Meet the Team

Gareth Edwards

Gareth Edwards is the Director of the VKPP which leads on the delivery of a number of workstreams designed to support policing nationally improve its ability to protect vulnerable persons and engage effectively within partnerships.

Gareth was previously Head of Policy and Strategy to former Chief Constable Simon Bailey in his capacity as national lead for child protection abuse investigation. Prior to this he worked at the office of the Children’s Commissioner for England, leading on data analysis across the child rights agenda including National Inquiries into Child Sexual Abuse & Exploitation (CSAE). Gareth has also worked in a range of operational and strategic analytical roles within the Metropolitan Police and Cambridgeshire Constabulary and has recently completed a Master of Studies (MSt) in Applied Criminology and Police Management at the University of Cambridge.

Sarah Hegarty

Formerly, Sarah was a Senior Project Manager within the VKPP and led on producing the Exploitation SCR Spotlight Briefing, supporting forces to implement the National Vulnerability Action Plan (NVAP) and has been working to develop evidenced-based impact measures for the NVAP actions and objectives.

Prior to joining the VKPP, Sarah was an Operational Manager at The Children’s Society in London, overseeing services for young people facing a range of needs and experiences such as exploitation, county lines, missing, abuse, neglect, modern slavery and significant trauma. Sarah supported the development of participation services to enable young people to have a voice on decisions and service development. She also ensured that learning from research and safeguarding reviews were embedded into the processes, systems and front-line practice.

Prior to this, Sarah was a practitioner supporting and advocating for young people who experienced multiple vulnerabilities through 1-1, group work and outreach work.

Sarah began her career working within the Probation Service, supporting adults through their community orders and custodial sentences. This early insight into structural inequalities within the criminal justice system has driven Sarah’s passion to improve the systems and support afforded to young people and vulnerable adults.

Clare Gollop

Clare Gollop, will be working alongside Deputy Director, Sarah Hegarty. Clare's portfolio will include the VKPP's analytical team & the Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA) analyst’s network; our peer review, safeguarding partnerships and call for practice capabilities; and our EDI, communications, and engagement activity.  

Some of you will know Clare from her previous roles as Director of the West Midlands Violence Reduction Partnership, Director of the NPCC Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Programme, and through her work with Europol and NCA to strengthen international responses to modern slavery. Last year, she received an honour in recognition for preventing harm to vulnerable children and survivors of modern slavery, having been nominated by communities and partners that she supported throughout the pandemic. She brings significant experience around the vulnerability arena, national policing transformation work, analysis, systems leadership, and influencing across Westminster.

Claire Stanley

Claire Stanley has over 20 years’ experience in the media and public sector communications working in both policing as well as local and national NHS organisations. As a former journalist, Claire has worked for several national radio stations as well as at the BBC and delivered media training and consultancy advice to high profile festivals.

Claire will oversee communications for the three national policing programmes, as well as support a number of NPCC portfolios delivering across the vulnerability spectrum.

As a strategic leader with experience in provider, public sector, and regulatory organisations, Claire describes herself as a highly motivated communications professional, committed to nurturing and delivering authentic engagement with staff, partners, stakeholders, and building legitimate corporate reputation. Claire strives to ensure that communications approaches are inclusive and representative of all.

Dr Debbie Allnock

Dr. Debbie Allnock is a Senior Research Fellow with the VKPP, overseeing the research workstream, on secondment from the Safer Young Lives Research Centre (SYLRC) at the University of Bedfordshire (UoB). Dr Allnock has spent more than 20 years in the UK as a researcher in the safeguarding and child protection field, having worked with the National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS), the NSPCC research department, and the SYLRC. She has researched diverse areas in the field including parent and professionals’ experiences of service delivery and access (NESS); mapping the child sexual abuse service landscape (the NSPCC and SYLRC); researching child sexual abuse disclosure (for her PhD at the University of Bristol and in her role with the NSPCC); the international evidence base on interventions for child sexual abuse/exploitation (UNICEF); evaluating a regional network of CSE coordinators and analysts (Norfolk Constabulary); young people’s experiences of the criminal justice system (SYLRC) and the mental health and emotional wellbeing needs of young people who have experienced sexual abuse in adolescence (SYLRC).

