MCF Team

Lawrence Jordan | CEO

CEO

Lawrence Jordan leads MCF’s work to improve outcomes for victims and survivors of technology-assisted child sexual abuse (TACSA) and to drive prevention-focused, victim-centred change across systems and services.

Lawrence has extensive experience in the sexual abuse field and is a regular speaker and facilitator on specialist training and practice. In line with MCF’s ethos of keeping victim-survivor voice at the heart of our work, he continues to undertake direct work with victims and survivors of TACSA to ensure MCF’s approach remains grounded in lived experience.

Lawrence has worked in children’s social care since 2003. He began his career as a residential support worker for children with learning disabilities, later progressing to assistant manager in a children’s residential setting. He then worked as a family advice and support worker, undertaking direct work with children and their families.

A qualified social worker, Lawrence has worked in a Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) and as a case-holding social worker within a family support team. He has also worked in an emergency social work service responding to safeguarding concerns outside normal office hours. During this period, Lawrence developed a local response to Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE), including overseeing a small team of specialist CSE support workers.

In 2016, Lawrence was promoted to CSE Coordinator, where he was responsible for strengthening the wider multi-agency response to exploitation. He later became the local authority’s Professional Lead for Children Missing, Exploited and Trafficked, and was tasked with creating a multi-agency hub to respond to all forms of child exploitation and to integrate the children missing service - a team that continues to operate today.

Lawrence joined the Marie Collins Foundation in April 2021 as Training and Development Manager. He later became Director of Operations, before being appointed CEO. In 2025, he became a Visiting Senior Fellow in Safeguarding at the University of Suffolk.

Lawrence has received two awards: one recognising his work with children and families, and a police commendation for exceptional work supporting children who are exploited, go missing, or have been trafficked.

Email: ljordan@mariecollinsfoundation.org.uk

Claire Cheeseman | Director of Operations

Director of Operations

Claire joined Marie Collins Foundation in 2021 after working within the healthcare charity sector since 2010. Claire brings a wealth of administration management experience. Prior to this, she worked in recruitment for 15 years where she ran a successful branch in the North West.

Claire is a Mental Health first aider and the wellbeing champion for the organisation.

Email: ccheeseman@mariecollinsfoundation.org.uk

Rhiannon-Faye McDonald | Director of Services

Director of Services

Rhiannon leads on MCF's services, lived experience participation and strategic programme development in response to technology-assisted child sexual abuse (TACSA).

She oversees the development and delivery of projects, partnerships and initiatives designed to improve support, professional practice and systemic responses for children, young people and adult survivors affected by online child sexual abuse and exploitation. Her work spans service development, advocacy, participation, policy influence and cross-sector collaboration at both national and international level.

Rhiannon has played a central role in embedding lived experience throughout MCF’s work, including establishing and developing the Marie Collins Foundation’s Lived Experience Group to ensure that the insights of victims and survivors meaningfully inform policy, practice, training and public discourse.

She works closely with policymakers, practitioners, researchers and survivor communities to influence change in how technology-facilitated abuse is understood and responded to, and regularly contributes to professional training, conferences, media engagement and strategic discussions across the sector.

Prior to becoming Director of Services, Rhiannon led the Foundation’s advocacy work, including parliamentary engagement, public campaigning and survivor-informed policy initiatives. She joined the Marie Collins Foundation full time in 2019 following a career in family law.

Rhiannon holds a degree in Law from Manchester Metropolitan University, a Postgraduate Diploma from the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, and a Master’s degree in Child Care Law and Practice from Keele University.

Email: rmcdonald@mariecollinsfoundation.org.uk

Sarah Brown | Training and Development Manager

Training and Development Manager

Since gaining a First Class BA Honours in Youth Studies in 2008 Sarah has worked alongside children and families in a variety of roles, starting her career as a Pastoral Manager within a secondary school before moving into Children's Social Care as a Family Support Worker. 

