about me
Dani completed her training as a Registered Intermediary in March 2014 through the Ministry of Justice’s accredited course at University College London. Dani now works full time as a Registered Intermediary, with prosecution witnesses, as an independent Intermediary within the criminal justice system facilitating communication with vulnerable defendants and defence witnesses and in family court with vulnerable respondents.
Dani lives in Liverpool and works in the North West of England including Chester, Liverpool, Manchester and Preston. Dani also works as an Intermediary in North Wales.
Dani has experience of supporting vulnerable children and adults with:
Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder;
Autistic Spectrum Disorder;
Brain injury including strokes
Dyslexia; Dyspraxia; Dysarthria;
Learning Disabilities;
Neurological Disabilities (Cerebral Palsy, Fredricks Ataxia, Huntington’s disease)
Mental Health difficulties including Paranoid Schizophrenia.
Dani will be able to work with your client if they have:
difficulty in expressing themselves due to limited language skills;
difficulty in understanding spoken language;
difficulty in processing information they have heard;
difficulty in retaining (remembering) information;
a short attention span;
heightened levels of anxiety;
difficulty reading or writing;
Dani has an MSc in Speech and Language Science and Pathology from University College London, and a Joint BA Hons degree in Sociology and Anthropology from Goldsmiths, University of London.
Prior to working as a full time Intermediary Dani worked as a Speech and Language Therapist for 20 years.
Intermediary Defence Services
It is estimated that over 60% of young people in the justice system have a communication disability, this may be a difficulty in understanding what others are saying, the ability to express themselves or both (Bryan et al 2010).
A vulnerable defendant or witness may not be able to participate effectively at court if reasonable steps are not taken to adapt the court process. Crucially, they may not give complete, coherent or accurate testimony and participate effectively in the hearing. Adjustments should be made without prejudicing the parties and the trial must be fair. (The advocates Gateway, toolkit 10, December 2015)
Dani has worked with defendants in cases including attempted and actual murder, gross negligent manslaughter, historic sexual abuse, child sexual exploitation, modern slavery, county lines drug cases, rape, kidnap, neglect, assault and fraud.
An Intermediary will facilitate any breakdown in communication by:
helping to adapt the communication of others;
helping to explain to the vulnerable person what is being said a way they are able to understand;
helping the vulnerable person understand the evidence of others and the affect that has on their own situation;
helping the vulnerable person communicate their responses in a concise and coherent manner.
supporting effective communication between the vulnerable person and the courts to enable them to participate effectively in the criminal justice system.
Dani will:
Complete a comprehensive assessment that focuses on your client’s ability to: understand complex language, remember and recall information they have heard, read an interpret information, use their expressive language skills to give a coherent narrative. The assessment also looks at the person’s ability to pay attention and what helps then to remain focused; how any anxiety affects their communication as well as their social communication skills and the affects it has on their ability to give evidence.
Provide a report based on her assessment findings that include recommendations on how to help your client communicate with their legal team; what special measures can be introduced in court, to enable them to fully participate in their trial.
Attend suspect interviews, case conferences with counsel, and attend court for trial as well as other hearings including case management hearings, ground rules hearings, and sentencing.
Assist advocates in the rewording of any questions that the defendant will not understand, without altering the meaning.
Provide communication strategies to ensure that the defendant is able to participate fully in their trial.
Support the defendant in reading reports and other written material to be used in the hearing to endure they understand the information and the implication it has on their situation.
Intermediary Family Services
“The Family Procedure Rules (FPR) 2010 set out the overriding objective (rule 1.1 (1)): the court must deal with cases ‘justly, having regard to any welfare issues involved’. This includes the requirement for courts to take reasonable steps to ensure the effective participation of vulnerable witnesses. The Family Courts are not limited by usual courtroom procedures/traditional special measures. Rule 4.1 FPR provides the Family Court with wide-ranging and flexible powers of case management, including the power to ‘take any other step or make any other order for managing the case and furthering the overriding objective’.” (The Advocates Gateway, Toolkit 13 2019)
Dani has experience of supporting vulnerable respondents:
write their position statements.
Attend case conferences with legal teams to go through evidence bundles and understand the implications of the evidence.
Attend hearings in court including case management hearings, fact finding and final hearings.
Dani will:
Complete a comprehensive assessment that focuses on the vulnerable person’s ability to: understand complex language, remember and recall information they have heard, read an interpret information, use their expressive language skills to give a coherent narrative. The assessment also looks at the person’s ability to pay attention and what helps then to remain focused; how any anxiety affects their communication as well as their social communication skills and the affects it has on their ability to give evidence.
