North Wales held its first MAPPA conference at Venue Cymru on October 9th 2009. There was an excellent cross section of colleagues represented from Responsible Authorities and Duty to Co-operate Agencies, with over 200 delegates attending. The day was opened by the Acting Chief Constable Ian Shannon, followed by an address by Paul Manning, member of the NOMS MAPPA team. The conference was then given presentation by the Victim Liaison Unit and this included a very powerful talk from a MH, a victim of a very serious crime in London. The perpetrator in this case was a stranger who raped MH, before stabbing her and leaving her for dead. Following many years of recovery MH moved to North Wales to begin a new life. MH ended her moving input with a poem that she had written for the conference.
The final part of the morning involved a presentation from 4 different agencies working on the same case which involved one victim and numerous offenders. This highlighted the interagency nature of the risk management of some of the highest risk offenders and included an input from Police, Social Services, Prison, and Probation Service.
The afternoon had a keynote address by Mr. David Hanson, Rt Honourable Minister for Crime, Policing and Counter-Terrorism. After Mr Hanson’s speech delegates attended two of a choice of following four workshops:-
- Community Sex Offender Treatment Programme. This workshop run by two very experienced Probation Officers described the work undertaken by the Probation Service with sexual offenders in the Community.
- ViSOR – a workshop on the Violent and Sexual Offenders Database.
- CSOR Disclosure Pilot- run by staff from the Violent Offenders Unit.
- Managing Radicalisation. A workshop by North Wales Police based upon the PREVENT agenda.
The day was closed by an address from Carol Moore, Chief Officer for North Wales Probation Area. The feedback from the conference was excellent, with colleagues stating that they had valued the opportunity to focus a whole day upon MAPPA, as well as having an opportunity to network with colleagues involved in the holistic management of Sexual and Violent Offenders in North Wales.
Reflection on being a Victim (pdf 13k)
