Speakers

Joy Allen, Durham Police and Crime Commissioner

Joy Allen is working at the heart of democracy to tackle the issues that threaten public safety and undermine community life. Elected as Police and Crime Commission for Durham in May 2021, and re-elected in 2024, the PCC has since taken on a series of key national responsibilities to advocate for policing change. Joy holds the title of Joint Lead for Addictions and Substance Misuse, Roads Policing and Transport, Finance, and Environment and Sustainability, on behalf of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners. She is also a Board Member of the national Victims’ Commissioner Advisory Group 2024-25, supporting the work of Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, Baroness Newlove, to improve the experience of victims of crime in the criminal justice system.

Joy has spent most of her career in the public sector, previously working for Durham Constabulary, Sedgefield Borough Council, Middlesbrough Council and County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service as Head of Service and Area Manager for Community Safety. A former councillor, Joy was elected to Durham County Council in 2013 and was appointed to the Cabinet in 2015, where she held the Safer Communities Portfolio.

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George Henry, Head of Road Policy and Safety, Transport Scotland

George Henry has undertaken a variety of roles within road safety, including a leading role in the A77 Safety Group, a pioneering road safety partnership that won a Prince Michael International Road Safety Award. He was project sponsor for the A77 SPECS pilot, the first average speed enforcement system in Scotland.

In 2016, George became Head of Road Policy within Transport Scotland where he was responsible for a wide range of policies including Managed Motorways, Motorsports on Closed Roads in Scotland and various aspects of parking. He developed the pavement parking policy of the Transport Bill.

In his current role, George was responsible for the setting of the Government’s Casualty Reduction Targets to 2030 and the development of the new Road Safety Framework.

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Chief Constable Jo Shiner, Sussex Police, NPCC lead for Roads Policing

Jo Shiner's 's policing career spans more than 30 years, during which she has undertaken a variety of roles across three forces.

These have predominantly been operational, both in uniform and within Public Protection commands and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Jo was appointed Sussex Police’s Chief Constable in 2020 and is also the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for Roads Policing. She provides local, regional and national leadership and direction to make roads safer, working tirelessly to prevent death and casualties. Jo has always believed that the effective policing of our roads will reduce crime and save lives. Jo will deliver a video presentation for this conference.

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Katy Bourne, Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner

Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Katy Bourne was re-elected for a fourth term in 2024, making her the longest serving female PCC. The PCC’s role is to hold the Chief Constable of Sussex Police to account for the performance of the Force, effectively making the police answerable to the communities they serve.

Katy is responsible for setting the strategic direction and priorities for Sussex Police through the Police and Crime Plan. This includes setting the police budget and local police precept – the amount residents pay for policing in their council tax. She also has a statutory duty to commission support services for victims of crime and to deliver community safety initiatives including restorative justice and crime reduction grants.

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Ross Moorlock, CEO, Brake

Ross was appointed chief executive in January 2024, having held the position of interim CEO for nine months before being appointed to lead the charity. Prior to this, he was chief operating officer for four years, and business development director for two years. Ross brings a steadfast determination and a wealth of experience to the role of chief executive and is well placed to lead Brake into and through its next strategic period. Ross is a keen road cyclist and runner, and he is passionate about road safety and reducing road deaths and injuries.

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Dr Nicola Lester, Psychological Trauma Consultancy

Nicola is the clinical consultant for the National Road Victim Service and has worked with Brake for five years. She provides clinical guidance and support to caseworkers to develop trauma-informed approaches to their practice. Nicola previously worked as a mental health nurse, and specialises in working with psychological trauma, supporting organisations in the UK and overseas to develop trauma-informed approaches to practice. She has a specialist interest in understanding how organisational responses to traumatic bereavement affect bereaved families.

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Violet Atkinson, bereaved road victim

Violet's son Steven was killed by a speeding driver when crossing the road with friends. He was 12 years old. The driver who hit him was going above 50mph on a road where the speed limit was 30mph. He was convicted of causing death by careless driving and received a prison sentence of 16 months.

