Our history

In 1985, PC Keith Blakelock was murdered during the riots at the Broadwater Farm estate in London and the police appealed for information, stating that people knew who had been responsible but were frightened of coming forward.

Michael Ashcroft (now Lord Ashcroft and Chairman of the Trustees of Crimestoppers), a businessman, offered to provide the police with money for a reward to encourage somebody to come forward with information. This led to discussions with the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, resulting in Michael Ashcroft founding the establishment of the Crimestoppers operation in the UK in January 1988. He set up the charity and together with some business colleagues who were also concerned about the rise in violent crime, they funded the UK operation.

Originally launched as the 'Community Action Trust', the charity was renamed Crimestoppers in 1995, by then covering the whole of the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Initially, the administrative organisation was based on TV regions, but the best model proved to be local county-based committees working in partnership with single police forces. The roll-out of this structure continues; there are now 38 volunteer committees across the UK and a further increase will follow, as volunteer numbers grow sufficiently to set up these new, more locally focussed groups.

The concept of businesses establishing a partnership with the media and the police to help solve crimes in this way, chimed with a study undertaken by the Metropolitan Police who had come across Crimestoppers in America, originating some 10 years earlier in Albuquerque.

Lord Ashcroft has been Chairman of the Trustees of Crimestoppers for the last 20 years and a core supporter and donor to the charity throughout this period.

Lord Ashcroft, KCMG

Lord Ashcroft, KCMG is an international businessman and philanthropist. He has many, varied business interests with significant investments and participation in both public and private companies in the United Kingdom, United States and Caribbean. He is Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party in the UK and is also Deputy Treasurer of the International Democratic Union. He was Belize's Permanent Representative to the United Nations until April 2000 and is currently economic adviser for the Embassy of Belize to the United States. Alongside his business acumen, Lord Ashcroft also has altruistic endeavours that focus on his areas of particular interest, crime prevention and education. Lord Ashcroft is Chairman of the Trustees of Crimestoppers UK and Chairman of the Trustees of Ashcroft Technology Academy and Chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University in the UK.