Board Members
Chair of Merseyside Criminal Justice Board Bernard Hogan-Howe, Chief Constable, Merseyside Police
Bernard Hogan-Howe was born in Sheffield and joined South Yorkshire Police in 1979. He worked as District Commander, Doncaster West Area and also headed departments in traffic policing, personnel and a team responsible for implementing a comprehensive reorganisation of South Yorkshire Police.
In 1997, he joined Merseyside Police as ACC Community Affairs before taking responsibility for Area Operations in 1999. Mr Hogan-Howe joined the Metropolitan Police Service as Assistant Commissioner in July 2001, with responsibility for Human Resources.
He was appointed Chief Constable of Merseyside Police on 25 September 2004. He is Chair of the Personnel Management Business Area of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and a Board member of the Central Policing Training and Development Authority (Centrex).
Deputy Chair of Merseyside Criminal Justice Board,
John Stafford, Chief Probation Officer
John Stafford was appointed Chief Officer of Probation for Merseyside in April 1999.
John began his career with the Greater Manchester Probation Service as a trainee probation officer in 1974. He underwent his professional training at the University of Manchester 1975-6 where he obtained an Advanced Post-Graduate Diploma in Economic and Social Studies, followed by the Post-Graduate Diploma in Social Work (CQSW) 1976-7 at Manchester Polytechnic. He then worked as a probation officer in inner city Manchester and with the Homeless Offenders Unit.
Appointed Deputy Chief Probation Officer for Lancashire in April 1994, he was responsible for Personnel and Operations. He co-established the Burnley-Dordrecht Prolific Offender Project in 1997 which became the prototype for future intensive support and surveillance schemes. John was also on the national ACOP Group for Finance and for the What Works initiative.
On Merseyside, John is currently Deputy Chair of the Connexions Board and Chair of its Audit and Risk Committee. He is Deputy Chair of the Merseyside Criminal Justice Board and was Chair of its forerunner, the Chief Officers’ in Criminal Justice Group between 1999-2002. John is lead Chief and Accountable Officer for the North West Regional Training Consortium. He is a member of the National Joint Prisons Probation Interventions Strategy Board and the Learning and Skills for Offenders Project Board.
Paul Whittaker, Chief Crown Prosecutor of CPS Merseyside 
Born and educated in the Wrexham area of North Wales, Paul was a student in Liverpool before being called to the bar in 1977.
Following a short period in chambers he entered the Magistrates Courts Service in 1980, initially at Liverpool City Magistrates before moving to Cheshire.
In 1985 he joined the newly formed North Wales Police Prosecuting Solicitors’ Office, transferring to the CPS in 1986. He became Branch Crown Prosecutor for the Marches Branch in 1992 and for the amalgamated North Wales Branch in 1997. He was appointed Chief Crown Prosecutor for North Wales in 1998.
Throughout his CPS career he has been active as a trainer and in representing the CPS nationally on inter-agency working groups. He has been closely involved with the piloting of a number of the recent reforms. Between December 2002 and October 2004 he was on secondment to CPS HQ as Charging Project Director.
He took up post as Chief Crown Prosecutor for Merseyside in October 2004.
He is a member of the Conditional Cautioning Programme Board and has been closely involved in work on both the new Code of Practice and Director’s Guidance for Conditional Cautioning.
Sheena Ramsey, Chief Executive of Knowsley Borough Council Knowsley Borough Council is a co-opted member of the Merseyside Criminal Justice Board.
Sheena joined Newcastle City Council in 1996 as a Principal Strategy and Review Officer working in corporate strategy. Her main areas of policy were health and Europe. She was seconded to the then new Chief Executive, Kevin Lavery, in 1997 to help with corporate reorganisation and in 1998 was appointed Senior Policy Manager.
In 1999 she was Head of Policy and Research and then Strategic Support Directorate Co-ordinator. In April 2004 she was made Assistant Chief Executive.
