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Criminologist, University of York

I completed my masters degree in social research methods in 2003 at Teesside University with a view to taking up a PhD studying whether education could reduce crime and significantly aid an offenders pathway to rehabilitation. I was also teaching criminology seminars to undergraduate students with aspirations to work in academe.

However, for the next seven years, I used my research skills for the media industry working as a freelance journalist and writer. In 2011 I began touring the university circuit as a guest lecturer talking about my personal experiences of prison and my journey to desistance. As a reformed offender, my PhD is deeply rooted within my own personal experiences which is ex-prisoners in Higher Education: A study of desistance, self-change; identity and negotiation through higher education.

In 2012, I published my autobiography, Never Ending Circles, followed by an historical biography, The Man Whose Skills Saved Millions about York's legendary surgeon, Dr John Snow and most recently, Deadly Encounters about the Newcastle underworld. I was also a columnist for UNLOCK (The National Organisation of Reformed Offenders).

Experience

  • –present
    PHD student, University of York