Our next Seminar – ‘Looking For Love in All The Wrong Places’ – Chemsex Crime, Risk & Vulnerability will be held on Thursday 23rd November, 5-7pm.
This will be a free virtual event via Zoom. Spaces are limited on a first come basis.
To book your space please visit our Eventbrite page here:
Chemsex is an increasingly recognised phenomenon involving the use of certain substances (primarily crystal methamphetamine, GHB/GBL and mephedrone) in sexual settings, facilitated by the use of geolocation dating apps, and often involving multiple sexual partners/group sexual activity. It predominantly (although not exclusively) occurs within the Gay, Bisexual and other men-who-have-sex-with-men (GBMSM) community.
There is increasing awareness and evidence for the use of these substances in this setting to be associated with sexual and other violence, as well as complex organised crime networks.
In this seminar we will introduce the concept of Chemsex, as well as vulnerabilities in the GBMSM group towards it; we will also explore the forensic aspects of chemsex behaviour through evidence associated with violence and Chemsex, and Project Sagamore, a Met Police and HMPPS partnership aiming to both prevent and manage Chemsex-associated criminal activity.
A significant emphasis will be placed on the dual victim/perpetrator duality that is often seen in this group of Chemsex users/offenders, and the unique hidden nature of this activity as compared to other forms of offending.
Speakers:
Dr.Bradley Hillier – Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, States of Jersey, Channel Islands, also in London and Acting Chair London Division Royal College of Psychiatrists
Stephen Morris – Chemsex Crime Lead – London Division. Operational Lead: Project Sagamore (HMPPS & Metropolitian Police).
Ewan Mckay – Foundation years doctor York and Scarborough University Teaching Hospitals, Co-founder of HEAL – LGBTQ+ advocacy group and honorary researcher at Cardiff university.
Allen Davis – Police Inspector – Continuous Policing Improvement – Metropolitan Police Service.
Dr.Bradley Hillier
Stephen Morris
Dr. Ewan McKay
Allen Davis
Dr.Bradley Hillier
I completed medical school at Trinity College, Oxford University. I completed my training in Forensic Psychiatry at the Maudsley and Springfield Hospitals, and Broadmoor Hospital.
I have worked across all levels of secure services from community to high secure and prison settings, as well as in addictions, with interests in Chemsex and offending. I chair a Health and Justice Chemsex Practitioner Group interfacing with Project Sagamore Police, Prison and Probation Chemsex offending programme.
I carry out expert medicolegal assessments at the request of solicitors and HM Courts in criminal, civil, negligence and family proceedings and am frequently instructed. I have extensive experience of giving evidence in Court. I am frequently instructed in complex cases and high profile involving serious violence and mental disorder, such as homicides and terrorism.
I am interested in healthcare management and clinical leadership, mentally disordered offenders and their passage through secure services/justice system, and immigration/international aspects of mental health provision.
I consult to the United Nations on Forensic Mental Health and am an expert advisor to the Committee for the Prevention of Torture at the Council of Europe.
I have a strong interest in international health and mental health, delivering WHO training in low and middle income countries with the Royal College of Psychiatrists, London and continue to be involved in multiple international projects (e.g. Palestine, Ghana, Myanmar).
I have submitted my dissertation for a Masters in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
- Fellow of the Royal College Psychiatrists (FRCPsych)
- Member of the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine, Royal College of Physicians (MFFLM)
- Chair, Health and Justice Liaison Group, Project Sagamore MPS/HMPPS.
- Former Vice-chair Volunteering and International Psychiatry Special Interest Group, Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Former Trustee and Board Member Crime in Mind, Forensic Psychiatry Research Charity; Former Treasurer IAFP
- Section 12(2) Approved under Mental Health Act; Approved under the Mental Health (Jersey) Law 2016
- Alumnus, Prepare to Lead, NHS London
Stephen Morris
Lead for chemsex crime HMPPS (London), Operational Co- Lead - Project Sagamore – HMPPS & Metropolitan Police
Having identified a new context of criminality, Stephen has been leading the HMPPS response to chemsex related crime in London over the last seven years. Together with colleagues in the Metropolitan Police Service and National Crime Agency he co-founded ‘Project Sagamore’ which operates a parentship model to address the complex range of risk and vulnerabilities present in the chemsex cohort. Chemsex behaviour sits uniquely within a subculture of gay / bi male and trans communities.
To enable an appropriate diversity aware response Stephen also established partnership working with a variety of LGBT organisations, NHS sexual health providers and specialist chemsex intervention providers. The Sagamore Operational Group has assisted in policing operations, provision of expertise to the court process and daily provides case consultancy in relation to the ongoing sentence management of cases. Stephen provides consultancy to the secure estate, the national security team and ‘Prevent’. He directed the two year research study into chemsex crime which is the first of its kind both nationally and internationally. Throughout this work Stephen has been required to address specific issues relating to a percentage of chemsex related cases involving transgender identities. In this context Stephen has consulted to parole boards, MAPPA conferences, and with individual professionals holding cases.
He also chairs the monthly chemsex crime complex case panel and a bi-monthly chemsex crime professionals’ group. Both resources are required to consider transgender related cases. Prior to leading on chemsex crime, Stephen has worked for over 35 years as a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, Group Analyst and Organisational Consultant in both community and custodial settings. During this time, he has specialised in sexual crime, organised crime, offending related trauma and sexuality.
Dr. Ewan McKay
Allen Davis
Inspector Allen Davis joined the MPS in 1996 and has an extensive background in developing a multi-agency strategic response to complex Public Protection issues. Allen is the MPS operational lead for Project Sagamore, the joint MPS and HMPPS strategic response to crime related risk, harm and vulnerability within the Chemsex context. Allen is one of the co-founders of Project Sagamore and is co-author of the Criminal Justice Working Definition of the Crime and Vulnerability in the Chemsex Context.
Allen is also leads the MPS operational lead for Sex Work and is one of the key architects of Operation Evergreen, the new MPS strategic response to Sex Work. Allen is also the MPS operational lead for Harmful Practices (FGM, Forced Marriage, HBA and Abuse Linked to Witchcraft and Spirit Possession Accusations) and works at both a National and International level on these issues. He is national policing lead for Operation Limelight; a high profile Police / Border Force multi-agency safeguarding operation that focuses on Harmful Practices at the UK border.
Outside of work, he is the founder and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the charity, ‘Growing Against Violence’ (GAV). GAV has delivered evidenced based preventative education curricula tackling peer-on-peer exploitation to over 250,000 students in more than 1400 schools and colleges.
Research can transform lives. We want to support discoveries about what helps people with mental disorder who have been victims of criminal behaviour, or perpetrators of criminal behaviour, and their families, and the clinicians and others who treat them and, indeed, the wider community when its members are in contact with these problems. More effective prevention is the ideal, when this is not possible, we need more effective, evidenced interventions for recovery and restoration of safety.
