Complaints Committee

Lord Edward Faulks

Chair of the Committee

Lord Faulks has a long career as a barrister specialising in claims arising from the Human Rights Act, professional and clinical negligence, personal injury, education, police claims and public law. He became a QC in 1996. He was appointed to the House of Lords in 2010 and served as Justice Minister from 2013-2016. He now sits as an unaffiliated peer.

Richard Best

Deputy Chair of the Complaints Committee

Richard Best spent more than 25 years working in print media. He served as editor of the North Devon Journal, Mid Devon Gazette and West Briton. He was also managing editor of Cornwall Today. He now runs the consultancy Straightshot Communications.

Nazir Afzal OBE

Nazir Afzal was Chief Crown Prosecutor for the North West of England and has prosecuted some of the UK’s most high profile cases, including child sex abuse in Rochdale. More recently, he has worked as an international expert on extremism and radicalisation and is a member of the Manchester Mayor’s Commission for Cohesion. Nazir was awarded an OBE for his work with the CPS and involvement with local communities.

Andy Brennan QPM

Andy Brennan was a Deputy Director in the National Crime Agency and prior to this, a senior police officer in the West Yorkshire Police where he held positions as the Head of the Homicide and Major Enquiry Teams and Head of Professional Standards and Counter Corruption Unit. He was awarded the Queens Police Medal for services to policing and the public in 2012.

Lara Fielden

Lara Fielden has professional and academic expertise in media regulation. She was a broadcasting regulator with Ofcom, and as a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University’s Reuters Institute her publications included a report on press regulation for the Leveson Inquiry. Lara was Vice Chair of the London Probation Trust and advised on the UK Statistics Authority’s recent Code review. She is a lay board member of the Bar Standards Board.

Janette Harkess

Janette Harkess is a former journalist who has worked in senior roles across a range of titles in Scotland. She was Head of Media for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and was previously Director of Policy and Research for the Scottish Council for Development and Industry. A Board member of National Theatre of Scotland and Scottish Youth Theatre, she is also an Honorary Vice President of the Journalists' Charity.

David Hutton

David Hutton spent 22 years as a senior leader in secondary schools, initially as Deputy Head and then as Head. He represented fellow headteachers on Suffolk’s Schools’ Forum, chaired the Governing Body of a Special School, and was a founder member of the Ipswich Opportunity Area Board. He is also a qualified Ofsted Inspector.

Helyn Mensah

Helyn Mensah is a barrister specialising in intellectual property law at 33 Bedford Row chambers. She has experience in a broad range of intellectual property matters and has advised a number of well-known domestic and international clients. In addition to her practice, Helyn sits as a member of the Strategic Governance Panel to the new English non-household water retail market, and chairs its General Data Protection Regulation Committee.

Andrew Pettie

Andrew Pettie has worked as a journalist and editor for newspapers, magazines and publishers including the Telegraph Media Group where he was the Executive Head of Culture, EMAP, the BBC and Encyclopaedia Britannica. He is now a consultant, contributing editor and writer.

Mark Payton

Mark Payton is an editor and journalist with more than 30 years of specialist consumer publishing experience. Most recently, Mark was editorial director of Haymarket Consumer Media, managing the content strategy for a portfolio of online and print brands in sport, music, technology and automotive. He is now an editorial consultant, lecturer and writer.

Miranda Winram

Miranda Winram was Head of Strategy and Insight and a Board Member of Forest Enterprise, England’s largest landowner and most visited outdoor space, until 2019. She was a non-exec member of the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s Fitness to Practice committee between 2009 and 2017 and is currently a public appointee to the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee for Gloucestershire. Miranda is presently travelling the UK with her toddler and dog, making the most of the time before her son starts school.

Peter Wright

Peter Wright is Editor Emeritus at Associated Newspapers and was a member of the Implementation Group which co-ordinated the newspaper industry’s response to the Leveson Inquiry and the creation of IPSO. He was formerly Editor of The Mail on Sunday, and a member of both the Editors’ Code Committee and the Press Complaints Commission