 She was born in New Brighton and raised in Liverpool, England, and graduated in Psychology from UCL in 1968.She began her career as a prison psychologist, and in 1975 she completed her PhD, working at Wormwood Scrubs prison in West London.Building on her PhD research, she commenced work in the late 1970s at the Home Office Research Unit where she stayed for over thirty years, dedicating the last twenty to research and development in the policing and crime prevention fields.