A SPELL in the dock for 17 of Cambridgeshire’s most eminent individuals – rounded up by former chief constable Julie Spence - has raised £20,000 for charity.

%image(15907337, type="article-full", alt="Ely's Brian Ashton is collared")

The group of 17 ‘criminals’ included Lord John de Ramsey and Penny Walkinshaw, the High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire.

%image(15907338, type="article-full", alt="The "convicts" are gathered in the dock at Cambridge Crown Court")

Also in the dock were Sir Keith Pearson, Chairman of Health Education England, and Councillor Brian Ashton of Ely, the deputy police and crime commissioner for Cambridgeshire.

%image(15907339, type="article-full", alt="Andy Harter is arrested")

The Jail and Bail event was organised by Ormiston Children & Families Trust - the most the charity has ever raised from a single fundraising event.

%image(15907340, type="article-full", alt="Lord De Ramsey is led away by officers")

Locally Ormiston supports children and families affected by imprisonment, run two children’s centres in March and Chatteris, deliver a Travellers Health Advocacy Project and offer a range of parenting support programmes.

%image(15907341, type="article-full", alt="Patrick McMahon is put into handcuffs")

The fun day of fund raising involved all 17 being ‘arrested’ for heinous crimes against society which included GBH to a work computer and even being “too Welsh”!

%image(15907342, type="article-full", alt="Penny Walkinshaw in the dock")

An Ormiston spokesman said: “The motley crew was taken to court where they were prosecuted and told they would not be released until they had raised enough bail for Ormiston, which is one of the leading children’s charities in East Anglia.”

%image(15907343, type="article-full", alt="Andy Hebb is restrained")

The event was organised by Ms Spence and now an Ormiston trustee.

She said: “I cannot thank the participants enough for their support at Jail & Bail; their enthusiasm, sense of fun and sheer exuberance for the event and the charity made it an extraordinarily valuable day, not just because of the amount of money raised but because it helped to raise the profile of Ormiston too.

“Thanks to our ‘criminals’, there are now hundreds of people who know the name ‘Ormiston’ who didn’t know about us before and weren’t aware of the important and difficult work we do with some of the most challenged children and families not just in Cambridgeshire, but across the whole of East Anglia.”

A spokesman for Ormiston said: “We are one of the leading children’s charities in the East of England.

“We identify and respond to the needs of children, whatever challenges they face. Our vision is of a world in which every child will be loved, nurtured and valued.

“We are a pioneering children’s charity, with a reputation for ground-breaking work, seeking out the children and families most at risk in our society and continuously researching and evaluating the impact of our work with them.

“Last year we helped over 130,000 children and families through difficult and challenging times in their lives.

“We currently have over 40 services across the region, including children’s centres and visiting support services in prison, family intervention projects and parenting support programmes.

“More information on the charity is available from www.ormiston.org”.