Meet the team
Our team is made up of specialists all of whom have a range of skills and are able to offer support and expertise to the network, we will proactively engage with Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCB’s) and their partner agencies, researchers and policy writers promoting Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE),wider exploitation, training, prevention work, disruption, prosecution and therapeutic care for victims and survivors by sharing effective practice, developing according to need, and actively seeking effective practice from other countries tackling exploitation and trafficking within the UK.
Sheila Taylor MBE
CEOOver 30 years of experience in the voluntary sector empowering young people to achieve against all odds.
23 years of understanding and tackling the issues of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) and internal trafficking within the United Kingdom. Previously managed projects working with sexually exploited young people, and young runaways, several years volunteering with the Prince’s Trust and the Guide Association.
In 2010 Sheila was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) for her work with Sexually Exploited Children. In 2012 she was awarded an Honorary Masters Degree from Derby University.
Sheila can be contacted on:
Phone: 01332 585371 or 07903 220671
Email: [email protected] or for confidential matters [email protected]
Cheryl Stevens
Head of CommunicationsCheryl has over 25 years experience of working in the area of child sexual exploitation within the voluntary sector.
Cheryl has worked as a trainer and community awareness raiser and led a young person focussed outreach team, recruited and managed volunteers for a vulnerable young person focussed charity and worked as a parent support worker.
Cheryl joined the NWG in 2012 as the network coordinator and has seen that role grow as the network has grown.
Cheryl can be contacted on:
Phone: 01332 585371 or 07496 430915
Email: [email protected] or for confidential matters [email protected]
Steve Baguley
Education and Transition LeadSteve has a wealth of experience in Children’s Services, at both operational and managerial levels. He has been a Head of Service for Integrated Safeguarding and Early Intervention, as well as leading on the development of integrated services, including health, social care, and education. This included the implementation of locality vulnerable children meetings, which were nationally recognised as good practice by OFSTED and the Local Government Association.
For the past five years, he has worked with areas across the country on exploitation, adolescent safeguarding and the transition into adulthood. This work has been across both children and adult partnerships, sharing learning, practice, research, and resources to help inform local responses.
He has authored a report “Exploitation It Does Not Stop Because You Turn 18 “and also developed a benchmarking tool to support practice working with 16/17-year-olds and the transition into adulthood. He delivers workshops, presentations and training in this area.
Recently, Steve has worked with the Children’s Society to develop the Missing Benchmarking tool which has been used by areas across the country. He has also co-authored Making Words Matter to support reflection on the use of language used in exploitation. Additionally, he has also been part of a small multi-agency project group that developed the Transitional Safeguarding Briefing – Bridging the Gap which was published earlier in the year (June 2021)
Steve can be contacted on:
Phone: 01332 585371 or 07399 449034
Email: [email protected] or for confidential matters [email protected]
Pav Kaur
Faith LeadPav is a qualified social worker with a wide range of front-line experience gained through working with survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, exploitation, honour-based violence and forced marriages.
Pav has led projects within the ethnic minority communities around exploitation and abuse which have allowed her to build relationships within faith community groups.
Prior to joining the NWG, Pav has worked within the voluntary, health, statutory and law enforcement sectors, specialising in safeguarding and child protection.
Pav can be contacted on:
Phone: 01332 585371 or 07944 971481
Email: [email protected] or for confidential matters [email protected]
Sukhdev Rathore
Exploitation, Diversity and Inclusion LeadSukhdev joined the NWG in 2022. He is a qualified youth worker and has worked in the youth and community field for a significant number of years. His experience stems from working within both in statutory and 3rd sector organisations. More recently he has worked at a large children’s charity providing support advice and guidance to children and young people, families, communities, and professionals on Child Exploitation amongst other safeguarding issues. Sukhdev comes to the NWG with experience and knowledge of working with diverse communities and organisations.