Dr Allnock has also delivered academic teaching and practitioner training on child protection and child sexual abuse, and has published a range of briefings, reports, book chapters and academic articles on her research interests. Alongside her role with the VKPP, Dr Allnock maintains an active role at UoB as Deputy Coordinator of the Research Institute Ethics Panel and as associate editor of the Journal of Children’s Services.

Dr Andrea J Darling

Andrea is a Senior Research Fellow in VKPP and also an Honorary Research Fellow at Durham University with particular research interests in institutional child sexual abuse and female sexual offenders. She previously worked for the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and as a senior operational manager in child and vulnerable adult safeguarding with the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Andrea leads the team’s work identifying learning for police arising from serious case reviews. Last year she published three briefings on the learning from Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews and is currently leading the VKPP work examining practice and learning from MAPPA reviews.

Lorraine Parker

Since 2018 Lorraine has worked alongside the VKPP, providing support to English police leaders involved in implementing the tri-partite Multi Agency Local Child Safeguarding Partnerships. Working within policing and across agencies at a national level she has a well-developed understanding of the relevant legislation and guidance as well as the strategic intent behind the changes. As a member of the cross-government delivery board Lorraine works with colleagues to address entrenched system level priorities.

Lorraine is vice-chair of the Policing Institute Eastern Region Board, working with Anglia Ruskin University to achieve policing improvements through the co-production and delivery of research, continual professional development and knowledge exchange activities.

Lorraine’s policing career began in Cambridgeshire in 1987, retiring in 2017 as their lead for Public Protection. Lorraine took the detective career pathway working in local policing, serious and organised crime, murder investigation and regional counter terrorism. Safeguarding and partnerships has been the golden thread during that time and Lorraine has been involved in many guises including chairing Cambridge City’s Community Safety Partnership and being a member of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough’s MAPPA, Safeguarding Adults and Children’s Boards.

Lorraine is a volunteer in the grass roots sports of hockey and running and is involved in welfare roles along with delivering sports outreach projects with some Fenland schools and community groups to increase participation in sport.

Caroline Adams

Caroline is currently one of the Senior Project Managers in the team, with responsibility for leading work on the National Vulnerability Action Plan, including the Impact team.

Prior to joining the VKPP, Caroline was a police officer for 35 years, within Sussex Police.  During that time she worked within neighbourhood policing, child protection, youth offending and was the head of schools policing.

Caroline then went onto to work with the NPCC lead for policing of children and young people, where she instigated a child centred policing approach which has been adopted by all forces. 

Caroline was proud to receive her QPM in the 2019 New Year Honours List for services to policing.

Angie Whitaker

Angie Whitaker is a retired Detective Superintendent from West Midlands Police. For the last four years of her service she was in charge of the Domestic Abuse Investigation teams within WMP and was the regional lead for both Domestic Abuse and Honour Based Abuse. Throughout her service Angie led several investigations surrounding domestic abuse and homicide.

After retirement Angie became the National Domestic Abuse Coordinator working for the National Lead AC Rolfe. The role includes liaising with all UK police forces, strategic partners and charities. In 2020 Angie also joined the VKPP to run the Domestic Homicide Project.

Di Malkin

Joining Staffordshire Police in 2001 as an Investigative Crime Analyst working in the prolific offenders team, I then went on to have a great and varied career which over 21 years saw me work on projects such as implementing Family Intervention within Stoke on Trent, part of Louise Casey’s RESPECT Home Office Task Force work, to which I had the privilege to work and learn from some amazing people within Local Authority, Social Care, Public Health and third sector, during this time I studied Management of Addiction and Positive Parenting (although my children would disagree). I went on to become Force Mental Health & Suicide Lead this gave me the opportunity to work closely with communities and people with lived experience, to which I will be forever thankful. The latter part of my career saw me also working on Early Intervention & Prevention, Vulnerability and Problem Solving as well as overseeing Licensing and Volunteers within the Force. Throughout my career I have also undertaken various Leadership and Management studies.

