Patrons

Life president, Dr Arnon Bentovim MB BS FRCPSYCH, FRCPCH, DPM

Dr Arnon Bentovim is a Consultant Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst and Family Therapist. In 1994, upon retirement from Great Ormond Street Hospital, he founded the Child and Family Practice with Mrs Marianne Bentovim. This is an independent practice which has now grown considerably with a faculty of Consultant Paediatricians, Child & Adolescent Psychiatrists, Adult Psychiatrists, Clinical and Educational Psychologists, Individual and Family Therapists and Speech and Language Therapists. It provides an extensive range of services to children and family members referred for diagnosis, assessment and treatment.

Dr Bentovim has conducted extensive research, training and consultation and has been involved with a number of organisations including; President of Relate 2001 until 2009; Chair of the Institute of Family Therapy, and the International Family Therapy Association 2004-2007 and Professional Advisor to ChildLine to 1990 to 2000.

Martin Brewer

Martin is a retired solicitor who now sits as a judge in both the Employment Tribunals and the Immigration and Asylum Tribunal. As a solicitor Martin specialised in employment law and practice and acted for a wide range of employers in both the public and private sectors including a number of large NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts. Martin is a published author on various aspects of employment law.

Hilary Eldridge BA (HONS) DIP. SW, CQSW.

Hilary was Chief Executive of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation until she retired in 2015. She began working with sex offenders and their families after qualifying as a probation officer in 1975. In 1988 she co-founded a residential assessment and treatment centre for sex offenders, which was superseded by Lucy Faithfull Foundation in 1992, when she became its clinical director, later becoming overall director and chief executive.

She co-authored and monitored the charity’s assessment and intervention programmes for adult male and female offenders and for young people engaging in harmful sexual behaviours and for their families. With colleagues she introduced and facilitated the development of Stop it Now! and its child protection Helpline in the UK. She also co-chaired a pan-European group to develop work with young people and collaborated with Child and Family Training to develop ‘Hope for Children and Families’: a modular evidence-based resource for practitioners.

Hilary has consulted to and trained a wide range of agencies nationally and internationally, including probation and prisons and has served on HM Government panels on programme development and advisory groups on prevention of sexual violence. She has authored peer-reviewed articles, numerous book chapters and a book regarding sexual abuse. She has written extensively about women who have sexually abused children. She has been an Honorary Lecturer at the Centre for Forensic and Criminological Psychology, University of Birmingham and a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Surrey and Royal Holloway, University of London.

Baroness Valerie Howarth OBE

Until July 2001, Valerie was the Chief Executive of the charity ChildLine. Under her leadership, ChildLine counselled over one million children and young people and it grew from a small London based project to the national service it is today. A social worker by background, she worked in the Family Welfare Association in Lambeth and Brent and rose to become Director of Social Services.

As a member of the House of Lords, Valerie works to represent the needs of disabled and vulnerable children; she is currently Secretary to the All Parliamentary Group for Children and works on a number of European union issues.

Richard Monk CMG OBE QPM

Richard Monk CMG OBE QPM was a founder trustee of the Foundation and succeeded Baroness Faithfull as Chair of the Foundation's trustees in 1996 until appointed by Kofi Annan to be the Police Commissioner of the UN International Police Task Force in Bosnia in 1998.

Previously, a Commander at New Scotland Yard, he created the first Paedophile Squad in the UK and his dramatic speech to journalists at the 1990 annual conference of the Association of Chief Police Officers on the extent of sexual abuse of children being uncovered by investigators and clinicians marked a water shed in the ability of victims to be heard, the extent of offending to be more publicly known and led to the formal training of dedicated police and social workers. He subsequently worked for both the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe overseeing police assistance programmes in the former Balkans and in the Soviet countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus, a frequent aim of which was to prevent the trafficking of females for sexual crime.

Mel Nock OBE

After taking a Postgraduate Diploma in Personnel from Cardiff University, Mel worked in Personnel for a string of British companies. In 1978 he moved into General Management with GKN as its Sector Chairman. In 1984 he was appointed as the first Regional Director of Personnel with the West Midlands Regional Health Authority, and over the next five years was given the additional responsibility for the region for legal and public relations together with adding on the Chairmanship of the Regional Blood Transfusion Service Services and West Midlands Ambulance Service. In 1988 he was also given lead Regional responsibility for bringing out the 54 hospitals as independent Trusts. In 1994 Mel moved into the charitable sector on a voluntary basis after taking retirement. In addition to being a trustee of The Lucy Faithfull Foundation, Mel has served Victim Support, HMP Long Lartin (Vice Chair of the Independent Monitoring Board), as well as being a member of the Lord Lieutenant’s Advisory Panel for South Worcestershire and the Chairman of EIL Charity.

He has been made an O.B.E. for his services to Victim Support and the people of Worcestershire.

Annie Shepperd

Annie Shepperd is the Chief Executive of Salix Finance, a not-for-profit company funded by Government to reduce carbon emissions in the public sector by funding energy efficiency. Prior to this role Annie was the Chief Executive of Southwark Council and Annie has worked in local government for the majority of her career. Annie's career included being a director of social services in Bath and in Liverpool. Annie's career in social work has resulted in her lifelong commitment to supporting organisations which promote the welfare and wellbeing of children and hence her support for The Lucy Faithfull Foundation. Annie was a trustee of LFF for seven years. Annie supports other voluntary organisations.

Sir Richard Tilt

Following a period teaching in Stockholm and Nottingham, Sir Richard started his career in the Prison Service as Assistant Governor in 1966. He was Governor of a number of prisons including Bedford and Gartree rising to Director General of the Prison Service in 1995. Sir Richard retired from the Prison Service in 1999 and in the same year was appointed a Knight Bachelor.

From 1999 - 2000, he was Chairman of Kettering General Hospital NHS Trust, prior to taking up post as Chairman of Northamptonshire Health Authority in April 2000. In 2002 he was appointed chairman of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland Strategic Health Authority. He left this post in 2006. He was a member of the Sentencing Advisory Panel from 1999 - 2002. In December 2000 Sir Richard was appointed as Social Fund Commissioner for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. He held this post until 2009. Between 2001 and 2010 he was a Governor of De Montfort University. He is also Chair of the Social Security Advisory Committee and Chairman of the Portman Group's Independent Complaints Panel. Sir Richard was appointed Independent of IWF Chair in January 2012.

John Trotter

John is a consultant solicitor in London with Bates Wells Braithwaite London LLP, where he has been the senior partner and head of public and regulatory law. John has represented the British Association of Social Workers since the 1970s and for many years he represented its members in numerous cases. In particular, John represented social workers and the profession of social work in many child death and child abuse inquiries such as the inquiries into the deaths of Darren Clark, Paul Brown, Jasmine Beckford, Kimberly Carlisle, The Cleveland Inquiry, Victoria Climbie and others. John also represented ChildLine for many years and other organisations concerned with the safety and welfare of children.

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