Deborah Coles Executive Director Expand Deborah is the executive director of INQUEST, and has worked for the charity since 1989. She leads INQUEST's strategic policy, legal and parliamentary work and has considerable expertise in working to prevent death and ill treatment in all forms of detention and for more effective accountable learning. She has been an independent expert adviser to numerous government committees and inquiries, is a regular media commentator, delivers conference papers nationally and internationally and is author of numerous articles and publications. Deborah represents INQUEST as a member of the Ministerial Board on Deaths in Custody and is independently a member of the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody; she is also on the board of trustees of Clean Break and a special adviser to Women in Prison.
Arnaud Vervoitte Operations and Development Director Expand Arnaud joined INQUEST in 2017. Born in France, he came to the UK in 1993 and graduated in politics, global politics and race relations. Arnaud has worked in social care since 1995, in a variety of roles, including casework and support work and, later on, in management and leadership positions in the charity sector. He worked in HIV/AIDS for eight years and with asylum seekers and refugees for 12 and has also been the managing director of Just for Kids Law, a legal charity supporting young people. Arnaud is a passionate campaigner on social justice issues, including anti-racism and the rights of refugees and migrants. He is a Trustee of the Separated Child Foundation.
Rebecca Roberts Head of Policy Expand Rebecca Roberts joined INQUEST in January 2018. Prior to working at INQUEST she was Senior Policy Associate at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies. Rebecca is an experienced policy analyst and researcher and has worked across a range of fields including criminalisation, penal reform strategies, ethnicity, feminist perspectives, police and state violence. She holds an Msc in Criminal Justice Policy from the London School of Economics and is a founding member of the Reclaim Justice Network.
Lucy McKay Senior Policy and Communications Officer Expand Lucy joined INQUEST in March 2017, and in January 2020 became the senior policy and communications officer. Formerly a journalist, Lucy has a degree in Sociology and Politics and was an editor and organiser at STRIKE! Magazine. It was through a 2014 STRIKE! campaign on policing that Lucy came across INQUEST. She previously worked as a policy officer at HM Inspectorate of Prisons and assisted in the co-ordination of the UK National Preventive Mechanism. She is also a trustee of the Independent Custody Visiting Association.
Rob Styles Casework and Administrative Assistant Expand Rob joined INQUEST in 2011 and provides administrative support to the casework team, wider office, and to the INQUEST Lawyers Group. He is also a first point of contact for bereaved people getting in touch with INQUEST. He has previously worked in industry and as a paralegal in the field of human rights and is a committed trade unionist.
Anita Sharma Head of Casework Expand Anita joined INQUEST as a caseworker in October 2010. Her interest in human rights and social justice led her to work as a legal advisor at the Coventry Law Centre for six years, while also volunteering at a women’s refuge. Anita then spent some time travelling before working as a special educational needs (SEN) teaching assistant in a secondary school. Prior to joining INQUEST, Anita worked at Refugee and Migrant Justice for ten years as a caseworker and team leader, supporting clients through the asylum process.
Natasha Thompson Senior Caseworker Expand Natasha joined INQUEST as a volunteer in 2014, becoming a casework assistant the following year and a caseworker in 2016. She became interested in human rights law whilst studying law at university. Her interest in the legal process following a death in custody developed when she began following a number of individual and joint family campaigns like the United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC) and 4Wardeva. Through hearing the experience of families and friends affected and wanting to contribute she began following the work of INQUEST.
Selen Cavcav Senior Caseworker Expand Selen joined INQUEST as a caseworker in 2010. She was born in Turkey and lived there until 1990. She graduated in Sociology and Law and then worked at the Refugee Legal Centre for ten years, representing asylum seekers and refugees at Immigration Tribunals. Selen has a special focus on deaths of women in prison and is fully committed to women's issues. She is trustee of Imece Women’s Centre. She has two children and lives in North London.
Sarah Uncles Policy and Communications Assistant Expand Sarah joined INQUEST as Policy and Communications Intern in October 2017, and now works as an Assistant. She previously worked as Project Assistant for the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies after graduating from Bristol University in Politics and Sociology. Whilst at university, she was an Independent Monitoring Board member at Bristol Prison and involved with various social justice campaigns. She is now studying a masters in Human Rights at Birkbeck.