I have a fantastic family who support me in all I do and keep me grounded, I love nothing more than being a social bunny, spending time with family and friends as well as receiving many snuggles from my two gorgeous granddaughters.

I am looking forward to becoming an established member of the VKPP, meeting all those working within the organisation and expanding my knowledge of the ‘big wide world’ through their expertise and support,  from the welcome I have received so far I already feel supported and that I am going to enjoy the next chapter of my career.

Dr Melanie-Jane Stoneman

Dr Melanie-Jane Stoneman is a Senior Research Fellow leading on both the Data Insight Team supporting the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel (CSPRP) with her colleague Dr Andrea Darling and the Reviews workstream which aims to look at the quality of reviews and their recommendations.

Melanie-Jane has been with the VKPP since October 2019, previously leading on the National Vulnerability Action Plan (NVAP) Impact workstream to provide an evidence-based framework to help forces embed and measure the NVAP actions. Melanie-Jane also previously worked on the Domestic Homicide project, developing the database and helping to produce the first annual report.

Melanie-Jane completed her doctorate at Loughborough University where she investigated the decision-making process around the risk assessment of detainees in police custody. She has published several papers and has presented at national and international conferences. Prior to this Melanie-Jane has extensive experience as an information analyst working within the public sector, including in the NHS and Community Safety Partnerships and has a Masters in Applied Statistics.

Dr Kayleigh Denyer

Dr Kayleigh Denyer is a Research Fellow at the VKPP; leading on the Voice of the Victim project.

 Kayleigh began her career with a Masters in Forensic Psychology, where she became interested in rape myths within the police service (perceptions that lead to victim blaming). Consequentially, her dissertation from her Masters was published, and won the 2^nd Annual Forensic Update MSc Dissertation Competition for the Division of Forensic Psychology for the British Psychological Society for the dissertation with the most utility to forensic practice.

 Kayleigh then secured a fully-funded scholarship for a PhD in Forensic Psychology at the University of Kent, where she investigated the situational, personal and professional characteristics of police personnel in relation to perceptions of rape within the police service, which had direct implications for police training and development. Her work was later published in the journal of Aggression and Violent Behaviour and has been implemented in probationary police officer training in a number of forces in raising awareness of victim blaming attitudes. During this time, Kayleigh was appointed at British Transport Police as the lead researcher for conducting research on protecting vulnerable people, which included collaborating with the Metropolitan Police Service, Border Force, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Samaritans.

 Her research interests have also resulted in her leading on a wide range of research projects within the police; covering topics such as suicide prevention, mental health, upskirting, harmful practices, child sexual exploitation, counter-terrorism, sexual offences, and county-lines. Kayleigh has since worked at the Civil Service as a Senior Research Officer, and more recently, as a Lecturer in Policing at Staffordshire University; lecturing aspiring police officers and criminal justice professionals.

Katie Hoeger

Katie Hoeger is a Senior Research Fellow with the VKPP. She currently works on the Domestic Homicide Project, which has collected and analysed data for domestic homicides as well as suspected victim suicides in England and Wales since the end of March 2020.

Coming from an academic background, Katie has recently completed a PhD examining police and multi-agency responses to coercive controlling behaviour at the University of Oxford. She has previously worked with academics and practitioners in the areas of domestic abuse and public health.

Elaine Cook

I joined the VKPP as a Senior Practice Advisor in the Peer Review team in November 2022.

Prior to joining the VKPP, I was a Police Officer in Bedfordshire Police. Over my 30 years service I worked predominantly within Safeguarding and Intelligence across various departments. I retired on 13/09/2022 as the Detective Chief Inspector of the Missing Persons and CSE Team and PPU Hub on 13/09/2022. Within my work I held responsibilities for partnership working for Missing Persons, Child Exploitation and Vulnerable Adults within Bedfordshire.  Outside work I have been the Co-Opted Safeguarding Governor for my village school since 2016. 

