One of the UK’s leading experts on child abuse, Stockport based Peter Garsden is to address the Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse conference to take place at the NationalMotorcycleMuseum in the West Midlands on Thursday 12th December 2013.
The aim of the conference, which has been organised on behalf of Crimestoppers, is to provide a forum for information sharing and debate that delegates will be able to take back to their communities and workplace to assist them in making a real difference in improving children’s lives. Speakers will also include representatives from Lancashire Constabulary whose work in this area has been recognised nationally in recent years.
Peter Garsden, Principal of Simpson Millar and President of A.C.A.L (Association of Child Abuse Lawyers) has devoted the last 17 years of his professional life to supporting the victims of child abuse and has been Lead Solicitor in over 25 different Group Actions involving over 1000 Claimants. Earlier this year he was awarded Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year at the Manchester Legal Awards.
Peter’s presentation will describe the way in which police prosecutions have developed since the early days of the 1990’s, through to a Home Affairs Select Committee Enquiry into the Conduct of Investigations into Past Cases of Abuse in Children’s Homes in 2003, which made several recommendations to the police as to the way in which abuse investigations should be carried out.
The presenters will then assess the impact of that enquiry upon the police’s attitude to abuse investigations from 2003 until the present date, focusing upon the Savile enquiry, and the Rochdale investigations into sexual exploitation. They will be assessing the police prosecutions from the attitude of lawyers who act for the victims of abuse, and who instruct them to pursue compensation claims on their behalf. They will also look at how the prosecutions can benefit or disadvantage their cases, and the tensions which exist between criminal and civil law.
Proceeds from the event will be used to support ongoing Crimestoppers’ campaigns aimed at encouraging members of the public to provide information that can be used by enforcement agencies to tackle the issue of child sexual exploitation.