Speaker Topics
Life on Venus
Joining the Metropolitan Police 35 yrs ago I quickly discovered that Men really were from Mars – or so it seemed. The tv drama ‘Life on Mars’ hardly scratched the surface of a world dominated by the Old Boys Network. I was part of the new generation of women police officers who battled through sexism and prejudice, and won. Despite the trials and tribulations, there were many successes, fascinating and emotional experiences, and events which would change my life in ways I could never have imagined, forever.
- Ex-Detective Constable Jacqui Hames lifts the lid on life in the force as a women in the 1970’s.
Catch me if you Can or Don’t have Nightmares …… do sleep well
In its heyday, the BBC’s Crimewatch programme pulled in over 10 million viewers every month – each one keen to join the armchair army of Detectives seeking to solve some of the countries most notorious crimes. Joining Nick Ross, Sue Cook, Jill Dando and Fiona Bruce, as the Police presenter for 16 yrs, I appealed for the public to call in and help provide vital clues contributing to the programmes numerous successes. These often came in surprising and strange ways, from suspects giving themselves up to the doorman at the BBC to Sadam Hussain helping solve a murder!
- Ex-Crimewatch Presenter Jacqui Hames takes you behind the scenes of one of Britain’s best loved programmes
Britain’s Best Conmen
Fascinating stories of the intriguing, ingenious ways in which these elaborate cons were carried out by extraordinary characters, and how the long arm of the law finally caught up with them. Would you believe: …:
• John Myatt churned out more than 200 new paintings by surrealists, cubists and impressionists, passing them off as originals with the help of an accomplice, John Drewe, an expert at generating false provenances. Despite the fact that many of Myatt’s paintings were laughably amateurish (they were executed in emulsion, not oil), they fooled the experts and were auctioned for hundreds of thousands of pounds by Christie’s and Sotheby’s. Scotland Yard’s art and antiques squad described it as the “biggest art fraud of the 20th century” when they finally caught up with Myatt in 1995.
• Glyn Rycroft left a trail of heartache after he faked a brain tumour and tricked friends and family into giving him £200,000 during a year long campaign of deceit, described by the Judge at his trial as “wicked, mean and heartless”.
• Paul Bint was labelled ‘King Con’ for a 25 year career of deceit during which he impersonated an aristocrat, a ballet dancer, a banker, a doctor, a playboy, and policeman and a property magnet. In 1988 the law finally caught up with him after he conned a salesman out of a Ferrari by posing as the Duke of Arundel.
- Ex-Detective Constable Jacqui Hames shares some of the Met’s most extraordinary criminals – and how they were caught!
Trust Your Instincts
If you mention the word ‘Stalking’ to most people their first thought would probably be that it was something that happened to celebrities, people who lived lofty, privileged lives, who courted attention and therefore probably had to expect this sort of unwanted attention. Madonna, Catherine Zeta-Jones, George Harrison are just some of the celebrities who’ve had to take court action. It has even been the subject of jokes, but in recent years it’s been established that over 1.2 million women and 900,000 men in the UK are stalked.
- Former Detective Constable and Crimewatch Presenter Jacqui Hames, gives an insight into this world covering the Royal family, celebrities and us! How you tell the difference between creepy or slightly odd behaviour and Stalking, and what you can do about it.