I am supported by my husband, 3 sons and 8 year old Jack Russell called Dave. 

Sarah Derry

Sarah Derry works as a Senior Practice Advisor in the Peer Review Team and has been one of the VKPP representatives as part of the self-assessment team working on Operation Soteria Bluestone.

 Prior to taking up the post within the VKPP Sarah worked for Staffordshire  police for over 30 years and retired as Head of Neighbourhood and Partnerships in March 2022. She has a breath of experience across all departments but has primarily worked within the investigation strand.

During her service with Staffordshire Sarah received a number of awards, one of note being for a National Ministry of Justice GPS tagging pilot working across eight police forces.   

Sarah Carter

Sarah Carter is Executive Project Officer, and Personal Assistant to Gareth Edwards and Sarah Hegarty.

Prior to joining the VKPP, Sarah was Office Manager/Executive Assistant within a London Trading Firm, a Business and Finance Manager at the NSPCC and most recently, was in a  Management Support role within Community Mental Health.

Nosheen Rathore

Nosheen Rathore is the EDI Lead for the VKPP, responsible for developing and implementing EDI strategies across all workstreams within the VKPP.

Nosheen joined the VKPP as an Project Officer in 2021, prior to joining the VKPP Nosheen was a Senior Admin and Finance Officer for a Domestic Violence Charity.

Charlotte Brimer

Charlotte Brimer is a Research Assistant working on the National Vulnerability Plan (NVAP) Impact workstream. The workstream’s aim is to provide an evidence-based framework to help forces embed and measure the NVAP actions. Charlotte has assisted in developing the current logic models which will support forces to embed the NVAP.

 Previously, Charlotte has worked as a Research Assistant for Nottingham Trent University, conducting a systematic review of hazard perception tests. She recently completed her Masters in Evolution of Language and Cognition where she studied the emergence of new words on Twitter using machine learning techniques.

Iona Stratton

Iona Stratton is a Research Assistant working on the Multi Agency Safeguarding Arrangements (MASA) workstream, focusing on Independent Scrutiny in Local Safeguarding Children’s Partnerships.

Prior to the VKPP, Iona completed her Masters in Organised Crime, Counter-Terrorism and Security then joined Suffolk Constabulary first as a Case Assistant and then as Executive Assistant to Chief Officers.

Emma Struthers

Emma joins us from Norfolk Constabulary where she has been working since August 2018 as a Communications Officer in the Contact and Control Room.  Her main roles were as a Dispatcher and Call handler. Prior to this she worked as a Youth Worker for a charity focusing on mental health support, and in another role as a European administrative assistant for a shipping company. She graduated from a Masters degree in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia in 2013 and has written for stage, radio and film, using her skills to co-found the Ink Festival based in Suffolk.

Hollie Williams

Hollie works as an Intelligence Analyst, providing analysis for the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) National Strategic Threat and Risk Assessment.

Previously, Hollie worked in the Review workstream as a Research Assistant, reviewing practice and learning from MAPPA reviews. Prior to joining the VKPP, Hollie has held a number of analytical roles within the police and the NHS. Hollie has a passion for working with children and has experience of working as a Youth worker; Specialist foster carer and Mentor for young people.

Hannah Davis

Hannah is currently a research assistant at the VKPP working with the National Panel team. Previously, Hannah worked on the voice of the victim in service design project.

In 2021, Hannah graduated from Bournemouth University with a BSc in Psychology with an upper 2.1 with honours. It was at this point her undergraduate dissertation on the impact of facial coverings and makeup on human age estimation was published in the Applied Cognitive Psychology journal.

Hannah continued study at Bournemouth University where she completed her MSc in Investigative Forensic Psychology achieving a distinction. Here, she published her second paper as lead author on female police officers’ experiences of internal sexual harassment by a former officer in the International Journal of Police Management and Science. This is where Hannah’s passion for policing and research began.