She was born, lived and educated in Handsworth, Birmingham, and spent over 30 years policing the West Midlands, leading national and international multi agency teams before retiring as a Detective Superintendent in 2010.

She joined West Midlands Police and started on the beat in the Handsworth area and worked my way across the West Midlands tackling a wide range of criminality including burglary, anti social behavior, terrorism, domestic extremism, organised crime and gang violence. She worked with many different agencies and people to develop innovative initiatives to protect the residents of the West Midlands.