Deborah is the executive director of INQUEST, and has worked for the charity since 1989. She leads INQUEST's strategic policy, legal and parliamentary work and has considerable expertise in working to prevent death and ill treatment in all forms of detention and for more effective accountable learning. She has been an independent expert adviser to numerous government committees and inquiries, is a regular media commentator, delivers conference papers nationally and internationally and is author of numerous articles and publications.

Deborah represents INQUEST as a member of the Ministerial Board on Deaths in Custody and is independently a member of the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody; she is also on the board of trustees of Clean Break and a special adviser to Women in Prison.