Alex Varley-Winter

I’m an investigative journalist with 10 years working in the media and – sometimes – in education; I write widely for locals, nationals and online publishers, and have stories in the Sunday Times, Times, Byline Times, Mirror, Computer Weekly and DeSmog. Subjects I’ve researched span governmental transparency, social justice, environmental sustainability, crime, climate risk, the impact of disinformation and organised crime. I adhere to the NUJ Code in all my work, including protecting the identity of confidential sources: https://www.nuj.org.uk/about/nuj-code/

In recent years observing complex cases in the High Court, I noted the kafkaesque impact of abuse of process by acknowledged ‘bad actors’ (lawyers who were later struck off, con-artists, and the like), against a backdrop of heavy justice sector cuts. The hardship this imposed on their – relatively powerless – victims was a stark reality that was drawn to my passing attention and kept repeating itself. I could not help but observe the extremely heavy toll on victims of white collar crime within that system. That interest drew me to Transparency Task Force’s engaging symposia, impressed by their anti-scam work. When Andy Agathangelou then asked me if I would like to do some investigations with TTF I said yes. I serve here as Head of Media Outreach and Investigative Journalism – voluntarily. It is a delight to collaborate with a group of public-spirited people advocating for consumers’ interests. If you have a tip or untold ‘story’ that TTF should research, on transparency, hidden truths, financial stability and improving financial services for consumers, please do feel free to reach out to me.