Hello you lovely lot!
I hope you are well. It’s been some time since I last checked in with you all and a lot has happened.
CASES: You may well have read about the horrific failures relating to Michaela Hall. When Lee Kendall killed charity worker Michaela on 31 May 2021 police had received 34 pieces of intelligence about his domestic abuse against her and he had almost 50 convictions relating to 100 offences. The case should have gone to MAPPA – but it didn’t. Sadly, there was a lack of join up and effective offender risk assessment and management. This was a murder in slow motion.
Katie Higton and Steven Harnett were murdered by Marcus Osborne. He had 12 previous convictions for 27 offences. He stalked and threatened to kill Katie. She was terrified and reported him to police. He was arrested and bailed. He stabbed Katie 99 times and stabbed Steve, her new boyfriend, 24 times.
The couple were found stabbed to death at Kate Higton's home in Huddersfield, England, on May 15, 2023.
I believe these murders were preventable. We said we’d bring our serial domestic abuser and stalker perpetrator campaign back to Parliament if we saw no improvement. And I meant it. Enough is enough. The lack of urgency and priority and focus on joining up these dangerous and violent men’s histories is breathtaking.
THE VICTIMS AND PRISONERS BILL: Our campaign to automatically include serial domestic abusers and stalkers on ViSOR to be managed via MAPPA has been debated twice in the Victims and Prisoners Bill already. The most recent time was a short debate led by Baroness Royall on Monday 26 February. You can read the Hansard here.
Baroness Newlove, the Victim’s Commissioner, Baroness Thornton, Baroness Brinton and others made the case for why there should be an automatic duty on police, prison and probation services to join up the histories of violent perpetrators and manage high risk domestic abusers and stalkers at the MAPPA.
CLARE’S LAW – 10 Years On: We highlighted that recent data shows Clare’s Law doesn’t work. Under Clare’s Law, there’s the Right to Ask and Right to Know. Many victims don’t know it exists and even when they do ask, 56% of victims are turned away (NPCC Data 2021-2022). Under The Right to Know, Police can PROACTIVELY warn a victim that their partner has a history of abuse even though they haven’t asked. Among the 41 police forces, some were proactively telling victims, but many don’t use it at all.
We want to change this. Currently there’s no duty to proactively identify serial domestic abusers or stalkers. We want to ensure all police services proactively join up the histories of violent perpetrators, that they are included on ViSOR (soon to be MAPPS), that they proactively warn victims and work with probation and prison services to risk assess and risk manage the perpetrators via MAPPA.
NEW NPCC HOMICIDE AND SUICIDE ANALYSIS: The data shows unsurprisingly that 4 in 5 perpetrators were known to police before the homicide occurred, three in five for domestic abuse, and over a third were known to other agencies, demonstrating the need for a proactive multi-agency approach to effectively safeguard victims AND offender risk management.
I’ve been saying this since my Getting Away With It report in the Met which I published in 2004. I’m still banging the drum in 2024 for a consistent, national and proactive response to identifying, assessing and managing domestic abusers and stalkers. It should be treated like terrorism - they are terrorists to women & children. The resources must match the scale of the problem.
Thank you Commissioner Mark Rowley waking up to this in 2024. It shouldn’t be this hard! We fight on to Report Stage.
READ MY BRIEFING for Parliamentarians highlighting the evidence base and the amendments we want here.
SIGN THE PETITION and WRITE to your MP: 275,731 have signed the petition to date (26th March 2024).
NOT ANOTHER JO: Our campaign #NotAnotherJo was successful in preventing Robert Brown, Jo’s killer’s automatic release. You can listen to my Crime Analyst series with Jo’s incredible mother, Diana Parkes & best friend, Hetti Nanton here.
NEW MASTERCLASSES: DASH, DASH Train the Trainer and Coercive Control Masterclass dates for Spring and Autumn (info below), along with a FREE Live Webinar: Criminal Behavioural Analysis: Profiling Behaviour & Homicide Prevention and a NEW 2 hour Profiling & Preventing Murder In Slow Motion™ Masterclass. Details are below and you can email my assistant, Amanda, at LauraRichardsPA@gmail.com to register.