Sukhdev can be contacted on:
Phone: 01332 585371 or 07944 971480
Email: [email protected] or for confidential matters [email protected]
Lin Sands
Police & Justice LeadLin joined the NWG in 2022
Lin has more than 30 years of safeguarding/investigation experience gained from an extensive career in the police force.
Lin is a highly qualified Safeguarding Subject Expert, Expert Witness, Advocate, and nationally renowned Safeguarding Trainer/Consultant. In addition, she is a highly regarded Independent Investigator/Risk Assessor, Coach and Mentor.
Lin is a former Regional Practice Co-Ordinator with the National Counter Trafficking Service (Barnardos) where she undertook a variety of roles including Independent Child Trafficking Guardian, Facilitator/Modern Slavery Act Advisor/Risk Assessor.
Lin also holds a Masters Degree in Disability Studies; her dissertation focused on the subject of access to justice & particularly the use of Special Measures for ‘Vulnerable Witnesses/Defendants’, within the Criminal Justice process.
Lin can be contacted on:
Phone: 01332 585371 or 07415 458283
Email: [email protected] or for confidential matters: [email protected]
Angie Harper
Sport Engagement LeadAngie joined NWG in 2022 and has a background in sports development and equality, diversity and inclusion within sports.
Angie is also an FA Tutor Affiliate for the Safeguarding Children workshop which she has done for six years.
Angie has a wealth of knowledge around sports development, club development, equality and diversity and safeguarding in a sporting environment.
Angie can be contacted on:
Phone: 07931 464531 or 01332 585371
Email: [email protected]
Maria Cassidy
Families and Communities LeadWith a background in youth and community work for over 25 years, Maria is passionate about working with organisations to ensure that the experiences of families affected by exploitation are listened to and that their voices are heard. Working at NWG, Maria works alongside safeguarding partnerships and national organisations to assist them in creating a culture which values and recognises families as safeguarding partners. She is also instrumental in bringing areas together to share emerging practices about their work with families that others can learn from. Maria’s national work has included developing resources, briefing papers, workshops, benchmarking tools, videos, and training “Experts by Experience” which all include the voice of families with lived experience of exploitation.
Maria can be contacted on:
Phone: 01332 585371 or 07399 449 041
Email: [email protected] or for confidential matters [email protected]
Bina Parmar
Safeguarding Sport LeadBina has a background in police forensic intelligence analytics and experience assisting high-profile CSE police investigations. Bina works alongside Safeguarding Partnerships and national voluntary sector organisations to assist in the improvement of multi-agency responses to exploited children and young people including operational and strategic development. Bina manages practitioner and policy networking forums to facilitate the sharing of practice and explore common challenges with a view to developing resources and practices to assist professionals. Bina’s work has included the development of national awareness-raising campaigns and assessment tools and has been involved in government policy consultations and national research projects.
Bina can be contacted on:
Phone: 01332 585371 or 07415 897725
Email: [email protected] or for confidential matters [email protected]
Kevin Murphy
Safeguarding Sport LeadKevin has worked within the children’s workforce in a number of roles for a significant number of years. He has been a front-line practitioner and worked his way up through the ranks to become an operational manager and finally was a Head of Service for a local authority children’s services department.
Kevin has a wealth of experience working with vulnerable children and their families and he has a unique perspective and understanding of special educational needs and disability (SEND).
Kevin can be contacted on:
Phone: 01332 585371 or 07399 449 045
Email: [email protected] or for confidential matters [email protected]
Matt Thompson
Head of Direct Delivery and Deputy CEOAfter thirty years in policing Matt retired from Derbyshire Constabulary and joined the NWG team in July 2021.
Matt served as the Head of Public Protection and Safeguarding overseeing the strategic development of the Force’s response to all forms of child abuse, the exploitation of children, modern day slavery and human trafficking. He was also responsible for the management and leadership of over 200 operational officers and police staff charged with investigating both current and historical criminal allegations. Matt has worked locally, regionally and nationally in developing and improving the police’s response to public protection matters.
