Appointment and reappointment of members of the Sentencing Council
The Deputy Prime Minister has approved 2 appointments and one reappointment, of non judicial members, to the Sentencing Council.
The Lord Chancellor has approved the appointment, without competition, of Tim de Meyer as policing member. This appointment is made, without competition, from 9 December 2025 until 30 June 2026.
Ministers consulted the Commissioner for Public Appointments before making this appointment without competition which will ensure that, that the Sentencing Council has a member with experience of policing pending a substantive recruitment.
The Lord Chancellor has approved the appointments, for three years from 2 March 2026, of Jessica Jacobson and Rokaiya Khan as members with expertise in academic research and the rehabilitation of offenders respectively.
The Lord Chancellor has also approved the reappointment of Johanna Robinson as member with experience of promotion of the welfare of victims, for a second three-year term from 5 October 2026.
The Sentencing Council for England and Wales was established to promote greater transparency and consistency in sentencing, while maintaining the independence of the judiciary. The primary role of the council is to issue guidelines on sentencing, which the courts must follow unless it is in the interests of justice not to do so.
The appointment of non-judicial members of the Sentencing Council is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments and recruitment processes comply with the Cabinet Office Governance Code on Public Appointments.
Biographies
Tim de Meyer has 28 years of policing experience across a range of operational and strategic roles. He has served in the Metropolitan Police and Thames Valley Police, and in 2023 he was appointed Chief Constable of Surrey Police. Since 2019, Tim has held the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) portfolio lead for CPIA Disclosure, contributing to national policy and practice through the Criminal Justice Coordination Committee.
Jessica Jacobson is Professor of Criminal Justice at Birkbeck, University of London. Jessica completed her PhD at the London School of Economics in 1996, in the sociology of religion and ethnicity. She subsequently developed her expertise in justice research, initially as a Home Office researcher, and later as an independent researcher and policy consultant. She has been based at Birkbeck since 2011, and for 11 years was Director of Birkbeck’s Institute for Crime and Justice Policy Research.
Rokaiya Khan is Chief Executive of Together Women, a leading charity supporting women and girls across Yorkshire and the Humber. She has over 30 years’ experience in the voluntary and criminal justice sectors, with a strong focus on prevention, rehabilitation, and gender responsive services. Alongside her executive role, Rokaiya serves as a Non Executive Director in the NHS and as a school governor, bringing extensive experience in governance, strategy, and public service.
Johanna Robinson has served as National Adviser to the Welsh Government on Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence since September 2022. In this role she provides Welsh Ministers with an expert perspective on the development and implementation of policy across the Welsh Government, working with victims and survivors to ensure their experience informs policy development.