Sarah spent several years volunteering as a ChildLine counsellor listening to and supporting young people with whatever may be worrying them. She then moved on to become a Supervisor at ChildLine managing the day-to-day responsibilities of running the service and a team of volunteers, ensuring that the child's voice was at the centre of all they did. It was here that Sarah began to develop her training skills; welcoming new volunteers into the service, training them in counselling skills and areas such as suicide, bereavement, self-harm, abuse and bullying.

After leaving ChildLine Sarah moved to a charity supporting young people who had been sexually exploited where she delivered training and offered support to practitioners from health, police, Social Care and the charity sector on this area. Sarah spent 6 years prior to joining the Marie Collins Foundation in May 2022 at NWG as their trainer. Here she developed a suite of CPD accredited training, workshops, and webinars around the issue of Child Exploitation and its complexities including the incredibly successful "Mind Your Language" course.

Sarah is committed to listening to the voice of victims and survivors and is looking forward to ensuring their voices continue to be integral to the development of the training that MCF offers.

Email: sbrown@mariecollinsfoundation.org.uk

Karen Garland | Head of Policy

Head of Policy

Karen is a lawyer by profession, working in private practice for several years, prior to raising a family. She holds a Masters, with distinction, in international safeguarding. This was multidisciplinary, covering areas of law, criminal justice, investigation of abuse and social work.

Karen has a specific interest in intrafamilial child sexual abuse and disclosure, as well as legalities around protecting children from harm and abuse. She is also keenly interested in online grooming and offence pathways between online and offline grooming. Prior to her more recent work as Research and Policy Officer within the charity sector, and with MCF, she lived in North Africa with her family. There she created and developed a suite of child safeguarding material as part of a public health initiative, for an international medical NGO. Through this platform, Karen wrote and co-delivered child safeguarding lessons, training parents, educators, children, and physical therapists throughout the country. These lessons have been acquired and translated for use in other countries, including India and Uzbekistan. Thereafter, Karen was the global safeguarding lead for a large international NGO where she led a multicultural global team in responding to child safeguarding reports and allegations internationally. This has included liaising with the FBI, Interpol and the National Crime Agency on perpetrators operating internationally. As global safeguarding lead, she was also responsible for updating and delivering regular trainings to a diverse audience. She has led inquiries into non-recent abuse, including analysis of safeguarding policy and protocols; practice and response; governance issues and remedial and safeguarding enhancement measures for organisations. She is a passionate advocate for children and their protection, where she strives to use her voice to make safer spaces for children, both online and offline.

Email: kgarland@mariecollinsfoundation.org.uk

Samantha Thompson | Participation and Engagement Manager

Samantha has worked in the Criminal Justice field since gaining a First Class Honours Degree in Criminology in 2014. She began her career as an Interventions Facilitator at HMP Isle of Wight, delivering the Sex Offender Treatment Programme (originally known as SOTP, now Horizon and Kaizen) as well as the Thinking Skills Programme (TSP) and the Coping and Changing Programme, to convicted Sex Offenders. Whilst in this role, she independently obtained a Masters in Forensic Psychology with Distinction.

Samantha then moved onto working in the Charity Sector as a Senior Practitioner, delivering Domestic Abuse Programmes to Perpetrators and Victims and Conditional Caution Programmes for first time young offenders and Domestic Abuse Perpetrators. Samantha also delivered training to Social Care and Education on Domestic Abuse.

Samantha then joined the Metropolitan Police Service as a Detective where she worked across all areas of crime in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Community Safeguarding Unit (CSU) before specialising in Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (OCSAE) for Central Specialist Crime. She was the Officer in the Case (OIC) of a large number of serious and complex investigations and secured numerous convictions of offenders whilst safeguarding victims. She then transferred out of London to Devon, to work for the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SWROCU) specialising in Online High Harm (specifically Child Sexual Abuse).

