Richard Horton

Richard is a former senior police officer with West Midlands police with over 30 years experience working with a variety of partners to tackle complex social issues such as domestic violence, violent extremism, diversion of offenders and child sexual exploitation. He was part of the policing unit responsible for the development of a partner based Prevent strategy in Birmingham from 2008-2015.

As part of this strategy he worked alongside Birmingham City Council’s Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub, the education sector, communities and NHS to develop a programme designed to divert individuals from terrorism in a proportionate and balanced way. Part of this strategy involved the extensive briefing of partners and communities about the nature of the threat, delivering training and community involvement and leadership of many successful interventions.

9/11: The Al Qaeda attacks on New York’s Twin Towers and the Pentagon in Washington on 11th September 2001, which triggered President George W Bush’s ‘War on Terror’ and the  wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

7/7: The co-ordinated bomb attacks on London by four young British men in the name of Al Qaeda, on 7th July 2005, which killed 52 people.

Al Qaeda: Terrorist group founded in 1988 by Osama Bin Laden, which committed the 9/11 attacks.

Islamic State (Daesh/IS/ISIS/ISIL): Terrorist group formed after the fall of Saddam Hussain in Iraq and the civil war in Syria. It is the most prominent recruiter of Westerners to its mission to establish its own state.

CONTEST & the ‘4 Ps’: The British Government’s Counter Terrorism strategy initiated in 2006, revised in 2011, consisting of 4 strands: Prepare, Protect, Prevent and Pursue.

Prevent: Aiming to stop (prevent) individuals from supporting terrorism or becoming terrorists.