TRUE CRIME AWARDS SHORTLIST: I am bowled over that Crime Analyst has been shortlisted for 3 True Crime Awards – Outstanding Investigative Reporting, Best True Crime Podcast Community and Impact for Change! Amazing!
VOTE: You can also vote for CA in the True Crime Awards Listeners Choice. It takes one minute & is super easy: Vote here!
PODCASTS: Follow Crime Analyst and Real Crime Profile wherever you listen to your podcasts
2024 Training Dates:
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FREE Live Webinar: Criminal Behavioural Analysis: Profiling Behaviour & Homicide Prevention
21st May and 26th September
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2 hour Profiling & Preventing Murder In Slow Motion™ Masterclass
5th June and 18th October
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DASH University Accredited Masterclass
12th & 13th June
30th & 31st October
This is a pre-requisite for DASH Train the Trainer.
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DASH 'Train the Trainer' University Accredited Masterclass
19th & 20th June
13th & 14th November
DASH is a pre-requisite for this masterclass. In order to attend Train the Trainer we also ask that delegates already have some experience as a trainer / in public speaking.
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Coercive Control Masterclass
10th & 11th July
4th & 5th December
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Each date the live virtual session for Masterclasses will be held at 7.00 am -9.30am PDT/PST (Los Angeles) / 3.00pm- 5.30pm BST/GMT (London). Times for the Webinar and 2 hour workshop are available on registration pages.
Places fill up quickly, please email Amanda - LauraRichardsPA@gmail.com to book your space.
Course Information:
FREE Live Webinar: Criminal Behavioural Analysis: Profiling Behaviour & Homicide Prevention
Open to everyone interested in a deeper understanding of profiling behaviours to prevent homicides along with identifying the red flags and risks associated with domestic abuse, coercive control, child abuse and sexual violence.
2-Hour Profiling & Preventing Murder In Slow Motion™ Masterclass
Open to Everyone. The cost for this workshop is £100 per person (plus 3% convenience fee if paying via credit card) which includes access to a 2 hour live virtual workshop with myself covering profiling and prevention of homicides, and the red flags and risks associated with domestic abuse, coercive control, child abuse and sexual violence. This masterclass will be held in a live Zoom Virtual Classroom.
DASH (Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Harassment and Honour Based Violence)
& Coercive Control Masterclasses
The cost for each of these courses is £500 per person for a statutory agency or £400 per person for a charity (plus 3% convenience fee if paying via credit card) which includes all training material, pre-listens, pre-watch and pre-reads prior to arrival in the virtual Zoom classroom with myself. The course material will be sent out one week in advance of the start of the training.
These courses are accessible remotely via a computer and strong Wi-Fi connection. There are pre read, pre-listens, pre-watch material and completion of interactive case studies plus 5 hours of Zoom training and facilitation with myself split over 2 days - a 2.5 hour session each day.
DASH 'Train the Trainer' University accredited Masterclass
The cost is £700 per person for a statutory agency or £600 per person for a charity (plus 3% convenience fee if paying via credit card) which includes all training material, pre-listens, pre-watch and pre-reads prior to arrival in the virtual Zoom classroom with myself. The course material will be sent out one week in advance of the start of the training.
The course is accessible remotely via a computer and strong wifi connection. There are pre read, pre-listens, pre-watch material and completion of interactive case studies plus 5 hours of Zoom training and facilitation with myself split over 2 days - in 2.5 hour sessions.
Possible Future Refresher Class : We've had several enquiries for a DASH Masterclass Refresher and a Dash Train the Trainer Refresher course, and have created a waitlist. If you would be interested in one of these courses please email Amanda at LauraRichardsPA@gmail.com
Please click buttons below for learning objectives for DASH Masterclass, Coercive Control Masterclass, and DASH Train the Trainer Masterclass.
