Welcome to the Address The Harm® season round up, where we reflect on the landmark progress achieved by our guests and the ongoing battles for institutional accountability across Britain's publicly funded institutions.

Since recording our six episodes, we've witnessed extraordinary developments: the government's repeal of the 'presumption of contact' in family courts following years of advocacy by Right to Equality and Fair Hearing; the Chinook families' historic first meeting with the Ministry of Defence after 31 years; revelations about England's maternity scandals being "much worse than anticipated"; and the IOPC's findings on Hillsborough officers that sparked both progress and institutional defensiveness.

But we've also seen the familiar patterns continue: Freedom of Information responses that contradict each other, institutional memory loss designed to avoid accountability, and survivors racing against time to be heard before compensation frameworks are finalised and inquiry recommendations remain unimplemented.

This episode connects the dots across all six episodes of the season, celebrating the wins whilst acknowledging how much further we need to go to end the system where Britain's publicly funded institutions investigate themselves when they cause harm.

Content warning

This episode references domestic abuse, child abuse, police misconduct, maternity deaths, the infected blood scandal, institutional cover-ups, and systemic failures across multiple public institutions. Please take care whilst listening.

Key quotes

"The presumption of parental involvement was introduced in 2014 after pressure from fathers' rights groups - against the advice of the Justice Committee. It entrenched a 'pro-contact' culture that prioritised parental rights over children's safety."

"This isn't incompetence - it's institutional memory loss designed to avoid accountability."

"This raises serious concerns about the continued desire to avoid accountability, the persistent lack of transparency and honesty with victims and the public, and clear systemic failures across multiple authorities."

"It took THIRTY-ONE years for any minister to meet the Chinook families."

"The £200m+ IICSA inquiry has produced 20 recommendations awaiting implementation."

"Whistleblowers face institutional destruction for exposing safeguarding failures."

Contact

Email press@addresstheharm.org, follow @addresstheharm on social media and visit www.addresstheharm.org

Take action

• Support our crowdfunding campaign at crowdfunder.co.uk/addresstheharm to help us build community and record more episodes with post office survivors, Church of England abuse survivors, care leavers, families of maternity deaths, Grenfell survivors and others

Address The Harm is hosted by Leah Brown FRSA, founder of The WayFinders Group and architect of The Coalition for Institutional Accountability.

Copyright 2025, production copyright Leah Talks Ltd. All rights reserved.

Episode description
Maggie Oliver is a former Greater Manchester Police detective who became one of Britain’s most important whistleblowers by exposing institutional failures to protect children from sexual exploitation.

She joined GMP in 1997, working in Serious Crime. During Operation Augusta, she interviewed victims as young as 11. Of 97 perpetrators identified, only three were taken to court. She was told victims “were prostitutes making a lifestyle choice” – “bad kids” not credible witnesses.

In Operation Span investigating Rochdale, the same patterns emerged. When she tried to be heard, she was written off as too emotionally involved. She resigned in March 2013 because speaking truth required leaving the institution. Nine men were jailed, but hundreds of perpetrators were never charged. The system investigated itself, paid compensation, and changed nothing.

Maggie founded the Maggie Oliver Foundation, supporting nearly 5,000 victims and survivors. Her charity is leading the only judicial review challenging government failure to implement the 20 recommendations from the £200m+ IICSA inquiry. In this episode, Maggie discusses how the
“independent” IOPC redirects 96% of complaints back to police forces, why institutions block survivor testimony from reviews, and why meaningful accountability requires survivor-led oversight with real enforcement powers.

Content warning
This episode discusses child sexual exploitation, abuse, institutional failures, police misconduct, and whistleblower retaliation.

