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Cambridge Two
The Cambridge Two (also known as the Wintercomfort Two) were British homeless charity managers, Ruth Wyner and John Brock, who were imprisoned in December 1999 having been judged not to have taken reasonable steps to prevent heroin dealing at Wintercomfort, the Cambridge homeless centre that they were managing. The incident became a cause célèbre leading to a public campaign for their release. They successfully appealed the length of their sentence and were released from prison on 11 July 2000. However, they were unsuccessful in their appeal in December 2000 to overturn their conviction.
Ruth Avril Wyner was born in London on 1 April 1950 to Anna (née Nagley), a mosaic artist, and Percy Wyner, a cloth merchant. She was educated at St Paul's Girls' School. After leaving school, she spent time in a North Devon ashram and edited an alternative magazine started by John Hopkins. She moved to Norwich and started work as a journalist in 1970 at the Eastern Daily News. Whilst in Norwich, she met Gordon Bell to whom she got married in 1978. He was the lead guitarist of a band she had joined called Crazy Lizard. They had two children together, Joel and Rachel.
Whilst Wyner was in Norwich, her younger brother killed himself by jumping from a window at a London homeless hostel. This event led her to become increasingly involved in charity work, helping homeless people. From 1979, she worked at St Martin's Housing Trust as a part-time night shelter worker before becoming a manager and finally the deputy director of the charity. She was sacked for gross misconduct in 1993 based on claims that she was not intervening to stop residents from using cannabis. She denied this and took St Martin's to an employment tribunal, however the tribunal found in favour of her employer.
Nonetheless, Wyner had gained a prominent reputation amongst local homeless charities by this point so, after establishing the Herring Housing Trust in Great Yarmouth and working there as a coordinator, she was headhunted in 1995 to become the director of the Wintercomfort charity in Cambridge.
In 1998, she was arrested in her office at Wintercomfort, leading to her conviction and imprisonment in 1999. After leaving prison in July 2000, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She later became a tai chi instructor and joined the Cambridge Group Therapy Centre as a therapist, becoming clinical lead between 2011 and 2018.
Wyner died on 29 December 2024.
John Brock studied printing and typographic design at Norwich City College.
He worked as a printing teacher at Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology between 1979 and 1983. From 1983, he worked as a part-time community service supervisor for the Cambridge Probation Service. In 1990, he became a project worker for the Cyrenean Bus Project, which ultimately merged with the Wintercomfort charity.
Cambridge Two
The Cambridge Two (also known as the Wintercomfort Two) were British homeless charity managers, Ruth Wyner and John Brock, who were imprisoned in December 1999 having been judged not to have taken reasonable steps to prevent heroin dealing at Wintercomfort, the Cambridge homeless centre that they were managing. The incident became a cause célèbre leading to a public campaign for their release. They successfully appealed the length of their sentence and were released from prison on 11 July 2000. However, they were unsuccessful in their appeal in December 2000 to overturn their conviction.
Ruth Avril Wyner was born in London on 1 April 1950 to Anna (née Nagley), a mosaic artist, and Percy Wyner, a cloth merchant. She was educated at St Paul's Girls' School. After leaving school, she spent time in a North Devon ashram and edited an alternative magazine started by John Hopkins. She moved to Norwich and started work as a journalist in 1970 at the Eastern Daily News. Whilst in Norwich, she met Gordon Bell to whom she got married in 1978. He was the lead guitarist of a band she had joined called Crazy Lizard. They had two children together, Joel and Rachel.
Whilst Wyner was in Norwich, her younger brother killed himself by jumping from a window at a London homeless hostel. This event led her to become increasingly involved in charity work, helping homeless people. From 1979, she worked at St Martin's Housing Trust as a part-time night shelter worker before becoming a manager and finally the deputy director of the charity. She was sacked for gross misconduct in 1993 based on claims that she was not intervening to stop residents from using cannabis. She denied this and took St Martin's to an employment tribunal, however the tribunal found in favour of her employer.
Nonetheless, Wyner had gained a prominent reputation amongst local homeless charities by this point so, after establishing the Herring Housing Trust in Great Yarmouth and working there as a coordinator, she was headhunted in 1995 to become the director of the Wintercomfort charity in Cambridge.
In 1998, she was arrested in her office at Wintercomfort, leading to her conviction and imprisonment in 1999. After leaving prison in July 2000, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She later became a tai chi instructor and joined the Cambridge Group Therapy Centre as a therapist, becoming clinical lead between 2011 and 2018.
Wyner died on 29 December 2024.
John Brock studied printing and typographic design at Norwich City College.
He worked as a printing teacher at Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology between 1979 and 1983. From 1983, he worked as a part-time community service supervisor for the Cambridge Probation Service. In 1990, he became a project worker for the Cyrenean Bus Project, which ultimately merged with the Wintercomfort charity.