Plymouth couple behind safeguarding scheme Operation Encompass 'taken aback' at being handed OBEs

A retired Devonport police officer and a Torpoint headteacher say they are “deeply honoured – and quite taken aback” at being awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for their work safeguarding children from domestic abuse.

Former Sgt David Carney-Haworth and his wife, Torpoint Nursery and Infant School headteacher Elisabeth, created Operation Encompass in 2011 which shared police reports of domestic abuse incidents where children had been present with key adults at the schools they attend.

The calls are made before the youngsters arrive at school the following morning, giving teaching staff ample time to prepare and offer whatever support the child needs.

Operation Encompass was initially rolled out to a handful of Plymouth schools and quickly garnered praise from a number of senior police officers, the city’s MPs and councillors, government ministers, Plymouth City Council’s director of children’s services as well as experts in the field of domestic violence and child psychology.

The couple have continually campaigned to ensure the scheme is introduced amongst all the police forces in England and Wales and have even been approached by international police forces and educational establishments keen to take up Operation Encompass.

In September 2014 the scheme was rolled out across the Merseyside Police force area before being picked up by Cheshire police and Cleveland Police’s force area. It is now in the majority of police forces in England and Wales, with plans to launch it in Northern Ireland in the near future.

The scheme has also gained wholehearted support from the charity Women’s Aid. In addition to becoming a charitable organisation, it also saw BBC presenter and Childline creator Dame Esther Rantzen and Dame Vera Baird QC, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria and former Solicitor General for England and Wales, accept roles as patrons.

In December 2018, Sophie, Countess of Wessex was guest of honour at the event which recognised the work of Operation Encompass, unveiling plaque at Bodmin police station to highlight the creation of the scheme and its ongoing work. The event was also attended by fourteen-year-old Kirstie Hemming who in November 2018 agreed to become the youngest patron of Operation Encompass following the murder of her mother, Natalie, who was beaten to death by her husband Paul at the family home in Milton Keynes in 2016.

Operation Encompass has also received the firm backing of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services' (HMICFRS). Zoe Billingham, the HMICRFS's lead on domestic abuse has said that her her organisation immediately recognised the huge value of the scheme when she first started working with Elisabeth and David Carney-Haworth.

She has described the scheme as “fantastic” and “beautiful” adding: "It’s an absolute no-brainer. Why wouldn’t you support it? I don’t think I’ve every come across a scheme so simple and have so profound an effect on a child.”

Elisabeth said both she and her husband David were quite speechless at being given the recent news.

She said: “We are both deeply honoured and quite taken aback at even being considered for an OBE.

“For us it underscores the importance of the work we have been doing for the last nine years and the value of Operation Encompass.

“Our aim has always been to allow the voice of the child who is a victim of domestic violence to be heard and to ensure that they are not left to one side, but put at the forefront of all the authority’s actions."

The history of the scheme has not always been plain sailing. By 2014, when other forces in the country were make huge strides in rolling it out across their entire force areas, Operation Encompass appeared to have lost favour with Devon and Cornwall Police and even the then Police and Crime Commissioner.

Schools began to complain that they were not receiving calls and an investigation by Plymouth Live revealed that pilot schemes the force claimed it had launched in 2012 were no longer running - even though it had told the Home Office the scheme was still in place. 

Plymouth Live also revealed how the scheme had effectively been taken out of the hands of Sgt Carney-Haworth in late 2012 by a senior officer and was passed to community officers, resulting in the near-collapse of the entire initiative.

A bitter battled ensued between David and Elisabeth and the Devon and Cornwall Police over the existence of the scheme, while at the same time more and more police forces and education authorities in other parts of the country were desperate to see Operation Encompass set up in their own areas and were calling upon the couple to develop the scheme and see their staff trained.

Thankfully, in part because of the personal intervention by Devon and Cornwall Police's Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer and Asst Chief Constable Andy Boulting, the scheme was finally reinstated in full and rolled out across the entire force area.

Elisabeth said: “Ensuring Operation Encompass is available to all schoolchildren in the UK has been a challenge. Over the years David and I have had to face a series of difficulties – and even on occasion outright opposition – but we have also been supported by people who saw its value and saw how a simple phone call can help children who are in desperate need of support.

“The support of people like Childline founder Esther Rantzen, Police and Crime Commissioner – now Victims Commissioner – Dame Vera Baird, and HM Inspectorate of Constabulary’s Zoe Billingham has been vital and has given us strength, and we thank them for it.

“We have been called to help set up Operation Encompass by headteachers, police officers and council from across Britain and even by organisations in other countries and that’s something we would like to see done.

“To David and I, being honoured with an OBE is a confirmation that what we set out to do, and will continue to do, is right and needed.

“We will build on this honour, because at the heart of what we have always wanted to create was this scheme put in place, in every force, in every school, for every child.”

David told Plymouth Live: “When the envelope came through I honestly thought it was a tax bill of some sort, it looked very official. There was one for me and another for Lis. I opened mine and was just astonished.

“You read the words OBE and it’s just not something you expect. Then I phoned Lis at school, told her about her letter and asked if she wanted me to bring it over or open it there and then – she wanted to know immediately!

“We’re very grateful, but the key thing is it underlines the importance and value of Operation Encompass and what it does to support children. It’ll drive what we do to ensure it is put in place right across the country.”