The Consular Corps of London
Missing Seminar 3rd July, 2015
At The Residence of His Excellency the Ambassador of Belgium
Speaker Biographies
Parents and Abducted Children Together (PACT) was founded by Lady Catherine Meyer in 1999 to raise awareness and understanding of child abduction in all its forms and to improve child protection policies and practices in the UK. Lady Meyer, recognised internationally as a leading expert on parental child abduction across frontiers, gave evidence on several occasions to committees of the US Senate and House of Representatives, and to the Belgian Senate. She was a driving force behind adoption of the Missingkids website and the Child Rescue Alert in the UK. Lady Meyer was honoured with a CBE in 2012 for services to children and families.
Jacqueline Renton is a Family Law Practitioner specialised in cross-border disputes pertaining to international custody and abductions. 
She joined Four Papers Building in 2007. Jacqueline appears regularly in the High Court and has also appeared in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. Prior to joining chambers, she worked for one year at the international Child Abduction and Contact Unit doing case management and legal research in international child abduction and Brussels II Revised cases. Jacqueline has been involved with PACT for many years and is a Trustee.
Geoff Newiss joined PACT in 2012 to produce a major study of child abduction in the UK in collaboration with the Child
Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (now the CEOP Command of the National Crime Agency) . In previous positions at the Home Office and the charity Missing People, he has published numerous papers on missing persons, policing and child abduction. Geoff now runs PACT’s Child Abduction Hub, an online national centre for the latest information on child abduction. In 2013, Geoff was awarded a Police Commendation for the quality of his research. Unfortunately, Geoff cannot join us today due to a family emergency, but Jacqueline will present on his behalf.
Lucy Holmes is Research Manager at the charity Missing People. Lucy has worked in the field of missing persons for eight years, at the UK charity Missing 
People. Lucy holds an Honorary Research Fellowship at the Centre for the Study of Missing Persons at the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, University of Portsmouth. Lucy’s research interests have included the experiences of the families of missing people, people with dementia who go missing, the links between gang involvement and young people who go missing, the experiences of formerly missing people, and the links between mental health and missing.
Joe Apps is the Manager of the UK Missing Persons Bureau. Joe is a retired police officer with more than forty years experience in 
policing at a senior level with extensive knowledge of missing persons investigations and the missing phenomenon. He has a BA (Hons) degree in Policing Studies from Portsmouth University and an MA in Criminal Justice from Reading University. He is undertaking a professional doctorate programme with University of Dundee researching ‘missing’ related issues.
At the National Crime Agency, Joe leads, develops and manages the UK Missing Persons Bureau, supporting and advising on missing and found person enquiries nationally and internationally. Responsible for the operational lead of behalf of the government, Joe co-ordinates extensive partnership groups including national policing leads, ministers and government officials, law enforcement, NGOs and other key national and international partners, including Missing Children Europe and the EU Commission. Joe was honoured in the 2015 New Year Honours with an MBE for his services in policing safeguarding vulnerable people.
Thank you to His Excellency the Ambassador of Belgium and Lady Meyer for their support.
Thank you to all our speakers for their time and commitment to the seminar this afternoon.
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