Kay Carmichael writes: Keith Wardrop had a gift for working with all kinds of people, from the most disturbed to the socially inadequate, from the most

unresponsive civil servants to the most aggressive prison officers, but he loved best working with people who wanted to change the prison system for something more civilised.

He could have been described as unassuming, but there was behind his gentle style an integrity and confidence in knowing his own mind and his capacity for offering hope to damaged human beings.