During her role as a Detective, Samantha received three Police Commendations from the Metropolitan Police and the SWROCU. These Commendations relate to her work as the Officer in the Case (OIC) of three Specialist Operations; Operation Universal, Operation Snakeroot and Operation Duckpine.  The Commendations were as a result of her professionalism, dedication, resilience, detective ability and exceptional victim care demonstrated in complex child sexual abuse investigations, resulting in the safeguarding of multiple children and the conviction and ongoing lifetime management of the defendants.

Samantha is incredibly passionate about supporting those who have been affected by TACSA and strives to ensure the voice and the needs of the victim are at the front and centre of all that she does.

Outside of work, Samantha is currently working towards qualifying as a Psychotherapist. She has completed a Certificate in Transactional Analysis Theory and Practice and is studying for an Advanced Diploma in Integrative Psychotherapy. She also offers weekly therapy to clients on a voluntary basis, as part of her training. When not at work or studying, Samantha loves spending her down time practising yoga, cold water swimming, reading and being out in the Devon countryside.

Samantha joined the Marie Collins Foundation in June 2026 as a Participation and Engagement Manager and supports and empowers members of the Lived Experience Group (LEG) to use their voice to raise awareness and understanding of TACSA and it's impact, and to inform policy, practice, training and law.

Email: sthompson@mariecollinsfoundation.org.uk

Tracy Cooper | Administrator

Administrator

Tracey Wood | Comms and Media Officer

Comms and Media Officer

Tracey believes in the power of communication to drive meaningful change. At the Marie Collins Foundation, she plays a key role in shaping the charity’s voice; helping to amplify the voices of victims and survivors of technology-assisted child sexual abuse, while supporting MCF’s wider mission to influence policy, improve practice, and protect children online.

Since joining MCF in 2025, Tracey has brought fresh insight and creative energy to campaigns, public messaging, and collaborative communications - ensuring that lived experience remains at the heart of everything the foundation shares.

Her career spans marketing and communications roles across sectors including retail, tourism, education, and local government. A common thread in her work is a commitment to positive impact - from supporting rural, community-owned businesses in Africa to reach global audiences, to leading a Scout fundraising campaign that helped shine an international spotlight on rhino poaching.

Email: twood@mariecollinsfoundation.org.uk

Philip Baines | Safeguarding and Training Consultant

Safeguarding and Training Consultant

Philip joined Marie Collins Foundation as a consultant in March 2022 following a 30-year career as a police detective. The last 14 years of his service were in the Child Abuse Investigation Unit covering Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire.

During his police career, Philip also became a qualified trainer. For two years, he was the Thames Valley Police lead trainer in delivering courses to police and local authorities on how to investigate child abuse and to protect vulnerable people.

Philip designed and delivered the TVP ‘Specialist Child Abuse Investigative Development Programme’ (SCAIDP) to police forces throughout the south of the country.

Amongst other courses, Philip was also the lead trainer for the following:

• ‘Achieving Best Evidence’ (ABE)
• ‘Joint Investigation’ (for police and local authorities)
• ‘Significant Witness’ Interviewing
• ‘Family Liaison’
• ‘Domestic Violence’

Philip is passionate about safeguarding children and vulnerable people in any way possible.

While he was waiting to reach the police joining age, Philip worked for Virgin Atlantic as long-haul cabin crew, a job that allowed him to see the world while serving thousands of cups of tea and coffee.

Email: pbaines@mariecollinsfoundation.org.uk

Penny Tyndale-Hardy | Therapeutic Consultant 

Therapeutic Consultant 

Penny Tyndale-Hardy is a qualified teacher and practising psychotherapeutic counsellor. As a former Assistant Headteacher, she continues to work with young people and is passionate about supporting them and ensuring that their voices are heard.

She is an experienced educator, and has delivered training in a range of areas, including mental health support and coaching, to leaders, organisations, teachers and young people for over ten years.

Penny is delighted to be working with the Marie Collins Foundation to bring their message and vision to those people who can make a real difference to people’s lives.