Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) Digital Conference

Vanessa is a Professor of Law at the University of Warwick, UK. For almost three decades, she has published extensively on law, policy and professional responses to violence against women and girls – across criminal, asylum and family justice systems. A Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and winner of a University of Glasgow ‘World-Changing Alumni’ award, Vanessa has worked closely with third sector organisations including Rape Crisis Scotland, Refuge, Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse and the Institute for Addressing Strangulation to conduct research on topics spanning sex work, coercive control, domestic abuse-related suicide, jury decision-making in rape cases, and non-fatal strangulation. Her work has informed key law reform across the UK and internationally, including in relation to the availability of special measures for sexual offences complainants, jury education and reform, and the abolition of Scotland’s ’not proven’ verdict. Vanessa recently led an independent evaluation of CPS initiatives to improve rape prosecution in England and Wales under Operation Soteria, findings from which then informed the development of the new National Operating Model for Adult Rape.

Alex Davis is a senior Civil Service leader with extensive experience delivering high-profile policy and operational reform across criminal justice, public safety, housing and homelessness. She currently serves as Deputy Director for Victims and Violence Against Women and Girls at the Ministry of Justice, leading work to improve outcomes for victims of rape, serious sexual violence and domestic abuse. Throughout her career, Alex has led complex cross-government programmes with significant public impact, including implementation of the End-to-End Rape Review, the Domestic Abuse Protection Order, national prison safety reforms, the COVID-19 “Everyone In” rough sleeping response, and the Government’s Grenfell recovery programme.

Detective Chief Superintendent Melissa Laremore is currently seconded to the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection, a collaboration between the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing. Mel has been an officer in the Metropolitan Police Service for 27.5 years. She is an accredited Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) and has worked in Public Protection for most of her career, specialising in many complex investigations into rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO) as well as leading teams in domestic abuse and child abuse. She was the Metropolitan Police Lead for tackling RASSO and assumed the role of Soteria Lead from 2021 when the Metropolitan Police Service became an Operation Soteria pathfinder force. Alongside this role, she worked with Soteria academics as a national police advisor on the development of the National Operating Model (the NOM). In 2023, she took up a secondment with the NPCC as the Operational Implementation Lead on the Operation Soteria Joint Unit.

Tiggey May is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Crime and Justice Policy Research (ICPR), Birkbeck, University of London. She has worked in policing research for a number of years, with a particular focus, over the last decade, on digital evidence in criminal investigations. She currently leads on digital evidence (Pillar 6) for Operation Soteria Bluestone and Operation Bright Light, and is a member of two UK policing AI ethics committees. Her research focuses on how digital evidence is gathered, analysed and disclosed in domestic abuse and rape and serious sexual offence investigations. Tiggey is currently examining how AI might responsibly support policing and criminal justice practice. She works closely with colleagues across policing, the CPS, and academia on all her research.

Lucy works as a senior policy professional in the Crown Prosecution Service as part of the VAWG policy team, leading on the Adult RASSO portfolio.  This work includes refreshing the RASSO Prosecution Guidance, leading on joint work with policing partners to improve the CPS handling of RASSO cases and for delivery of the CPS VAWG Strategy 2025-2030.

Prior to joining the civil service Lucy led a national programme at The Children’s Society supporting children exploited into county lines exploitation working with police and safeguarding agencies.  The programme led to policy change to better recognise and support child victims.  Lucy was a media and organisational spokesperson for the charity.

Lucy has also worked in a number of local councils in their central policy teams specialising in children’s and victims policy.

Katrin Hohl OBE is Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at City St. George’s, University of London and the Independent Advisor to the UK government on criminal justice responses to sexual violence. She has published extensively on police responses to sexual violence and domestic abuse, serves on a number of further advisory groups and has advised a range of national and international bodies. Hohl was joint academic lead of Operation Soteria, a groundbreaking evidence-led change programme that has transformed the police approach to sexual offences in England and Wales.

Ranked in The Legal 500 (2025) and Chambers & Partners (2025) for Crime, Kama Melly KC is widely recognised as one of the foremost advocates in the North East, known for her technical ability and as a powerful advocate. She is in constant demand from both the defence and the prosecution, receiving an increasing number of private instructions. She has a reputation for achieving positive results in cases which others have assessed as hopeless.

