Greater Manchester Probation Trust

Probation Trust Board and Members

Greater Manchester Probation Trust Board

The Trust is led by the Greater Manchester Probation Trust Board which is responsible to the Secretary of State for Justice for performance within national guidelines.

The Trust Board has 12 members who are representatives of the local community in Greater Manchester.

The Board meets once a month at present.                 

Board members are kept well informed and receive regular performance and financial information about the work of the service.

On a day-to-day basis, the Board's responsibilities are delegated to the Chief Executive, who is responsible for the delivery of services

Greater Manchester Probation Trust Board

Chair : Hilary Tucker  

Ms. Tucker was previously a Board member in Cheshire Probation Area, between 2001 -2007, where she led on performance improvement and offender management programmes and was very involved in audit work. Professionally, Hilary’s background is in education. Having started her career as a teacher, she spent her early working life as a higher education lecturer in sociology and in teacher education. Before retiring from full time work, she was the principal of a further education college in Warrington which had an establishment of 14, 000 students. The college had learning facilities in 81 locations, which Hilary helped to build up through productive partnership working. Hilary has previous connections with Manchester too, she was a member of Manchester University's Senate and its sub-committees over many years. She has also works for the NHS, assessing doctors’ performance and as a partner on the postgraduate medical education and training board. She is currently a governor at the University of Chester and she is also a charity trustee for a small charity offering holidays and retreats to educational, social and family groups in need of a break. Hilary is a practising Quaker.

Viv Carter

Viv joined the Board in 2007. She began her working life as a teacher of Home Economics, later taking employment, as a Home Economist with British Coal and later, British Gas. She was appointed a magistrate in 1974 and has served as chairman of the Youth Court and, later spent 6 years as Bench Chairman. During her time as chair of the youth panel, it was discovered that the vast majority of the young offenders appearing before the magistrates were not on a school register. The overwhelming feeling was that something “should be done”, so Viv led a team which eventually set up a local charity to deal with disaffected and excluded young people – 10 years later, she continues to chair this charity and regards it as one of her passions, along with her family and foreign travel. In 2007 Viv was awarded an MBE.

Gita Conn

With a career in print journalism and TV production, Gita worked first as a Researcher, then as Producer and Director at BBC TV's Network Features Department in Manchester on programmes like Brass Tacks, The Travel Show, The Family Rules etc. Appointed to the Salford Bench in 1976, her special interest in the Family Proceedings Court gave her the background knowledge to produce and direct 'Child Wars' in the Heart of the Matter series for the BBC in 1995. Her concern for the problems faced by children when their parents split up led to the founding of the Salford Child Contact Centre later that year. She now chairs Pro-Contact – the Greater Manchester Supervised Children's Contact and Assessment Centre – and was awarded an OBE for her services in this innovative field in 2004. She served as a Non-Executive Director on the Central Manchester Healthcare NHS Trust from 1996 to 2001. She is a member of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel and of OFCOM's Advisory Committee for England. A graduate of Manchester University, she attained a Post Graduate Diploma in Hebrew and Jewish Studies from Oxford University in 1998. She has three sons and eight grandchildren.

John Crawforth OBE

John Crawforth has been the Chief Officer for Greater Manchester Probation Area since March 2005, becoming the Chief Executive of Greater Manchester Probation Trust in April 2009. John originally joined Greater Manchester in 1974 working in Bury as a probation officer and then as a probation manager in inner-city Manchester and Salford. He was promoted to Assistant Chief Officer in 1987 before moving to Lancashire in 1992 first as its Deputy Chief and from 1994 as its Chief Officer. A graduate of Leeds, Nottingham and Cambridge Universities with a M.Phil in Criminology his special interests include sentencing and the courts, working with the Prison Service on regional resettlement initiatives and promoting diversity. In his former role, as Chair of the Lancashire Criminal Justice Board, John played a key role in improving public confidence in the criminal justice system. He is married to a primary school teacher and has two grown up children. Outside work he is a qualified cricket coach, enjoys cycling, keeping fit, photography and Bolton Wanderers. John was awarded an OBE in June 2008 for public and voluntary service.

Judge Tony Gee QC

Tony was born in Blackpool but his father’s job took the family around the country. He was educated in Cambridge, Chester and London and called to the Bar in 1972. He took silk on appointment as Queen’s Counsel in 1990. Of his 35 years in practice most of his work has been in crime, prosecuting or defending and dealing with cases of real gravity. He has always practised in Manchester and other centres on the Northern Circuit. In April 2004 he was appointed as a Circuit Judge based in Crown Square, Manchester. He is married with three children (now fully or partly fledged) and lives in south Manchester. Hobbies include playing golf, tennis, fly-fishing, walking in the Lake District and watching cricket.

Peter Henson

Peter joined the Board in May 2009. Born in Salford, he began his career in engineering, completing a four-year apprenticeship before enlisting for three years in the army. In 1979 he left the army and began a career with Greater Manchester Police during which time he served in many varied roles and duties. While stationed on the South Manchester division he was appointed as Chair of the Local Action Partnership for Chorlton. During this time he was a key figure in promoting initiatives to tackle both race and hate crime and had considerable success ensuring partnership working between the police and Youth Offending Teams. Prior to retirement from the police service he served for four years as a full time Federation Officer and Treasurer to Greater Manchester Police Federation and assisted officers and the force as an adviser on both discipline and equal opportunity matters. He is currently the Honorary Treasurer for two police charities, firstly, the Police Treatment Centre based in Harrogate and Auchterarder, Scotland, which provides rest, recuperation and intensive physiotherapy to ill and injured police officers, and secondly, the St George's Police Trust which provides support to the children of police officers who have died or are so incapacitated they are unable to work. He is also a director and former treasurer of a large industrial Credit Union. Married with two daughters and three grandsons, his hobbies include keeping fit, squash, DIY and spending quality time with his family.

