Jim Gamble

Gamble's father was in the Royal Air Force. Before joining the Royal Ulster Constabulary as a constable, Gamble served in the Royal Military Police.[3] Early in his career he was regional head of the Special Branch in Belfast, then Deputy Director General (with the rank of deputy chief constable) of the National Crime Squad, which in April 2006, merged into the Serious Organised Crime Agency. He was also the head of the Belfast Region of the RUC Special Branch.[4]

Gamble led the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) fight against child sex abuse. He also presided over Operation Ore.[5] He led the work to set up the National Crime Squad's specialist response cell – the Paedophile and Online Investigation Team (POLIT). He was awarded the Queen's Police Medal (QPM) in the 2008 New Year Honours.[6]

In 2009, Hugh Orde resigned as Police Service of Northern Ireland chief constable.[7] Gamble applied for the position but was unsuccessful with the position being filled by Matt Baggott, the former chief constable of Leicestershire who was the successful candidate.Gamble stated that he believed his background as an RUC Special Branch officer may have been a factor in why he was not selected for the role.[7]

Gamble was a co-author on the UK's first Domestic Homicide Review (Pemberton) and in 2010 was appointed by the then Home Secretary to lead the initial scoping review of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.[8]

Michael Grade talking to Jim Gamble, October, 2022

Gamble resigned as CEO of CEOP in October 2010 after the Home Secretary Theresa May's decision to merge CEOP with SOCA and other bodies into a new National Crime Agency. Gamble wanted CEOP to remain independent.[9]

"I have resigned because I'm concerned about the direction of travel that CEOP is moving in. I am deeply concerned that it is not going to be best for children, because I believe you either begin from a position of what is best for policing or a position of what is best for children themselves. I am concerned that the advice that we have given from our mixed-economy multi-agency staff, through the response to the consultation, the responses from the Children's Commissioners, the NSPCC, the Association of Directors of Children's Services, ACPO and APA, that all of that is not being taken into account, as the NCA business case is being developed at speed and in a direction that I think is fundamentally wrong. I resigned to remove myself from the equation so that there could be no misperception that I have a vested self-interest in this, and I resigned in order that the issue that we focus upon would be what is best for child protection, not what is best for Jim Gamble or those within CEOP, but what is best for children."

— Jim Gamble, Home Affairs Committee, 12 OCTOBER 2010, https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmhaff/510/10101202.htm

Jim Gamble and Michelle McIlveen launching the Safer Schools NI App, 2021

Gamble has commissioned a significant number of Serious Case and Practice Learning Reviews and authored numerous strategic and thematic reports, including the Brighton and Sussex University Hospital Trust, the Independent Safeguarding Review of Oxfam GB.[10] and he recently instigated and led the Child Q Review.[11][12]

Mr Gamble has been called to give evidence at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) on two occasions. The first related to child abuse on the internet and the second to faith-based institutions.[13] Furthermore, he is regularly called upon to act as an expert witness in legal proceedings.

In 2015, Gamble joined the Labour Party in Northern Ireland. Gamble stated that he wanted Labour candidates to be allowed to stand in Northern Ireland, but that he would have no plans to run himself.[14]

Later that year Gamble voted for Yvette Cooper during the Labour Party leadership election. Cooper was defeated with 17% of the vote and the eventual winner would be Jeremy Corbyn.[14]

Gamble has been called to give evidence at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) on two occasions. The first related to child abuse on the internet and the second to faith-based institutions.[15]

Gamble appeared in a 2019 documentary about the disappearance of Madeline McCann on Netflix.[19] [20]

In Dec 2019, Jim spoke at a TEDx Stormont Women event discussing ‘Online Safety – it is not about the internet’.[21] TEDxStormontWomen took place on 12 December 2019 in the Great Hall, Parliament Buildings, Stormont in Northern Ireland. The talk considered the nature of the online threat including the nature of the beast, the suggestion that blaming tech companies is too simplistic, the importance of individual leadership and simple ideas that everyone safer.