Matt has been an Executive Member of the Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership as well many other strategic bodies including Derby’s Family Justice Board, Derbyshire’s Corporate Parenting Board as well as Faith based Safeguarding Commissions.
Matt can be contacted on:
Phone: 01332 585371 or 07399449039
Email: [email protected] or for confidential matters [email protected]
Karen Laing
Training and Development CoordinatorKaren joined NWG in 2022. Karen has worked directly and indirectly with vulnerable and exploited children and adults for over 20 years in various statutory and voluntary organisations and in both secure and community settings. Through her direct work, she developed a passion for information sharing and promoting multi-agency working, which led to her focusing on training facilitation.
Karen is a qualified adult education trainer who has written and facilitated training sessions on a range of subjects including Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, Recognising, supporting and advocating for victims of exploitation, The Youth Justice System and more.
Karen can be contacted on:
Phone: 01332 585371 or 07415 458218
Email: [email protected]
Jo Aldridge
Safeguarding Code in Martial Arts Project ManagerJo has worked in National Governing Bodies of sport, sport business and governance for over 15 years. Initially setting up the project in 2018, Jo has worked with Sport England ever since as Project Manager for the Safeguarding Code in Martial Arts. The scheme, hosted within NWG Network, supports the unregulated sector of martial arts with safeguarding support and helps clubs and organisations demonstrate their good safeguarding standards to parents, carers, schools and leisure establishments.
Jo has been a part of management teams within British Athletics and British Dressage. She set up and ran a men’s professional basketball team in the British Basketball League and was previously a shareholder/ Director in a sport business consultancy helping her to understand the structure and governance of sport in the UK, the importance of sport volunteers and how a positive experience in sport can transform lives.
Jo can be contacted on:
Phone: 01332 585371 or 07956 773739
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.safeguardingcode.com
Kelly Hounslow
Sports Lived Experience Resource LeadKelly has worked in safeguarding for children and families for over 20 years covering a wide range of issues. Over this time she has worked in the statutory sector, Youth Offending Service as a front line practioner for 10 years, followed by 11 years in the voluntary sector in Barnardos, leading to heading a team within a national service as Childrens Service Manager.
Kelly’s main area of work has been in supporting those with lived experience of abuse including Child Sexual Abuse, Child Exploitation, Modern Slavery and Trafficking, Domestic Abuse and gang violence. This has included supporting survivors of abuse through the Judicial System, providing evidence for law changes through Parliament and engaging with support agencies to challenge Government Policy.
Kelly can be contacted on
Phone: 01332 585371 or 07535408775
Email: [email protected]
Lucy Gill
Safeguarding Code in Martial Arts AdministratorLucy joined the Safeguarding Code in Martial Arts team in 2022, having previously worked in the NHS as a secretary for 12 years. Lucy is experienced in administrative duties concerning the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults involving various different caregivers and organisations.
Lucy is also a qualified artist and works on commissions in her spare time.
Lucy can be contacted on:
Phone: 01332 585371 or 07494004544
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.safeguardingcode.com
Emma Roberts
Network AssistantEmma joined the NWG Network in 2021
Emma has worked in customer service and administration for the past 8 years and has NVQ’s in Business Administration and Retail.
She has a keen interest in CSE and wider exploitation and her role covers all aspects of NWG social media and membership.
Emma can be contacted on:
Phone: 01332 585371 or 07956773475
Email: [email protected] or for confidential matters [email protected]
Dee Beesley
Charity AdministratorDee joined the NWG in 2023.
Dee has gained extensive experience working in the Education Sector for over 20 Years and has a wealth of knowledge supporting the Teaching and Learning of Children through the Finance, administration and support functions in schools.
I am very excited to be given the opportunity to work in the Charity Sector for an organisation with such a strong moral compass and ethical cause to make a lasting difference in young people and their lives.
Dee can be contacted at [email protected]
Office 01332 585371or Mobile 07496806624