For the past 15 of her 27 years as a barrister, Kama has specialised in criminal law. She is known for dealing with serious heavyweight crime including drug conspiracy, murder and fraud, and has considerable experience of cell-site evidence, forensic evidence and abuse-of-process applications. She specialises in sexual offences including historical cases, challenging DNA evidence, child cases, marital rape, and stranger attacks. Her practice includes quasi-crimes such as issues of judicial review, habeas corpus and extradition.

As part of her ‘no stone unturned’ approach Kama has succeeded in preventing prosecutions on several occasions through mounting applications of abuse of process, including in cases of drugs conspiracies and historical sexual offences.

Chris Tuck is the CEO and Founder of Survivors Of aBuse, a survivor-led charity supporting adults affected by childhood and domestic abuse. She was a member of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse Victims and Survivors Consultative Panel from its inception through to the conclusion of the Inquiry.

Chris brings lived experience alongside extensive experience in survivor advocacy, policy, training and public speaking. Her work focuses on survivor voice, trauma-informed practice, systemic barriers, accountability and improving professional responses to survivors.

She is an Honorary Visiting Fellow with Anglia Ruskin University’s International Policing and Public Protection Research Institute and has spoken in Parliament and at national conferences.

Since 1999 I have worked for the Rape and Sexual Violence Project (RSVP), Birmingham’s rape crisis charity, where I am CEO. Before that I worked for Victim Support supporting victims of other crimes and for Brook Advisory Centre supporting young people with sexual health. Alongside the fabulous team at RSVP, I am dedicated to making bold, big hearted differences for children and adults subjected to sexual violence and abuse. I am particularly interested in embodied approaches to reduce the impact of trauma.

Outside of work I am a keen ultra-runner. Last year I completed the Race Across Scotland, while also raising money for RSVP. The race was 215 miles, in one go, across the width of Scotland. Many people supported my journey and collectively gave the message to survivors that: “We Believe You.”

Nogah is a solicitor who heads the CWJ legal advice team. The team provides second-tier pro bono legal advice to support workers at frontline women’s sector organisations. Nogah also prepares and delivers training to frontline women’s organisations on challenging failings in the criminal justice system, and carries out systemic work such as super-complaints and policy work on issues arising from our engagement with frontline organisations. Before joining CWJ Nogah worked a solicitor for 18 years at human rights legal firms, and was a partner at Bhatt Murphy and Hickman & Rose, where she specialised in challenging state bodies, particularly in the criminal justice system. She acted in a range of cases involving failures in policing of violence against women, including inadequate investigation of rape and trafficking, domestic homicide and sexual exploitation by police officers. She has also supported survivors as a volunteer on the National Domestic Abuse Helpline.

Louise Graham is the Sexual Violence and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Lead at Nottingham City’s Community Safety Partnership. With over 20 years’ experience in the crime and justice sector, she leads Nottingham City’s strategic and coordinated response to sexual violence.

Since its inception, she has led the Nottingham City Sexual Violence Action Network and the nationally recognised ‘Consent Coalition’, bringing together agencies, communities, and organisations to deliver innovative and impactful initiatives.

Louise spearheaded the creation of the ‘Your Journey’ resource, guiding survivors through the criminal justice and support systems, gaining recognition across the country.

Her leadership has contributed to Nottingham’s growing reputation as a national leader in tackling sexual violence. Louise is a passionate advocate for survivor-centred interventions, with a strong focus on prevention, early intervention, and driving long-term cultural change.

Vanessa is a Professor of Law at the University of Warwick, UK. For almost three decades, she has published extensively on law, policy and professional responses to violence against women and girls – across criminal, asylum and family justice systems. A Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and winner of a University of Glasgow ‘World-Changing Alumni’ award, Vanessa has worked closely with third sector organisations including Rape Crisis Scotland, Refuge, Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse and the Institute for Addressing Strangulation to conduct research on topics spanning sex work, coercive control, domestic abuse-related suicide, jury decision-making in rape cases, and non-fatal strangulation. Her work has informed key law reform across the UK and internationally, including in relation to the availability of special measures for sexual offences complainants, jury education and reform, and the abolition of Scotland’s ’not proven’ verdict. Vanessa recently led an independent evaluation of CPS initiatives to improve rape prosecution in England and Wales under Operation Soteria, findings from which then informed the development of the new National Operating Model for Adult Rape.