High Sheriff aims to highlight gambling addiction

Devon's new High Sheriff has pledged to use her year in office to highlight gambling addiction and tackle reoffending.

Caroline Harlow was declared for the royal appointment at a ceremony in Exeter Cathedral on Friday.

The prison volunteer and Devon Community Foundation trustee said she was also committed to supporting organisations that keep people out of prison.

The Office of High Sheriff is the oldest secular office in the UK after the Crown and dates back more than 1,000 years.

The role involves supporting the Crown and the judiciary, crime prevention agencies, the emergency services and voluntary sector and encouraging crime reduction projects.     

Mrs Harlow said: "My career as a speech and language therapist gave me my first taste of the satisfaction of working closely with people to help them achieve what at one time they thought would be impossible.

"Fifty years later I'm still committed to the same values.

"But now I'm in a pivotal position to bring together people working in crime reduction, the voluntary sector, the judicial system and the custodial services."

Mrs Harlow has also worked in the NHS and private sectors as a specialist in communication disorders for people with acquired brain injury.

Since retiring she spent six years volunteering in the kitchen at St Petrock's homeless centre in Exeter.

She said: "It alerted me to how many of those who were sleeping rough or were without a home of their own had come out of prison and were continuing to struggle with addiction."

She met former prisoners who had lost high-level careers, homes and families to gambling addiction.

"They opened my eyes to this often-hidden addiction's pernicious grip and the devastating harm it causes," she said.

She said she is determined to bring about "awareness and change for those whose gambling addiction has led them to prison in Devon".

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