Short bio

Christopher is the co-director of Unlock, an independent award-winning charity that provides a voice and support for people who are facing stigma and obstacles because of their criminal record. He leads the charity’s policy and advocacy work, and oversees the charity’s activities, projects and communications, including work to support and challenge employers to change their recruitment policies and practices, work to prevent unlawful criminal record checks, influencing government policy and working on other policy issues including access to higher education. He is one of the country’s foremost experts on the criminal record disclosure regime and the long-term barriers of criminal records.

A full biography is below. Images to accompany biography are available here.

Contact details for Christopher are below.

Posts by Christopher

Full bio

Christopher is co-director of Unlock, an independent award-winning charity that provides a voice and support for people with convictions who are facing stigma and obstacles because of their criminal record.

Role and responsibilities

Christopher leads Unlock’s policy work, working with government and others in supporting and challenging the ways that criminal records are dealt with. This includes campaigns such as Ban the Box and being the media spokesperson for the charity.

Christopher is responsible for engagement with stakeholders at both operational and policy levels and working with other organisations, including delivering training practitioners and providing support to employers, universities and other organisations that deal with criminal records, encouraging the recruitment of people with criminal records through Unlock’s Fair Access to Employment. 

Christopher is also responsible for the management of Unlock’s activities; this includes overseeing staff and volunteers that run the charity’s confidential peer-run helpline and other support for individuals.

Christopher was appointed Co-director of Unlock in 2013. He joined the charity in 2008.

External representation

Christopher is currently:

During his time at Unlock, Christopher has:

  • Been a member of the government’s Independent Advisory Panel on the Disclosure of Criminal Records, which led to a process of filtering for old/minor convictions being introduced.
  • Contributed to national and regional press (including the Guardian, Independent, and Telegraph newspapers as well as the Huffington Post and Prospect magazine), national TV (including BBC Breakfast and ITV’s Good Morning Britain) and national radio (including BBC Radio 4 and BBC 5 Live)
  • Been a trustee of two national charities:
    • between November 2015 and November 2019, he was a trustee of the Helplines Partnership, the membership body for charities and organisations that provide helpline services in the UK and internationally
    • between January 2018 and November 2020, he was a trustee of Clinks, the national infrastructure charity supporting the voluntary sector working in the criminal justice system

Achievements

During his time at Unlock, he has:

Awards and recognition

Background

True to Unlock being a peer-run charity, Christopher has a criminal record; in 2006 he was convicted of theft offences and received a suspended prison sentence. He wrote about this in a blog, “5 years on from conviction…” and he spoke about his experience for an article in the Metro.

Prior to joining the charity, Christopher graduated from the University of Hull in 2007, gaining a 2.1 in LLB Law, and followed this by completing an LLM masters in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at the University of Leeds, graduating in September 2008 with a merit.

Contact details

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