South West Fraud Forum 2026 Autumn Conference
The South West Fraud Forum 2026 Autumn Conference
The South West Fraud Forum (SWFF) is delighted to invite you to its Autumn Conference on the morning of 8 October 2026 – at VWV, Narrow Quay House, Narrow Quay, Bristol, BS1 4QA (VWV – Google Maps).
Following the recent passage of the Crime and Policing Act 2026, this year’s Autumn Conference theme will be corporate liability. We are grateful to EY for its support as a key annual sponsor of the SWFF and for its continued support of this year’s Autumn Conference. To learn more about EY in the South West and more widely, please connect with our steering group member, Omid Mojabi
This event is free for members – please request your discount code by emailing info@swff.org.uk.
If you are not an active member, the cost of each ticket will be £135 plus booking fee (with discounts available to public sector & not-for-profits) and will include an annual SWFF membership and access to other events we host during the year.
Dietary Requirements:
To accurately cater and ensure everyone’s safety, we would be grateful if you could please contact info@SWFF.org.uk if you have any dietary requirements or allergies.
Alongside our excellent line up of speakers we are pleased to announce the two additional guest speakers joining us are:
Louise Ward – Serious Fraud Office
Stephen Dowling – TrialView
You can find their biographies below.
We are also delighted to announce that Selborne Chambers became the SWFF’s annual sponsor since 1 October 2026. We are extremely grateful for their support and commitment to the Forum and look forward to working with them over the coming year.
Speakers:
Louise Ward, Senior Investigator – Serious Fraud Office
Louise is a Senior Investigator at the SFO where she has worked for over seven years. Prior to joining the SFO, Louise was a Detective at Cambridgeshire Constabulary, primarily focused on Serious Crime. Louise is also a Co-Chair of the SFO’s Search Advisors Working Group which keeps SFO policies up to date with legislation changes and assists case teams in the planning of search operations
Stephen Dowling, Founder of TrialView
Stephen Dowling SC is a commercial silk and founder of TrialView, an AI platform for case preparation and evidence presentation which is used in the Business and Property Courts. He has over 23 years experience in commercial and construction disputes and is also the author of Ireland’s leading text on the Commercial Court in Dublin.
Giles Maynard-Connor KC – Selborne Chambers
Giles has a wealth of experience dealing with substantial commercial fraud litigation.
Over the last 34 years he has appeared at all levels up to and including the Court of Appeal; he has also acted outside the jurisdiction including in the Supreme Court of the Seychelles and in the Supreme Court of Gibraltar.
In recent years he has successfully acted in a number of high-profile high-value corporate fraud cases, including representing over 300 claimants in a multi-million-pound corporate fraud case in the Cayman Islands arising out of the CWM FX Ponzi scheme scandal, and the successful defence of a £125M claim against a high-profile fashion and internet entrepreneur which was dismissed as being fraudulent.
He is currently lead Counsel in a £200M unlawful means conspiracy case in the Commercial Court which has involved securing without notice imaging orders and is against multiple Defendants based in the USA, UAE, South Africa and the UK. Since taking Silk, Giles has also acted as the lead Counsel in a number of high-value international arbitrations involving allegations of fraud.
Giles’ practice covers all aspects of commercial fraud with a particular emphasis on those frauds that take place in a corporate context.
Natasha Dzameh – Selborne Chambers
Natasha is a commercial and chancery barrister and accredited mediator. Her commercial practice spans arbitration, commercial dispute resolution, civil fraud, company and partnership disputes, professional negligence and insolvency. She has a particular interest in claims involving breach of trust and fiduciary duty, including complex allegations of fraud.
Natasha is frequently instructed as sole counsel in high-value, multifaceted litigation, often against significantly more senior opponents including KCs and multi-counsel teams. She is consistently ranked as a leading junior by Chambers UK and The Legal 500 for Commercial Dispute Resolution, Chancery and Real Estate Litigation. She also has experience of acting as part of larger teams on substantial, document-heavy disputes and has been led by more senior practitioners.
She has experience of offshore litigation and currently serves as Junior Counsel to the Crown on the Attorney General’s Panel. From 2023 to 2025, she was appointed to the Legal Services Panel for the British Virgin Islands.
Ann Newson – Policy Lead, The Insolvency Service
Ann has worked for the Insolvency Service for 19 years and joined the Policy Team in 2017. She has contributed to a wide range of projects, including the Pre-Pack Review, temporary COVID-19 insolvency measures, and several initiatives focused on implementing operational changes. Most recently, leading the work on corporate civil enforcement reform.
Prior to joining the Policy Team, Ann held roles as an Investigator in Insolvent Investigations and as an Examiner in Official Receiver Services.
Alison Brittle – Senior Policy Advisor, The Insolvency Service
Alison has been with the Insolvency Service since 2020 and joined the Policy Team in 2024. Prior to this, she worked as an investigator in corporate civil enforcement and in the Legal Services Directorate, where she was responsible for authorising cases to proceed to director disqualification. Most recently, Alison has contributed to reforms in Corporate Civil Enforcement, supporting the development of policy in this area.
Before joining the Insolvency Service, Alison spent 17 years at HM Land Registry, gaining extensive experience in public sector operations.
DCI Lara Xenoudakis – The City of London Police
DCI Lara Xenoudakis joined the City of London Police in 2001 and has served in a wide variety of uniformed and detective roles.
Significant periods of her career have been spent within the fraud and economic crime arena in both operational teams and within the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau.
In 2022 she took over the role as the stakeholder and interoperability lead for the replacement Action Fraud Service, now formally known as Report Fraud which launched in December 2025, and with the recent media campaign delivered on the 19th January 2026. In this role, her main focus was working towards transitioning across from the old service to the replacement service and where she will currently remain, working alongside the operational teams, wider stakeholder communities and the supplier who have been part of designing the system and will now focus towards embedding the system and continuous development of Report Fraud and the services it provides.
We also welcome our event sponsors:
TrialView
We are extremely proud to bring the highest calibre of speakers from a range of organisations represented by our past guests:
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The SWFF continues to be a not-for-profit collaboration between professional advisors, industry members, the Police and other governmental agencies and pursue its objective: to promote fraud awareness, to allow members to understand how best to mitigate against the risks involved, and to increase knowledge of how to respond effectively to fraud if and when it occurs.
If you would like to know more, attend, deliver or sponsor one of our events – please get in contact at info@SWFF.org.uk
The South West Fraud Forum
