I was always a big supporter of Victim Support and helped in any small way I could. They do a wonderful job supporting victims of crime and I still have articles I wrote for their national magazines.
I also did a lot of work with victims of crime and gave a number of talks at national level on the affect that the Media has on victims of crime.
You might be surprised to know that most of the victims I talked to didn't see the Media/Press as big bad ogres but most of them co-operated fully. It was a sobering part of my job to meet and try to help those who had husbands or wives, sons or daughters murdered.
I particularly did a considerable amount of work with a lady by the name of Karen Newman. Karen was stabbed multiple times (the actual number eludes me but it was well over 30) and left for dead by a relative.
She managed to call the police and survived her ordeal. Karen was keen to relate her story to the Media and I was more than happy to help her do this. We then extended this to give a talk to a number of training courses being held for newly appointed police press officers and also to the annual conference for police press and public relations officers.
Karen's presentation was both life-affirming and heartbreaking and even had some of the audience in tears. I remember vividly how one of the regular lecturers whose name escapes me now gave a talk on image and the media and he was due at one conference (I believe it was the first time he had heard Karen's presentation) to follow us. He asked to take an early lunch and give his presentation after we had eaten: "there's no way I can or want to follow that wonderful presentation" he said.
I have to say I am proud of the work I did for victim support and proud of the small amount of help and support I was able to give to those affected by crime - the two that spring to mind being the murders of Thomas Marshall and Natalie Pearman.
If anyone is interested in my university research for a Masters Degree in Professional Development I have put it all on my website at: https://peterowensteward.weebly.com/university-researchvictims-of-crime.html
A couple of my articles are reproduced above along with a photo of Karen who is photographed with Coronation Street actress Sally Whittaker (now Sally Dynevor)