HAS SCOTLAND GOT DOMESTIC ABUSE SORTED?
North Lanarkshire Community Justice Partnership and North Lanarkshire Violence Against Women Strategic Group invite you to an online event exploring Scotland’s response to domestic abuse.
Online Event | Friday 12 June 2026 | 10:00am – 12:30pm
Speakers:
Dr Emma Forbes
Vicky Carmichael
David Russell
Brian Smedley
Film Premier: ‘Eilidh’s Story’
The film was commissioned by North Lanarkshire Community Justice Partnership and produced by North Lanarkshire Council’s Communication and Marketing Team. ‘Eilidh’s Story’ explores a Scottish woman’s lived and living experience of male violence and abuse, as well as her contact with statutory and third sector services, civil and criminal courts and the impact on both her and her children.
Speaker Biographies
Emma Forbes
Dr Emma Forbes is the National Lead Prosecutor on Domestic Abuse and the Head of Victims and Witnesses Policy within Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. She was the first prosecutor in Glasgow’s pilot domestic abuse court (2004-2006) and has expertise and experience in the prosecution of gender-based violence, including a previous role leading the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry Review team. Following doctoral research on how victims of domestic abuse experience the criminal just process, she has published a book and articles. To translate research findings to a wider audience and raise awareness, she founded GlassWalls, a collaborative community art project with victim survivors of domestic abuse (www.glasswallsart.com).
Vicky Carmichael
Vicky Carmichael is the Head of Domestic Homicide and Suicide Reviews, Criminal Justice Division, at the Scottish Government. Vicky has worked for the Scottish Government for over 15 years across a number of portfolios including environment, health and justice. She has also worked for the Ministry of Justice and UK Government as well as spending a year on secondment to the Scottish Police Authority Forensic Services as part of her work as lead for banning new psychoactive substances ‘legal highs’ in Scotland. Over the course of the last 8 years Vicky has worked for the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland as Depute Head and then Head of the Sexual Assault Response Coordination Services Unit for the improvement of forensic medical services for victims of sexual assault, and child sexual abuse. This work led to her team winning the Campbell Christie Public Service Reform Award. To replicate that success and the methodical approach adopted by the Chief Medical Officer’s Taskforce, Vicky was appointed the Scottish Government lead for the development of a national multiagency domestic homicide and suicide review model for Scotland in 2022 and worked with partners across justice, health, social work, academia, local government and victims organisations, taking an evidenced based approach to develop the domestic homicide and suicide review model for Scotland which commenced on 1 April 2026.
David Russell
David is the founder & CEO of The Prevention Collective, a sexual and gender-based violence prevention charity based in Scotland. David has extensive experience specialising in work with children and young people displaying harmful sexual behaviour and / or who have experienced sexual abuse or exploitation. This includes providing assessments and interventions for vulnerable children, adolescents, and adults within the field of sexual harm and violence. He has also worked in custodial and secure settings. David provides training on a range of themes on sexual violence and has facilitated multidisciplinary training internationally. He currently sits on the NOTA (National Organisation for the Treatment of Abuse) Scotland Executive Committee, supporting professionals responding to sexual harm. He is the lead author of Restorative Justice & Sexual Harm: The Voices of Those Who Have Harmed) and is currently involved in a research project in collaboration with the University of Birmingham, exploring prevention strategies within incel subcultures. David is the lead author of ‘Harmful sexual behaviour & autism: supporting children and young people’ (Russell et al, 2026).
Brian Smedley
Brian Smedley is an Education and Families Manager in North Lanarkshire Council. Brian is a qualified Social Worker and has worked in North Lanarkshire for 18 years across Children and Justice services. He currently manages a range of different Justice Social Work services within his portfolio of responsibility including Throughcare and Recovery Services, Prison Based Social Work at HMP Shotts, North Lanarkshire’s Women’s Justice Service and the Justice Programmes Service. Brian also leads Domestic Abuse interventions within Justice Services and is the chair of the MARAC quality assurance group for the pan Lanarkshire partnership.