From the archives
I wrote this blog in 2014, soon after I met retired UK Detective Inspector Chris Gould, who was instrumental in helping me put together fresh evidence for my cousin Ursula Barwick’s case and take it to NSW Police, resulting in new Kings Cross detectives being assigned, helping us solve the 30 year mystery of Ursula’s disappearance. Chris also endorsed my debut crime fiction bestseller Write About Me, describing it as ‘enthralling, emotionally and psychologically accurate’ (read full review below).
My reasons for digging this story out of the archives is having listened to two podcast series. I highly recommend them and have included links for you to download!
Recently I met two knights. Their names are Chris Gould and Chris Hawthorn.
Knight 1 is Chris Gould, chairman and founder of Child-Safe International. Knight 2 is Chris Hawthorn, who founded The SafeKnight Foundation and poured his life savings into developing the SafeKnight mobile phone app. This free app is BBC Click’s Best App of 2012 and was a top five finalist in a World Youth & Student Travel Conference competition in Sydney last September.
I have decided to refer to them as Knight 1 and 2 instead of Chris 1 and 2 because what they are doing all over the world for young people can truly be likened to ‘knights in shining armour’.
Knight 1 Chris Gould contacted me after reading ‘Write About Me’, my debut crime fiction bestseller about a missing Australian teenager called Annabelle Brown which is inspired by my cousin Ursula Barwick, missing for more than 26 years.
I have met Knight 1 in person and Knight 2 Chris Hawthorn via the virtual world.
It is an honour and a privilege to be collaborating with them to help prevent young people from going missing and to find missing people via this amazing technology.
Write About Me Review
By Chris Gould
As an ex-professional who has worked on numerous cases of missing people, I found the story enthralling, emotionally and psychologically accurate with a wide range of implicit messages and support for those families and friends who have ever found themselves in such an awful position.
Advances in the development of social media; support in Australia with the introduction of the AFP National Missing Persons Co-ordination Centre, Crimestoppers, Missing Persons Advocacy Network (MPAN), Australian Missing Persons Register and other such organisations, campaigns and technology – there is today, much more help available than in the 1980s.
Child-Safe International and the SafeKnight Foundation are now collaborating with author Melissa Pouliot to endorse her book ‘Write About Me’ and to promote a new FREE mobile download safety app called SafeKnight. A tool not available for those like Ursula Barwick (a case on which “Write About Me’ is based, in the 1980s).
‘Write About Me‘ is an excellent read and I would like to personally give it my endorsement and support. Once started, I couldn’t put the book down. A tribute to the author.