Michael Hyman

Michael joined the Board in 2006. Leaving Manchester University with a degree in Economics and Social Studies, he pursued a career in business, including designing business systems, national sales and general management. Michael runs a mail order business that supplies specialist textile and paper conservation materials to museums and the public. With a keen interest in criminal justice, Michael became a Magistrate in 1999 and is currently Deputy Chairman of the Trafford Bench. He also chairs the Trafford Magistrates’ Probation Liaison Committee. Appointed to the Greater Manchester Police Authority in 2002 Michael is the lead for the Authority on police complaints, stop & search and race issues. He has been a member of the Jewish Representative Council for Greater Manchester since 2004 and became a member of Postwatch, the consumer watchdog for postal services, in 2005. Interests include classical music and blues / jazz and walking, preferably in the Yorkshire Dales or the Lake District. A retired class 2 football referee Michael has enjoyed (most of the time) watching Leeds United for over 40 years! He has two boys.

Nasrullah Khan Moghal

Khan is the Chief Executive of Manchester Council for Community Relations (MCCR). As Chief Executive, he plays a key role in voicing the aspirations and needs of the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities at local, regional, national and European levels. As such he is a familiar face at international events as well as in print and electronic media. He has worked to tackle institutional racism alongside organisations such as the Police and other local Councils. Khan is the Director of the South Manchester Law Centre and Honorary Secretary of the Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnership, The Manchester Partnership Agenda 2010 partnership - a 10 year programme of improving race relations in Manchester. He is a member of the Policy Advisory Committee of Greater Manchester Police Race & Diversity Working Group. He has also been a board member of the European Union Migrants Forum and served as a Vice President for two years. A University of Manchester graduate (1970) Khan also has a Diploma in Race and Community Relations from the University of Liverpool (1996). He is a Chartered Engineer and holds a Certificate in Quality Assurance Auditing.

Emily Lam

Emily joined Manchester City Magistrates' Court in 1998 as a Lay Magistrate and regularly sits in both Adult and Youth Courts. She is Lead Member for Diversity and Police Stop/Search for Cheshire Police Authority. From 1994 - 2003 she was an Education Consultant running a counselling and recruitment service for overseas pupils to independent boarding schools in the UK. A Registered General Nurse, Midwife and Health Visitor Emily has a BA (Honours) degree in Psychology. Her experience includes research, her role as Chair of a District-wide Nursing Policy Group in Liverpool, and Nursing Officer at the Department of Health for Practice Developments. She has an interest in performance measurement, service standards and continuous quality improvement, particularly from the consumer perspective. Over the years, she has worked in the voluntary sector and also acted as an overseas guardian to many young people attending boarding schools in UK. In her spare time she likes hill walking.

Councillor Syd Lloyd

Syd is 63 years old and joined the Board in May 2009. He is currently an elected councillor serving on Stockport MBC. At the end of 2008 he retired from work and sold his commercial refrigeration business which he had built up over the last 15 years. Syd is currently the Vice Chair of Governors at Harrytown Catholic High School in Romiley and also a local authority appointed governor at Bredbury Green Primary School. In 2000 Syd was appointed to the Greater Manchester Police Authority as an Independent Member. During his term he served as the Chair of the Standards Committee and Chair of the Minority Ethnic working party. He was also the Lead member representing the authority when the Oldham riots took place. Syd enjoys watching most sports but now spends most of his spare time working in his constituency on community projects and dealing with residents' problems, generated through his work as a councillor.

Abdul Malik Ahad

Abdul Joined the Board in May 2009.  Abdul, 36, was born in Bangladesh and arrived in the UK on a very cold day in 1979. He has since resided in Oldham, but worked throughout Greater Manchester and UK.

Inspired by his late father’s community work, Abdul has a passion for work to improve people’s lives, especially those that are disadvantaged. This dedication saw him working since the age of 16 for public authorities and voluntary groups ranging from arts to education, regeneration, and housing.Concluding his role as co-ordinator for a North West voluntary sector network, in 2001 following the disturbances in Oldham, Abdul was appointed as Community Cohesion Manager for the Council’s Housing Arms Length Management Organisation, where he quickly developed award winning initiatives on inclusion and equality. In 2002, he became Deputy Director there with responsibility for performance, marketing/communications, ICT, and diversity. In 2007 Abdul set up a small company, Capital Consult Group, which he runs providing consultancy and training solutions to public and voluntary sector agencies. He has served as board director at various charities, and is currently the chairperson of a leading young people’s theatre company in the Greater Manchester region, Peshkar Productions, where he was earlier a participant at the age of 17. Abdul is also a non-Executive Director at NHS Oldham. He is currently concluding his MBA, and holds diplomas in Management, Performance Management, and Coaching. Abdul is married with three children. His passions are current affairs, arts/culture, travelling, international development, and his family.

Coren Williams