Skipton-born Mike Fell has witnessed first hand the results of his role in helping to rebuild Afghanistan’s judicial system.

The former Bradford Grammar School pupil, 26, is managing a Criminal Justice Team for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, at the British Embassy in Kabul.

The group was invited by the Afghan Government to mentor the country’s Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF) – a group of 79 local prosecutors, investigators and judges who deal with significant Drugs cases.

In the last 12 months the task force has investigated 368 cases and seized drugs worth £510 million. Its biggest conviction was in July, when the head of Afghanistan’s third largest trafficking network and ten of his associates were sentenced to a total of 180 years in prison. Drugs seized from this network had a UK street value of £11.6 million.

Mr Fell, who has been seconded for a year from HM Revenue & Customs, said: “The most rewarding part of the job is the visible result of being part of a transparent justice system in difficult circumstances – the impact of discussions made and seeing the effect.

“It’s significant to see the changes that Afghans are making with international support, while the little things that my job allows me to do are very rewarding, such as making sure the judges remain safe and fair trials take place.

“I applied for the job because of the opportunity to work in a country where the justice system had been starved to death, and to be a part of building it into a transparent system.’’