Following Steven's death, Violet has shared her experience to help people understand how Steven's death affected her family, and how the support she received from Brake helped. By talking about what happened, she hopes that just one person will listen and really try and figure out how not to speed. If it saves just one life,' she says, 'it means someone is listening, and at the end of the day that's all we want.'

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Stacey Ellott, Sergeant, Sussex Police

Joining Sussex Police in 2002, Stacey quickly realised she was passionate about collision prevention and investigation. She embarked on a career in Roads Policing in 2005 and hasn’t looked back.

Stacey has worked in a variety of different Road Policing areas, most significantly, Family Liaison. As an experienced Roads Policing Lead Investigator and Family Liaison Officer/Advisor and Co-ordinator, she takes great pride in the work and support provided to victims and bereaved families.

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Danielle Doyle, Chief inspector, South Wales Police

Danielle joined South Wales Police in July 2008, serving as a response officer for four years in Port Talbot, before joining the Roads Policing Unit in October 2013. On her first day as acting Sergeant, the team attended a fatality on the M4 motorway, and she was looked upon to take the lead in the most tragic of circumstances. After being formally promoted to Sergeant in 2017, Danielle’s experience of managing fatal road collisions sadly only increased.

Danielle and her partner had a little boy during the global pandemic (June 2020) and not long after returning to work, Danielle was temporarily promoted to Inspector of the Western Roads Policing Unit. Following a successful promotion board, Danielle became the first substantive female Inspector on the Roads Policing Unit for South Wales Police.

Following a promotion to Chief Inspector, Danielle returned to Specialist Operations as the Chief Inspector of the Roads Policing Portfolio. This encompasses the frontline Roads Policing Unit, Serious Collision Investigation Unit, Casualty Reduction Unit, and the Road Safety Commercial Vehicle Unit.

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Fraser Spence, Detective Inspector, Scotland Police

Fraser is a detective inspector with Police Scotland. He has worked with the force for 28 years, spending time in a variety of roles including local policing roles in Glasgow and Ayrshire and national work in major crime investigations, including murder and serious and organised crime.

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Rev. Matthew Hopley, National Police Chaplain

Following disturbances across several UK cities in 2011, Matthew Hopley felt a strong calling to support those who serve the public particularly in times of adversity. He joined West Midlands Police as a volunteer chaplain and at the same took a leap of faith stepping out of the corporate sector, and into a leadership role with a vibrant city church in Birmingham – a journey that ultimately led to his ordination as a minister.

In 2019, Matthew was appointed Lead Chaplain to Warwickshire Police and became a trustee of Police Chaplaincy UK, all while continuing part-time ministry work with the Church. In January 2024, he stepped into the role of National Police Chaplain– a position he describes as “the best job in policing.”

Now leading the rejuvenation of police chaplaincy, Matthew is driving forward a fresh vision, including the introduction of ‘Gold Standards’ for the chaplaincy provision in each force. He is deeply committed to ensuring that police officers, staff and volunteers receive the highest quality pastoral care they so rightly deserve.

Married to Donna he continues to live in Birmingham along with his three children and remains involved with his home church as lay Pastor.

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Sumaiyah Moolla, Customer experience lead, Transport for London

Sumaiyah is Customer Experience Lead at Transport for London (TfL) and has worked there for 10 years. In her role, Sumaiyah works on the customer incident support proposition across TfL’s public transport network and London’s roads network, leading TfL’s roads victim support service proposition and acting as organisational SME.

Delivering on TfL’s Vision Zero commitments, Sumaiyah has developed the business case for a specialist victim support service in London, launching a pilot proof of concept in November 2023 with Brake and other delivery partners, including the Metropolitan Police Service.

In her role, Sumaiyah works on a diverse range of initiatives across public transport and roads; whatever the project, she is passionate about ensuring the best customer outcomes.

