Ashton was born in Aldgate, South Australia and lived there for a short time until his family moved to the Adelaide suburb of Dernancourt.
In 2003, whilst serving as national manager of counter-terrorism, he was awarded the Australian Police Medal and was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his work on Alliance.
[2][3] In 2004, Ashton left the AFP after 24 years of service[1] and accepted a position at the newly formed Office of Police Integrity in Victoria.
[4] During his time as Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, Ashton had to deal with the following issues:[5] In May 2020, Victoria Police confirmed that Ashton would retire at the conclusion of his five-year term at the end of June 2020, in keeping with his stated plans when he was appointed to the role.
It was announced that his replacement would be appointed from within the force's senior command with Shane Patton taking over the role when Ashton left.