People & partnerships

Saul Lehrfreund is the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of The Death Penalty Project, an international legal action NGO which promotes the abolition of capital punishment and provides pro bono assistance to persons facing the death penalty. He is an internationally recognised expert and leading voice on the death penalty, human rights and criminal justice reform, with over three decades of experience. Saul has dedicated his entire career to fighting capital punishment around the world, specifically in the countries of the Commonwealth.

Saul is an Honorary Professor at the School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, and a Visiting Professor of law at the University of Reading, where he was the recipient of an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws in 2009. He regularly writes and lectures on the death penalty and human rights issues, has appeared as an expert before parliamentary commissions, and led international delegations as part of UK FCDO supported engagement. In 2000, Saul was awarded an MBE for services to international human rights.

Parvais is an internationally recognised expert on the administration of capital punishment and criminal justice reform, with more than three decades of experience in the field of constitutional and human rights law. He has dedicated his career to assisting persons at risk of execution, combining a unique blend of law, politics and policy at an operational and policy level. He has led international delegations, lectured and has written extensively in this area. He regularly advises governments within the Commonwealth on constitutional development and, most recently, was appointed as Special Advisor to the High-Level Representative of CARRICOM on criminal justice reform.

Parvais graduated from the University of Bristol, BSc (Hons). He is a Visiting Professor of Practice at the Centre for Criminology, Faculty of Law, University of Oxford. In 2012, he was awarded an MBE for his services to international human rights, and in 2016, received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from Middlesex University.

Rebecca joined The Death Penalty Project as Deputy Director in November 2023. She has over 10 years’ experience in project management and leadership roles within the human rights and development sector. Most recently she was Deputy Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Fund for Global Human Rights and prior to that was the Executive Director of AdvocAid Sierra Leone. In 2019 Rebecca joined the Board of Womankind Worldwide.

Killian joined The Death Penalty Project in March 2022. He specialised in bringing public law challenges on behalf of people in the prison estate. His work representing prisoners with mental capacity issues led to substantive changes to UK legislation.

He now works in the legal team at The Death Penalty Project representing those facing the death penalty, bringing appeals before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and assisting those facing miscarriages of justice before other domestic and international tribunals.

Bethany joined The Death Penalty Project as Legal Officer in October 2023. She has extensive experience acting to uphold the rights of prisoners. Her previous work includes legal challenges regarding the mechanisms for prisoners’ release and challenging discriminatory practices within the prison estate.

Bethany joins the legal team at The Death Penalty Project representing those facing the death penalty, bringing appeals before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and assisting those facing miscarriages of justice before other domestic and international tribunals.

Thalia joined The Death Penalty Project's legal team in April 2026, as part of her training contract with Simons Muirhead Burton (SMB).

Before joining SMB, Thalia worked as a Legal Officer for an NGO in Greece, providing legal information to people seeking asylum in the Closed Controlled Access Centre on Lesvos. She has also worked as a Legal Assistant for a human rights legal aid organisation in India, assisting with claims before Delhi High Court and the National Green Tribunal. Through these roles, Thalia gained experience across immigration, criminal and contentious litigation matters.

Prior to studying law, Thalia completed a BA in Psychology at Trinity College Dublin.

Connie joined The Death Penalty Project as Project Manager in August 2024. She has worked across a range of international human rights organisations and foundations, bringing experience of project management, grant-making and fundraising. Most recently, she was Trusts and Grants Manager at International Justice Mission (IJM) UK, having previously worked with IJM in India. Connie has a BA in Classics from the University of Cambridge and an MSc in Politics of Conflict, Rights and Justice from SOAS, University of London.

Louise joined The Death Penalty Project in September 2024.  She has a BA in Law and Anthropology from the London School of Economics, graduating in June 2024.  Whilst at university she was Head of Communications at LSE Lawyers Without Borders and completed several summer internships at law firms.

Kate joined The Death Penalty Project as Communications Lead in April 2025. She has worked across the human rights and development sector, bringing a wide range of experience in developing brand, communications and marketing strategies, delivering multi-channel fundraising campaigns and producing impactful storytelling content to mobilise support for a cause.

Most recently, she was Head of Communications and Fundraising at Afghanaid. Kate has a BA in History and Visual Culture from the University of Exeter and an MA in Human Rights from University College London.

Corinne joined The Death Penalty Project as Fundraising Manager in February 2026. She has worked in fundraising and marketing roles across the nonprofit sector, including at disability charities Mencap and Revitalise, with experience in strengthening donor relationships, coordinating events and delivering fundraising campaigns.

Corinne also serves as a Trustee for Larsen's pride, a charity dedicated to supporting children diagnosed with brain tumours and their families.

Antony Gormley is widely acclaimed for his sculptures, installations and public artworks that investigate the relationship of the human body to space. Gormley was awarded the Turner Prize in 1994, the South Bank Prize for Visual Art in 1999, the Bernhard Heiliger Award for Sculpture in 2007, the Obayashi Prize in 2012 and the Praemium Imperiale in 2013. He was made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in 1997 and was knighted in the New Year’s Honours list in 2014. He is an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, an honorary doctor of the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Trinity and Jesus Colleges, Cambridge. Gormley has been a Royal Academician since 2003.

Baroness Helena Kennedy KC is one of the UK's most distinguished lawyers.

She has practiced at the Bar for over 40 years in the field of criminal law and has conducted many of the leading cases in those years.  She is the President of Justice,  the British arm of the International Commission of Jurists. She is the chair of the Booker Prize Foundation and a member of Microsoft Technology and Human Rights Advisory Council.  She is the Chancellor of Sheffield  Hallam University.  She is the new Director of the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute.

Bryan Stevenson is the founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). Bryan is a widely acclaimed public-interest lawyer who has dedicated his career to helping the poor, incarcerated and condemned. Under his leadership, EJI has won major legal challenges eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent death-row prisoners, protecting the rights of those incarcerated, and aiding children prosecuted as adults. Bryan’s work fighting poverty and challenging racial discrimination in the criminal-justice system has won him numerous awards. His bestselling memoir, ‘Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption’, is a winner of the Carnegie Medal for Nonfiction.

Lu Guthrie is an award-winning calligrapher, with training in calligraphy, bookbinding and heraldry. Her late husband James Guthrie KC was one of the UK's leading barristers and a founding Trustee at The Death Penalty Project.

Lord Julian Fellowes is a multi-award-winning actor, writer, director and producer. As creator, sole writer and Executive Producer of the television series Downton Abbey, he has won three Emmy awards and a Golden Globe. He received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Gosford Park (2002). His work has also been honoured by the Writer's Guild of America, The New York Film Critics’ Circle and the National Society of Film Critics for Best Screenplay. Lord Fellowes has also written a number of novels, including the international bestsellers Snobs, Past Imperfect and Belgravia. He is a patron of the Rainbow Trust and the Dorset Blind Association, and Vice-President of the Royal National Institute for Blind People (RNIB). He has been a member of the House of Lords since 2011.

Phil is the founder and MD of both Bankside Films, an international film distribution company and Head Gear Films, a film, TV and video games investment company. Phil produces and executive produces and in the past decade has invested in over 200 feature films. Head Gear Films is now one of the world’s largest financiers of independent film.

Phil is a BAFTA voting member, mentor to National Film and Television producing students and regular speaker on the industry circuit. Phil is creating Bohemia, the world’s first private members club for the burgeoning alternative LGBTQI community in London. It will provide a safe space for people living outside mainstream culture.