015.