Case Study 4: Robert’s Story (Word Document)
A case study of a detainee, their experiences of detention and the support they received from GDWG.
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The Orchard,
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Freephone number for people in detention:
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Greg Clough
In 2013 Greg heard that St John’s church in Watford were forming a choir. At his second service he met ‘Mahdi’, a 23-year old Iranian tailor, who had been visited in detention by GDWG. His parents had housed personal friends from Uganda, when they became refugees in 1971, and then a mother and young son from Sarajevo in 1992. Following their example, he offered Mahdi the spare room in his flat and transformed both their lives. Shocked by the tortuous six year wait, hopes, setbacks, re-detentions, adjournments and total lack of financial support for Mahdi, Greg wanted to be involved with GDWG.
A qualified Insolvency Practitioner he specialised in personal insolvency before switching to compliance and process technology roles. Mahdi is now Greg’s third God-child, has refugee status, and they share their flat in Hertfordshire with Tala their dog, enjoying off-the-beatentrack travel and learning to run a tailoring business.
Michael Berkeley
Michael started as a volunteer visitor with GDWG early in 2018 and continues to visit regularly.
He retired from full-time work in the City four years ago and now works part-time as an investor relations consultant and is a nonexecutive director of two companies - one a leading City PR firm and the other a stock exchange for growth companies. He worked in investment banking for 15 years followed by a further 18 years in communications consultancy. Before that he taught in Italy and in Japan.
Other experience includes 8 years as a Governor of an inner London state school where he chaired the Finance Committee and brief spells as a relief worker in Nepal and in India. He graduated from Cambridge in Classics and has an MBA from SDA Bocconi in Milan. He is married and has two more or less grown up sons.