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Christopher Long, Coroner’s Office

Christopher is His Majesty's Senior Coroner for Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen. He is an experienced coroner having conducted a wide range of complex coronial investigations and inquests. Christopher qualified as a solicitor in 1998 and was an experienced advocate in the higher and lower courts, before becoming a coroner. He was previously a Chief Crown Prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service overseeing criminal prosecutions across a broad range of diverse communities and led nationally in the prosecution of hate crime.

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Hannah Bailey, founder, Blue Light Wellbeing

Hannah is a mental health and wellbeing expert, specialising in working with the emergency services. She is a psychotherapist, trauma therapist and wellbeing coach helping those who are struggling with burnout, compassion fatigue and PTSD. Having served as a police officer for 15 years, she understands the unique demands and cultures of working in a 'blue light' role, and brings a wealth of personal and professional experience to her work.

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Nikki Nabi, Police Constable, Lancashire Constabulary

Nikki Nabi has worked in policing for 25 years. Her work is grounded in the belief that “if you can see it, you can be it", and in her time in policing she has worked to create meaningful change.

During the Police Uplift Programme, Nikki focused on increasing diversity through initiatives like the ‘Bleep Test in the Community’ and introducing the Lancashire Constabulary hijab. Nikki also launched the ‘Lancashire Have Your Say’ survey to gather community feedback and helped create ‘Chai and Chat,’ a safe space for ethnically diverse women.

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Mussa Meman, Police Sergeant, Lancashire Constabulary

Mussa Meman is a police sergeant with more than 23 years of service in Lancashire Constabulary. Throughout his career, Mussa has contributed to initiatives that enhance community safety.

He played a key role in Lancashire Constabulary’s Police Uplift Programme, which focused on strengthening the police force and improving public services, work recognised nationally as best practice.

Mussa was also seconded to the NPCC to support the Police Race Action Plan, focusing on workforce culture and representation. He is currently working on improving his organisation’s approach to hate crime, ensuring effective responses and greater community confidence

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Natalie Horner KPM, Detective Constable, Durham Constabulary

Natalie Horner joined Durham Constabulary as a cadet in 1996. She has worked in numerous departments in this time, including the criminal investigation department (CID). She has also been a family liaison officer (FLO), a role which she feels honoured to do. In 2015, Natalie joined roads policing as a detective working on fatal road traffic collisions across Cleveland and Durham.

Natalie has seen the devastation that road death takes on not just families, but all of us and is proud to use her knowledge to educate others and campaign for safer roads. In 2024, Natalie received the King’s Police Medal for services to roads policing.

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Deborah Sleightholme, chair of trustees, Brake

Deborah is a Partner and Head of Strategic Relationships within the Individual Services division of national law firm Hugh James and has been Chair of Brake's Board of Trustees since 2010. Having experienced the devastating death of her grandad in a road crash and lived through the aftermath of that, she is passionate about ensuring bereaved families and people with life-changing injuries receive accurate information and appropriate signposting to enable them to make informed choices in the face of adversity, empowering them to cope during the worst time of their lives and helping them to move forward to a different future. Throughout a 30-year career as a serious injury lawyer, Deborah has represented clients all over the UK and delivered training for police FLOs, charities, healthcare professionals and other lawyers, encouraging them to work together to achieve the very best possible outcomes for those they are supporting.

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Paddy Kelly, Brake’s National Road Victim Service

Paddy became Brake’s National Road Victim Service Caseworker for Sussex in 2024. He worked in the mental health field for 25 years before this and feels privileged to help guide people through grief to a place where they can navigate a new future. Paddy feels that it is very rewarding to support people through the darkest of days.

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Sarah Harrison, Brake's National Road Victim Service

Sarah joined Brake’s National Road Victim Service as the West Yorkshire caseworker almost one year ago. Before this, she ran her own business in the hair and beauty industry. Improving road safety became Sarah’s passion after her mum was killed in a road crash in 2013. This passion drives her work supporting families and helping them know they can get through the hardest days of their lives.

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