Remy Mohamed Grenfell Project Coordinator Expand Remy joined INQUEST as a volunteer caseworker in May 2017 and became the Grenfell Project Coordinator in November 2017. She qualified as a Solicitor in 2005 and has over 12 years of experience in criminal defence law specialising in representing children and vulnerable adults. She is passionate about Human Rights, The Rule of Law and Access to Justice. She volunteers with a number of community outreach projects and is President of the Association of Muslim Lawyers.
Bola Awogboro Caseworker Expand Bola joined the INQUEST team in October 2017, originally as casework assistant, becoming a caseworker in March 2018. After studying the Graduate Diploma in Law she gained experience with The Poppy Project and the Anti-Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit, supporting victims of trafficking in accessing legal advice. She became familiar with INQUEST having previously worked at Bhatt Murphy Solicitors in an administrative role. She has a particular interest in women’s rights and their engagement with the criminal justice system.
Tanya Karastoyanova Finance Officer Expand Tanya joined INQUEST as Finance Officer in June 2017. She holds an AAT Accounting Qualification (MAAT) and has previously worked for accountancy practices and SME businesses. Tanya is also currently working for Learning on Screen . She joined INQUEST as an opportunity to do finance work which supports social justice.
Mo Mansfield Family Participation Officer Expand Mo Mansfield join INQUEST in April 2019. She is a community organiser, advocate and feminist campaigner for prison abolition. Mo has more than 15 years experience working in the voluntary sector in both front-line and management positions at organisations such as Women at WISH, Women In Prison and the Women’s Resource Centre. Much of her work has focused on providing independent support to criminalised women from a social justice perspective. She is member of the Reclaim Justice Network; Reclaim Holloway; and is co-founder of the Holloway Prison Stories website. Mo was also part of the organising committee for Abolitionist Futures: the International Conference on Penal Abolition held in London in June 2018. Mo recently completed a MSc focused on improving services for people with personality disorders. She is also a Visiting Research Fellow with the Harm and Evidence Research Collaborative at the Open University
Claire Campbell Policy and Research Assistant Expand Having worked as a Research Assistant at INQUEST in 2012, Claire returned to the organisation in February 2018 and is now Policy and Research Assistant, working with the policy team. After graduating from London South Bank University with a degree in International Social Policy, she completed a masters in Criminal Justice Policy at London School of Economics. She has a particular interest in feminist and BAME perspectives of the criminal justice system.
Rezina Rai Caseworker Expand Rezina joined INQUEST as a Caseworker in September 2018. She qualified as a solicitor in October 2018, having worked in the areas of criminal law, social housing law, civil liberties and clinical negligence. Prior to joining INQUEST, Rezina worked at Hickman & Rose Solicitors and Hodge Jones & Allen LLP.
Yohanah Rodney Casework Assistant Expand Yohanah joined INQUEST in 2018 as a Casework Volunteer. In the same year she became a Project Assistant working on the INQUEST Library Online and is currently a Casework Assistant. She became interested in the inquest process, in particular actions against the police, after the death of a family friend in police custody. She has always had an interest in human rights law but officially started to look into at depth whilst studying law at University. As a volunteer at INQUEST her interests broadened, and she is looking to get more involved with deaths involving Children and Young People in Mental Health settings.
Theo Richardson-Gool Caseworker Expand Theo joined INQUEST as a Caseworker in September 2019. He has several years’ experience working as a human rights paralegal for Hodge Jones & Allen LLP and briefly Bindmans LLP, where he focused on inquest work. He has a degree in Politics, Philosophy and History and a Masters in International Relations. He has been a youth worker in the voluntary and charity sector in Bristol and London, and more recently a project coordinator in the humanitarian sector.
Jasmine Leng Senior Caseworker Expand Jasmine joined INQUEST as a Senior Caseworker in February 2020. She has a master’s degree in Medical Law and Ethics and an undergraduate degree in Law. Whilst studying she became very aware of how people can be affected by poor care and poor access to information. She became a Community Advocate and an Independent Mental Capacity Advocate, then undertook the Bar Professional Training Course. In her previous role in Policy and Standards for a healthcare regulator, she undertook policy work to promote safe and effective healthcare. After supporting a close relative who was sectioned, Jasmine founded a charity to support young people in psychiatric hospitals. A combination of these experiences led to her interest in contributing to the work of INQUEST.