Jakki James-Clarke is a volunteer for Lincolnshire Criminal Justice Board who works to improve support for victims:
What worked for me
In 2002 Sandra my 15-year-old daughter was murdered by a prolific offender, Timothy Cuffy. He had moved to the area four months earlier and had a huge number of previous convictions for violent sexual offences towards women and young girls - he was classified as a Schedule 1 offender. But he had changed his surname and left the area and the police had lost track of him.
I got my Miss Marple trousers on and found there had been alarm bells ringing - he used to visit a school regularly and the head teacher had expressed concern. But when the police checked the name Timothy Barnett, it came up as a clean record. All my confidence went out the window when I found that out. These agencies are in place to protect the public, but it was a shambles. There was nothing in place to stop it happening.
After the trial in 2003 he was sentenced to life. I made documentaries to try and raise awareness - you hear of so many people using aliases. These people know how to work the system. I started to give talks to criminology students about how the system works and how victims feel. It's a life sentence for us.
In 2005 I was asked by my victims' contact officer to sit on the Victim and Witness Volunteer Panel with seven other victims. We shadowed all the criminal justice agencies for two months - police, Crown Courts, youth offending service, probation and victim support- and wrote a report on what had a negative impact on witnesses and victims of crime and made lots of recommendations to present to the Home Office. It was a painful experience - none of us asked each other what had happened. Now we are such good friends.
Lincolnshire Criminal Justice Board (LCJB) implemented the recommendations. They then asked me to look at cold cases to see in hindsight what could have been done to create a better experience for victims. Previously you didn't need to do a course to be a family liaison officer, for example. Now they've introduced an accredited qualification. In 2007 we won a Justice Award for caring for victims and I was named Tesco Magazine Mum of the Year 2008. It's important to turn being a victim into something positive. Through me, Sandra's voice is being heard.
Victims' view
The Justice Awards were established in 2004 to recognise
achievement among staff and volunteers working in the criminal justice
system. “We wanted to improve services for victims and witnesses,” says
Sarah Virr, programme and performance manager at Lincolnshire Criminal
Justice Board.
“We work inside the system so it's not always easy for us to see how it can be improved. We looked for individuals who had suffered serious crime and had been through the system from start to finish, to give us their perspective on their experiences. Nobody else had considered that route. It was innovative.
“Jakki was instrumental to us winning the award. She is incredibly vocal and tactful and raises issues for all victims. She won't be kept down by the heartbreaking trauma she has suffered. It's an inspiration.”
Jakki James-Clarke
6 May 2008
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/career_and_jobs/public_sector/article3871254.ece