Provide a report based on her assessment findings that include recommendations on how to help the vulnerable person communicate with their legal team; what special measures can be introduced to enable a person to fully participate in their trial such as:
Attend case conferences with counsel, and attend court for hearings including case management hearings, fact finding and final hearings. HERE.
Assist advocates in the rewording of any questions that the defendant will not understand, without altering the meaning.
Provide communication strategies to ensure that the defendant is able to participate fully in their trial.
Support the defendant in reading reports and other written material to be used in the hearing to endure they understand the information and the implication it has on their situation.
Registered Intermediary Services
A Registered Intermediary’s role is to support effective communication with a vulnerable witnesses enabling them to participate effectively in the criminal justice system. The function of an intermediary for a witness is set out in section 29(2) of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act (YJCEA) 1999: ‘The function of an intermediary is to communicate— (a) to the witness, questions put to the witness, and (b) to any person asking such questions, the answers given by the witness in reply to them, and to explain such questions or answers so far as necessary to enable them to be understood by the witness or person in question.’ (The Advocates Gateway 2015, Toolkit 16: Intermediaries Step by Step)
Dani trained to be a registered Intermediary with the Ministry of Justice in March 2014. She works across the U.K. providing assessment advice and strategies to facilitate two-way communication with vulnerable witnesses from their police interview to trial. Dani has experience of supporting witness with:
• Autistic Spectrum Disorder
• Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder
• Learning Difficulties
• Dysfluency
• Neurological Disabilities (Cerebral Palsy, Fredricks Ataxia)
• Dyslexia; Dyspraxia; Dysarthria
• Very young children
• School aged children
As a Registered Intermediary Dani works alongside police officers prior to and during the Achieving Best Evidence (ABE) interview. Dani completes a detailed assessment of the vulnerable witness’s communication skills. She provides written advice and recommendations on how best to communicate with a witness and facilitates their communication during the interview.
If the case is accepted for trial by CPS Dani will attend the Ground Rules Hearing; be present during a court familiarisation visit; assists advocates in the in the rewording of any questions that the vulnerable witness will have difficulty, without altering the meaning; be in attendance during the trial.
Dani has experience of Section 28 hearings and supporting victims of serious crimes including: attempted murder, child sexual exploitation, rape, kidnap, assault and fraud.
If you from the Police or CPS and require a Registered Intermediary for an assessment of a vulnerable victim’s or witness’s communication you need to contact:
NCA Specialist Operations Centre
Witness Intermediary Team
Wyboston Lakes
Great North Road
Wyboston
Bedfordshire
MK44 3KY
Tel: 0845 000 5463
Email: soc@nca.pnn.police.uk
Feedback
“A glance at Dani Williams’ website tells you that you are in the hands of a highly qualified professional. Hands on, sensitive, but sensible, intuitive and confident, she makes rapport with the most demanding client appear easy. Her linguistic skills are unrivalled.
Motivated, committed, and confident, her court-room presence is discreet but, where necessary, assertive. Showing the sort of judgment that reassures the most suspicious judge, Mrs Williams provides a service which I have seen no other intermediary match in many years as a criminal QC.
I recommend her without reservation”
John McDermott QC
“I have had the pleasure of working with Dani Williams in my role as a barrister in criminal cases for several years.
In particular, in 2019 I dealt with 2 cases involving vulnerable defendants. One had autism and the other was young. Dani Williams assisted them both with skill and expertise whilst they gave evidence.
I have also had conferences with clients with great anxiety and Dani Williams had the ability to provide them with reassurance and she is a calming influence which is a rare talent.
In summary, the work of Dani Williams is of the highest standard and she is highly professional and personable.”
Paul Becker Barrister
If you have a client who needs an intermediary, Dani should always be your first port of call. Having used her services to assist with vulnerable clients facing Crown Court proceedings, I can speak first hand as to her obvious experience and professionalism, which shines through both in her thoughtful and incisive written reports and in the way that she gains the confidence of the clients and their families. Her assistance to me and to the Court has been invaluable. I cannot recommend her more highly”
Dan Jones Barrister
“We are all highly impressed with the Service provided by Dani Williams – she provided an excellent service in respect of this case. We have specifically requested Dani to be involved in other cases.”
“Dani Williams is an extremely good Intermediary who deals with all aspects of her work professionally and efficiently at all times.”
“I would happily work with her again, I was extremely impressed with the Intermediary”
“Dani has been very helpful and professional throughout”
“Dani was very approachable professional, informative and reliable.”