A Scottish prison officer has been recognised by the Butler Trust after spending decades making sure thousands of young people whose parents are imprisoned have presents to open on Christmas morning.
Colin O’Flaherty, a regimes officer at HMP Edinburgh, has spent more than 20 years ensuring children with parents in custody don’t feel left out at Christmas - helping more than 250 children in 2022 alone. And the 64-year-old's heroic effort was commended at a special ceremony hosted by HRH The Princess Royal in London last month.
With the help of 24 local churches, Colin has been collecting presents for families since 2001 - refusing to even let a heart attack and triple bypass surgery slow him down, saying the Christmas gift scheme to help him transition back to work.
