Our people
Our staff
Harriet Clugston, Investigations Editor
Harriet previously worked for National World, one of the UK’s largest regional and local newspaper publishers, where she initially led the regional investigations team, before moving to its flagship national website NationalWorld.com as data and investigations editor.
She was previously shortlisted for the Private Eye Paul Foot Award for investigative journalism with her regional team, for a project exposing the many ways in which the criminal justice system – and politicians – had failed to live up to the promises of the Modern Slavery Act. She has also previously exposed the disparities in outcomes faced by minority ethnic victims of sexual and domestic violence; documented the UK police forces probing women they suspect of having illegal abortions; and uncovered how official government, police and Crown Prosecution Service figures are giving an inflated picture of how many serious sexual assault suspects are charged, prosecuted and convicted. Her work has been cited in evidence submitted to Parliament, and discussed by politicians in Westminster debates.
Harriet is a two-time Royal Statistical Society Statistical Excellence in Journalism winner and a Regional Press Awards winner, and has been shortlisted for a British Journalism Award, Society of Editors Media Freedom Awards, and the Write to End Violence Against Women and Girls Awards.
Before moving to National World she was a senior reporter at Radar AI, PA’s local data news agency, and before that a local reporter for the Hertfordshire Mercury.
Aaron Walawalkar, Investigative Journalist
Aaron was previously the news editor at independent media outlet EachOther, helping shape its coverage of UK human rights issues ranging from systemic racism to school exclusions. He was also a freelance reporter for the Guardian and the Observer, covering national news and producing exclusive stories on homelessness and disability rights.
In 2019, he won a Google News Initiative-sponsored award for his work at the Ilford Recorder in east London leading a year-long newspaper campaign focussing on rough sleeping. In coordination with the Bureau Local’s Dying Homeless project, he revealed that at least 10 people had died homeless in the borough of Redbridge in the year to October 2018. Six were undocumented Indian migrants stuck in a bureaucratic limbo.
Aaron has a keen interest in migration, homelessness and policing.
Mark Wilding, Investigative Journalist
Mark joined Liberty Investigates in January 2023 after more than a decade as a freelance investigative reporter, covering issues including criminal justice, drugs policy, migrants’ rights, and homelessness.
For eight years he worked as a freelance correspondent for VICE, producing news exclusives, long-form investigations, and television documentaries. This work included a long-running series about councils using anti-social behaviour legislation to target rough sleepers, which helped secure a government intervention to prevent the practice, and an investigation into the origins of synthetic cannabis that was shortlisted for a Criminal Justice Alliance award for outstanding journalism. His coverage of the UK government’s failure to assist child refugees was prominently cited in an inquiry report produced by the Human Trafficking Foundation.
Mark’s other work has included news exclusives for the Guardian and the Daily Mirror. He has investigated the UK’s flat earth movement for Esquire, marathon cheats for the Observer Magazine, and performance-enhancing drugs for Men’s Health.
Editorial Advisory Board
Anne Koch has been the Program Director at the Global Investigative Journalism Network since 2017. She worked as a broadcast journalist and executive for more than 20 years, mostly for the BBC, before becoming a director at anti-corruption NGO Transparency International. Her award-winning career in BBC journalism included service as deputy director of the English World Service, executive editor of the BBC’s flagship daily radio news and current affairs programs and editor of the World Tonight. She has produced or edited over a hundred documentaries and current affairs programs. At TI, she served as director of Europe and Central Asia, overseeing nearly 50 independent chapters. She is also a trustee at London charity Time and Talents.
Becky Gardiner worked as a journalist for 25 years on national newspapers and magazines. She was at the Guardian from 1998, when she joined as Women’s Editor, until 2015. She held a number of senior editorial positions there, including Education editor, launch editor of the Family section, Deputy editor of G2 and, most recently, Comment Editor. Before working at the Guardian she edited the Big Issue for two years, was deputy editor on the Independent on Sunday’s Real Life supplement, and a freelance writer for various newspapers. She is now a senior lecturer at Goldsmiths, university of London, where she co-convenes the MA Journalism programme.
Chrissie Giles has been a writer and editor for over 17 years. She is Global Health Editor at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in London.
Previously, she worked for Wellcome, one of the world’s largest health foundations, where she was Editor of the award-winning longform publication Mosaic (mosaicscience.com). At Mosaic, she championed up-and-coming writers from around the world, including Shayla Love, Alex Riley, Josh Sokol and the late Lyra McKee.
Giles studied Biochemistry at university and completed a Master’s in Science Communication at Imperial College, London.
Gervase de Wilde is a media law barrister who practises at the leading specialist chambers 5RB. He acts for both claimants and defendants, providing advocacy and advice in a wide range of disputes. He regularly acts for claimants seeking to protect privacy and data protection rights, particularly online, including by obtaining urgent injunctions. He also frequently acts for the media, including at various times all of the country’s leading newspaper groups and broadcasters, in relation to open justice and reporting the Courts in high-profile civil and criminal litigation.
In addition, his practice involves providing pre-publication advice to newspapers, book publishers and TV companies. Before converting to the law, Gervase worked as an arts journalist, both as a freelancer and as a staff journalist and editor at a broadsheet newspaper, and he continues to have a keen interest in journalism and the arts.
Grey is Advocacy Director at Liberty. They oversee Liberty’s strategic litigation, policy work and campaigns, advice and information, and our investigative teams, who all work together to protect rights and hold the powerful to account.
Prior to joining Liberty in July 2019, Grey was Legal Director at the Equality and Human Rights Commission. They have specialised in human rights, equality, and public law litigation, advisory and policy work since qualifying as a solicitor in 2002.
Grey trained in private practice at the legal aid front line, mainly focussed on community care and asylum support cases. Subsequently they worked at the Public Law Project and then the Equality and Human Rights Commission litigating on a broad range of human rights issues in the domestic courts and the ECHR, and advising on legislative change proposals. During that time they also worked with the UN treaty bodies, particularly the Committee Against Torture, and a number of partner organisations.
Martha is a human rights lawyer and campaigner. Before joining Liberty she practised at Doughty Street Chambers, defending access to justice, challenging state failures and fighting for the rights of women, children and disabled people.
She has worked with bereaved families seeking answers after loved ones died in state care, victims of rape, domestic violence and trafficking who have been failed by the police, and protestors and journalists whose freedoms have been under attack.
Martha was previously a lawyer at Mind and the Public Law Project and she has written books about human rights, policing and disability rights. She is an Associate Tenant of Doughty Street Chambers and a Visiting Professor at Goldsmiths University.