24 February 2022

INQUEST are pleased to announce a new Chair and Vice Chair to the Board of Trustees, and give thanks to our former Chair and continuing Trustee.

Our Director, Deborah Coles, shares her reflections on the changes:

“Daniel Machover has been the chair of INQUEST for over 10 years. He has provided dedicated support to the senior management team, and grown and nurtured the board of trustees. His legal insight and strategic input has been incredibly valuable to the team and me personally and he has consistently championed INQUEST’s work.

Daniel has presided over the organisation’s growth and financial sustainability, and worked tirelessly to ensure INQUEST remained true to its core values. He has also helped develop the new board structure and appointment of the new Chair Diane Newton and Vice Chair Steve Tombs. We are delighted he will continue to serve as a trustee.  

Between them Diane and Steve bring a wealth of expertise and experience around anti-racism, criminal justice, mental health, corporate crime, traumatic bereavement, strategic management, charity governance and more. We are so pleased with their appointments and I look forward to working closely with them in their new roles.”

Daniel Machover said: “It has been an immense privilege to be the Chair of Trustees of INQUEST for over a decade. As a solicitor who greatly values the vital work that INQUEST does in supporting bereaved families and bringing about lasting change in terms of access to justice and accountability and learning lessons from avoidable deaths – especially in custody and at the hands of state agents.

I have been fortunate to have the chance as Chair to provide support to the Executive Director in her leadership role and to INQUEST’s staff and management in the incredible work that they do.  I will continue to assist INQUEST’s work as a Trustee, but the excellent newly appointed Chair and Vice Chair will bring their undoubted skills and commitment to INQUEST to ensure that the organisation has all the support it needs to meet the current challenges we face.”

BACKGROUNDS

Diane Newton, New Chair of the board at INQUEST

Diane’s background is in psychology and counselling developing group and individual programmes. She has worked in the criminal justice sector for over 25 years including Turning Point, London Probation (as it was then called), The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime for over eight years where she initially led on serious youth violence and gangs and subsequently health (specifically mental health, complex needs and wider vulnerabilities.)

Diane is presently employed as London Regional Manager and Overseas Cases, Homicide Service, Victim Support. She has worked extensively with young people, women and adult males. Diane holds an MSc in Forensic Mental Health and has been a Magistrate since 2019.

Steve Tombs, new Vice Chair:

Steve Tombs is Professor of Criminology at The Open University. He has a long-standing interest in the incidence, nature and regulation of corporate and state crime and harm. He has long worked with the Hazards movement and the Institute of Employment Rights, and was a founding member and Chair of the Centre for Corporate Accountability (1999-2009).

Learn more about all the board members at INQUEST here.