Board Members
Temporary 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.
Bernard Lawson, Temporary Chief Constable, Merseyside Police
Bernard Lawson joined Merseyside Police in 1984 and performed a variety of roles across Merseyside including uniform patrol, custody, Area CID and Professional Standards as a Constable and Sergeant. Promoted to Inspector he spent two years performing operational roles before he was responsible for writing the first annual Policing Plan and Corporate Strategy and from there worked in HMIC at a regional and national level as a Chief Inspector. In 1998 he transferred to Lancashire Constabulary as a Superintendent working as a deputy BCU Commander in Northern Division.
In 2000 he was promoted to Chief Superintendent followed by a two-year period as a BCU Commander in Preston – his home town. He was successful in applying for and attending the 2002 Strategic Command Course.In December 2002, he returned to Merseyside as ACC (Personnel & Training) transferring to the role of ACC (Operations) in January 2005. This latter role involved responsibility for Area Operations, Criminal Justice, Call Handling and Despatch and Community Relations. Bernard has also led on Professional Standards since 2006.
In January 2008 Bernard was promoted to Deputy Chief Constable and on 5th October 2009 he became Temporary Chief Constable of Merseyside Police. He is the only officer to perform this role having joined the Force as a Constable.
As part of his ACPO responsibilities Bernard has the Standards, Training and Competence portfolio within the Crime Business Area and has the lead on Professionalising Investigation Programme. In addition Bernard is part of the ACPO Children and Young People Business Area.Bernard has had responsibility for the Grand National (2005 & 2006), the British Open Golf (2006 & 2008) and the Liverpool FC homecoming parade from the UEFA Champions League Final (2005).
In 2005, he took the lead on the racist murder of Anthony Walker and the subsequent national conference hosted in Liverpool to challenge such events from occurring again.Bernard has a first degree in Mathematics from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and a Masters in Applied Criminology from Cambridge University.
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.
John Young, Temporary Assistant Chief Constable, Merseyside Police
John joined the police in 1985 and was originally posted to Halewood. Over the next few years worked in a variety of roles, in both uniform, CID, Specialist Departments, Corporate projects and also an attachment to the Home Office.
John was promoted to Superintendent in 2003 when he went to Corporate Criminal Justice, working there for six months as the Temporary Chief Superintendent before moving to the Wirral in April 2005. During this time he obtained a degree in Police management in 2004.
After a few months as Superintendent, he was appointed Temporary Area Commander for the Wirral from October 2005 until his posting as Area Commander in Knowsley in April 2006. During his 3½ years in Knowsley, he was the Force IT Lead, and during July 2009, in charge of policing the Open Golf Tournament at Royal Birkdale, drawing on his experience from the Open at Hoylake in 2006, where he performed a similar role.
In October 2009, John took up the post of Temporary Assistant Chief Constable, Citizen Focus, holding responsibility for the Citizen Focus Department, Calls and Crime Recording Bureau, Communication and Marketing and Corporate Criminal Justice.
Carole Hudson, Chief Executive of St Helens Council
(awaiting update)
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.
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 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.
Nic Johanson, Area Relationship Manager, Legal Services Commission Northern Region
(awaiting update)