Board Members
Portia Ragnauth, Chief Crown Prosecutor - Chair
Portia Ragnauth joined the CPS in the 1980`s having completed her pupillage at the Bar where she worked at a variety of Inner London Branches including Camberwell, Bow Street and Horseferry Road. At Camberwell Green she was in charge of cases from the Brixton Area.
Portia then moved to Croydon CPS where she became involved in the setting up of specialist domestic violence courts for the area.
On promotion to Chief Crown Prosecutor, Portia then moved to Durham and worked there for three and a half years. At Durham and with the backing of the Local Criminal Justice Board, the Area set up the first “Hate Crimes Court” in the country. This was established in January 2005.
Her present position is that of Chief Crown Prosecutor for Surrey.
Mark Rowley, Chief Constable
Mark Rowley began his policing career in West Midlands, having graduated from St. Catharines College, Cambridge. After a broad uniformed and detective career in Birmingham, he moved to the National Criminal Investigation Service. Here, as Detective Superintendent, he led on the national deployment of covert techniques to combat organised crime such as telephone interception and tasking of the intelligence agencies. He was a key member of the team that compiled the ‘National Intelligence Model’ that has since been implemented across the country.
On transferring to Surrey as Chief Superintendent in West Surrey, he oversaw major crime reductions and led several countywide initiatives, including Surrey's nationally acclaimed 'yellow card' Surrey Street Standards anti-robbery campaign and the reduction of drugs deaths in the area.
Mark was appointed Assistant Chief Constable from November 2003. He helped generate the ‘National Reassurance Policing Project’. This work included the establishment of "neighbourhood panels" where local people vote on what they want local officers and themselves to tackle in the subsequent month. Mark then took responsibility for ‘Specialist Operations’ in the county. He has led several nationally high profile critical incidents such as the attempt murder of Abigail Witchalls and is leading the South-East Regional Collaboration work on Protective Services. He supported the ACPO development work on ‘Workforce Modernisation’ in this role and continues to do so since taking responsibilities as Deputy Chief Constable in December 2007. In March 2008 Mark was appointed as Temporary Chief Constable. In March 2009, Mark was appointed as Chief Constable.
Ben Byrne, Head of Youth Justice
Ben joined Surrey Youth Justice Service in 1997 working as a frontline practitioner and manager prior to becoming Head of Youth Justice in 2009. Ben is a qualified social worker and has a Masters in Social Science from Brunel University. Before joining Surrey he had worked with vulnerable young people and adult offenders in a number of settings in London and the Home Counties.
In Surrey, Ben has been responsible for establishing the successful North Surrey Prevention Programme in partnership with a variety of local agencies in order to intervene with young people before they enter the criminal justice system. His work has also promoted the reform of the public protection arrangements in respect of young people to ensure the public are properly protected from the small number of young offenders who pose a risk of serious harm. As Head of Youth Justice Ben is determined to ensure that the Youth Justice Service makes a significant contribution to reducing crime in Surrey thereby increasing public confidence in the local youth justice system.
Julia Eeles, HMCS Area Director for Surrey & Sussex
Julia Eeles is a solicitor by profession, having qualified in private practice in Birkenhead in 1982. She joined the Magistrates’ Courts Service as a legal advisor in Ipswich and in due course moved on to Nottingham, Southend-on-Sea and finally to Cheltenham. In 1993 Julia joined HM Magistrates’ Courts Service Inspectorate as a Senior Inspector. In 1998 she was appointed as Justices’ Chief Executive for Cleveland and in 2001 took up the same post in Cheshire. Julia was appointed as Area Director for Cheshire in 2005 and was recently appointed as Area Director for Surrey and Sussex in November 2006.
Sonia Crozier, Chief Executive Surrey & Sussex Probation Trust
Sonia Crozier is chief executive of Surrey and Sussex Probation and has a background of more than 20 years' probation experience. Sonia began working as a probation officer in London in 1988 and has since gained extensive experience throughout her time working for the service.
For the last two years she has held a senior post at the Home Office and Ministry of Justice with a brief of improving the performance of probation areas throughout the England and Wales.
Robert McCauley, Criminal Defence Manager
Criminal Defence Service
After graduating from St Catharine's College, Oxford University in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, Rob worked in accountancy before joining the Inland Revenue.
He joined what was then the Legal Aid Board, the forerunner of the Legal Services Commission, in 1993. He worked on the development of quality assurance for Legal Aid suppliers. From 2000 he managed contracts in Kent and Sussex.
Rob was appointed to the role of Criminal Defence Service Manager in 2005 and joined the Surrey Criminal Justice Board in January 2008.
In addition to his role in Surrey, Rob is also responsible for Criminal Defence services in Sussex and Kent where he also sits on the Criminal Justice boards.