Daniel Sandford (journalist)

Sandford was born in Oxford, Oxfordshire. His family moved to Ethiopia when he was 3 and he received his primary education there at the English School, which had been founded by his grandmother some 20 years earlier.[1] The family returned to the UK after the 1974 Ethiopian revolution and he received his secondary education at Magdalen College School, an independent school for boys in Oxford, and sang as a chorister in the choir of Magdalen College, Oxford. He studied at the University of Southampton from 1985–1988, gaining a 3rd class BSc in Physics with Electronics.[2]

From January 1989 to May 1998, Sandford worked at ITN, where his roles included that of Home Affairs Producer, Africa Producer and General Reporter.

In 1998 he joined the BBC, acting as Home Affairs Producer and Health Correspondent. In 2002 he became Home Affairs Correspondent. He reported on the terrorist attacks in London in July 2005,[3] and the airline "liquid bomb plot" of August 2006.

He is the grandson of Brigadier Daniel Sandford and the great nephew of Lieutenant Richard Douglas Sandford VC. He is also related to Daniel Fox Sandford (1831–1906), Bishop of Tasmania, Daniel Keyte Sandford (1798–1838), Scottish politician and Greek scholar and Daniel Sandford, (1766–1830), Bishop of Edinburgh.

Sandford came under criticism during the Covid-19 pandemic for incorrectly stating that visitors from England breaking Welsh lockdown laws would not be policed[4]. This led to Labour Member of the Welsh Parliament Alun Davies calling for Ofcom to investigate[5], and Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price describing it as 'dangerous fake news'[6].