Key quotes
“Senior officers make decisions. As a junior officer, you do as you’re told. My job wasn’t to do as I was told, it was to uphold the law.”
“When institutions that are meant to protect them turn away, the damage is multiplied a million-fold.”
“You cannot trust a report that is not listening to those who have experienced what happened then and what happens now.”
“Of 80,000 complaints to the IOPC last year, complaints never actually reach the IOPC. They’re immediately redirected back to the police force being complained about. Only 3,000 came back.”
“What is the point of a national inquiry if the government don’t implement the recommendations? It gives survivors false hope.”
“I would rather my charity does not exist than accept money that would give somebody a mechanism to silence me from speaking the truth.”

Contact
Follow @addresstheharm
Visit addresstheharm.org
Email: press@addresstheharm.org

Take action
Support our crowdfund: crowdfunder.co.uk/addresstheharm
Support the Maggie Oliver Foundation
Download the white paper at addresstheharm.org

Address The Harm®️ is hosted by Leah Brown FRSA, founder of The WayFinders Group and architect of the Coalition for Institutional Accountability.

Copyright 2025, production copyright Leah Talks Ltd. All rights reserved.

Episode description
Dr Susan Phoenix is an unconventional psychologist who has transformed profound personal loss into a lifelong mission to help others navigate grief and institutional betrayal.

On 2nd June 1994, Susan’s husband, Detective Superintendent Ian Phoenix of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, was killed when RAF Chinook Zulu Delta 576 crashed on the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland. All 29 people on board died, including the majority of the UK’s senior Northern Ireland intelligence and counter-terrorism experts.

For 17 years, the two pilots were wrongly blamed for gross negligence whilst institutions protected their own reputations. Susan joined the fight to clear their names whilst navigating her own devastating grief. The verdict was eventually overturned, but 31 years later, fundamental questions remain unanswered because the UK Government has sealed the official files for 100 years.

Susan is the author of ‘Out of the shadows: a journey from grief’ and worked with journalist Jack Holland to tell Ian’s story in ‘Phoenix: policing the shadows’ - now available as an audiobook narrated by her son, Niven. She uses her expertise as a psychologist and her lived experience of institutional betrayal to help others fighting for truth whilst grieving profound loss.

Content warning
This episode discusses death, bereavement, military crashes, institutional cover-ups, gaslighting, and the long-term psychological impact of unresolved grief and institutional betrayal. Please take care whilst listening.

Key quotes
“The coffins were closed. That was the biggest thing to me… I had been a military nurse, I had seen bodies, I had seen all kinds of things, and I remember begging and saying, look, it’s just a piece of skin, I need to see it”

“They threw those boys under the bus. They were scapegoated and they kept that going for a long time. 17 years. The families of the pilots fought for 17 years to clear their son’s names to protect somebody’s reputation”

“I was gaslit by many people across many agencies… people would say, well, you know, Susan, don’t make a fuss because the other widows, they wouldn’t like it”

“I do know the Ministry of Defence are waiting for us older widows to die off. Of course they were, it made sense. The fact they have now closed the documents for 100 years”

“It’s not just a historical issue, it’s about transparency, accountability and justice for the 29 people and their families who died as a result of someone choosing the wrong, un-airworthy aircraft”

“The danger, the arrogance that they can allow our young servicemen and women just to be the old fashioned cannon fodder. Nobody cares… This is wrong. And that’s what’s kept me going for 31 years”

“Sealing files for 100 years isn’t accountability – it’s institutional cover-up at its most extreme”

Contact
Follow @addresstheharm on social media
Visit addresstheharm.org
Email: press@addresstheharm.org

For ALL Chinook media enquiries, contact: tim@timreidmedia.com

Take action
Support our crowdfunding campaign at https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/addresstheharm
Share this episode to amplify survivors' voices
Support the Chinook Justice Campaign and sign their petition demanding the files be unsealed https://www.chinookjusticecampaign.co.uk/
Download the white paper at www.addresstheharm.org

Address The Harm®️is hosted by Leah Brown FRSA, founder of The WayFinders Group and architect of the Coalition for Institutional Accountability.

Copyright 2025, production copyright Leah Talks Ltd. All rights reserved.