Esther was 18-years-old when she secured her first world-exclusive: an interview with Derrick Gregory, a Briton on Death Row in Malaysia.

Mr Gregory was facing execution for drugs smuggling, despite having the mental age of a nine-year-old.

Esther wrote an article highlighting the injustice of sentencing a mentally disabled man to death. She won The Guardian newspaper's Student Journalist of the Year for her efforts.

Two years later Esther won The Guardian newspaper's Student Journalist of the Year for a second time.

The winning article was an interview with a survivor of a child paedophile ring.

After graduating from the University of Sheffield, Esther became a trainee staff feature writer at The Independent newspaper. She won:

• The Sunday Telegraph's Young Journalist of the Year, 1995
• The British Press Awards Young Journalist of the Year, 1994

She went on to work as a freelance news and feature writer in Pakistan/Afghanistan.

Esther Oxford still writes occasional feature articles - mostly for The Mail.