About Me

My original academic background is in human anatomy and osteology afterwhich I gained a variety of additional training and experience in forensic anthropology, facial imaging, missing person enquiries and mass disaster victim identification. I worked for the Missing People charity in London for many years, and thus closely with the Missing Persons’ Bureau of the National Policing Improvement Agency (MPB NPIA). I therefore gained a wealth of experience working with police, coroners, hospitals and social services, including database cross matching of unidentified and missing persons cases. My expertise in forensic artwork includes post mortem facial reconstructions and both child and adult age progressions.

Over several years of work, with the Missing People charity in particular, I gained vast experience as a media spokesperson whilst providing artwork, interviews and advice for news and feature items as well as numerous documentaries and appeal programmes for publicity of specific cases and the missing ‘phenomenon’. These included regular appearances on BBC One's "Missing Live" series, Sky News and Living TV's "The Changing Face of...", along with a variety of radio & print sources such as The Guardian and Daily Mirror.

Due to the experiences above I also provided presentations and training to both police and academic audiences, including the police Efit training course and various undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses. Other experience gained during the years of forensic art and identification work included managing inter-organisational relationships and both small and large volunteer teams, conference organisation, and being directly involved in the development of databases and publicity materials such as website content and marketing information. For several years I was a council member of the British Association of Human Identification (BAHID) and during that time I both contributed the chapter "Missing Persons in the United Kingdom" to the book "Forensic Human Identification – An Introduction", CRC Press, 2006, and was subsequently co-editor of "Advances in Forensic Human Identification", CRC Press 2014.

For many years I have been listed on the NPIA Specialist Operations Centre database for forensic art services. I am also a team member of Blakes Emergency Services Ltd for mass disaster deployments.

My training and qualifications include:

    • International Humanitarian Law summer school - British Red Cross, UK

    • Forensic Facial Imaging - FBI Academy, Quantico, Virginia, USA

    • Facial Identification - Centrex National Training Centre, Durham, UK

    • Forensic Imaging Techniques - National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), Washington, USA

    • Advanced Human Forensic Identification - St George's Hospital Medical School, London, UK

    • Mass disaster victim identification annual training conferences - Blake Emergency Services Ltd, UK

    • MSc Osteology, Palaeopathology & Funerary Archaeology - University of Sheffield, UK

    • BSc (Hons) Anatomical Sciences - University of Manchester, UK

    • TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certified