In April 2005 Sheena was appointed as Chief Executive of Knowsley Council and has spent much of her first six months evaluating the council’s future direction and the challenges ahead.
Sheena has just announced a challenging change agenda for Knowsley that will create an organisation that will tackle inequalities in the borough, maximise public resources and deliver joined-up services at a neighbourhood level.
Geoffrey Appleton, Acting Area Director, HMCS Merseyside & Cheshire 
Geoffrey has worked for HMCS for 30 years and began his career as a Legal Advisor, he has a masters in Criminology. Following this he spent ten years in Human Resources where he led nationally on training for magistrates. Geoffrey has in the past been a member of the board of visitors for HMP Liverpool, a non-executive director in the NHS and also president of the Athenaeum (a private members’ club founded in 1797).
Alan Brown, Governor, HM Prison Liverpool
Alan joined the Prison Service in 1972 and since then has served in a number of prisons around the Country, namely Northumberland, Durham, Kent, Lancashire, London and Yorkshire. In addition to Prison Officer and Deputy Governor roles, Alan also served for a period at HM Prison Headquarters leading the implementation team for the replacement of 24,000 PCs and delivery of a new IT system to the Prison Service. This was hailed as the first successful Government IT programme.
Graduating with a Diploma in Management studies from Leeds Metropolitan University in 1995, Alan also holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Open University.
He was appointed as Governor of HMP Preston in 2002, and in 2005 as Governor of HMP Liverpool.
Alan is married with two sons. His wife is currently Governor of HMP Haverigg in Cumbria.
Helen King, Assistant Chief Constable, Merseyside Police 
Helen King joined Merseyside Police on secondment as Temporary Assistant Chief Constable in September 2005 and had responsibility for the Force Modernisation portfolio.
Helen was permanently appointed into the ACC Post in December 2005.
In July 2006, Merseyside Police created a new Portfolio entitled “Citizen Focus” which incorporates Communications and Marketing, Calls & Crime Recording, Corporate Criminal Justice, and the Citizen Focus Department. The Portfolio is committed to leading the Force in ways of working that recognises, understands and applies the experience and needs of citizens in our decision making and service delivery. She is also Force lead for Liverpool’s Capital of Culture 2008, as well as Chairing most of the Force’s Police Misconduct Panels.
Helen started her police career with the Cheshire Constabulary in 1986. More recently she has served in superintending ranks as a Divisional Commander, Head of Human Resources, HMIC Lead Inspector for BCU inspections and as Head of Professional Standards. She has an MA from Oxford University, having studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St Anne’s College. She has also successfully completed a part-time MA Programme in Police Management at Manchester University and has Diploma in Applied Criminology at Cambridge University.
Helen is also lead for the E-Borders for ACPO Crime Business Area and leads nationally for ACPO on Cash and Valuables In Transit Offences.
Aileen Shepherd, Head of Service for Liverpool Youth Offending Service
Born in Glasgow and educated in Edinburgh and Leeds, Aileen undertook her post graduate Diploma in Social Work at Liverpool. She joined the probation service in Merseyside and worked as a probation officer and senior probation officer in a number of settings across the county across the county including courts, community supervision, day training and family court welfare.
In 1998 she was appointed to Greater Manchester Probation Service as district manager for Bury and Rochdale where she worked with both those local authorities in establishing their Crime and Disorder reduction partnerships. Her particular interest has been in child protection and public protection arrangements.In 1999 Aileen was appointed to establish the youth offending service in Cheshire where she was a member of Cheshire Criminal Justice Board and the Connexions board.
In 2003 she was appointed to Liverpool as Head of Youth Offending Services where her priority has been to develop a service that delivers to both the criminal justice and children’s agendas. She is a member of the Citysafe Board, the Children and Young Peoples Partnership Board and the Merseyside Community Justice Board.
Alison Gibbon, Contracts Manager, Legal Services Commission - Legal Services Commission is a co-opted member of the Merseyside Criminal Justice Board