| "Things happened so quickly from when I first applied to join the company" she says. "Five days before I was due to start I received a telephone call asking if I would like some surveillance experience. The next day I found myself getting up at 5 a.m. to work with one of the company's surveillance guys 50 miles away, watching a client's employee who was moonlighting. It hasn't stopped since". |
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| " I love undercover work. In one week I went from posing as a 30-year-old married woman to acting as a 17-year-old media student. All that on top of car sitting, mystery shopping exercises and pursuing a target on a vehicle surveillance." |
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| After completing her University Degree, she worked as P.A. to the Secretary of a Gentleman's Club in London. Her flair for investigation accelerated when working for a company in Brighton. The Managing Director there seemed to have more than one skeleton in his unsavoury cupboard. |
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| " I went to work as P.A. to the MD for a Brighton company. All seemed above board at first, then I received telephone calls from him while he was out, telling me to "lock the doors" and not to let anyone in. He often seemed to have wads of cash and there were a host of companies in similar names. I left as soon as I realised that all was probably not above board there. Interestingly enough, I took the trouble to make a few inquiries recently - mostly for personal reasons; I was not surprised to find the man who ran the company acted under several different names." |
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| "Catching out crooks like my old boss is one of the things that appeals to me" So how does she see the next few months? "The company is constantly expanding, opening new offices and getting more and more people in with different skills. No two days are the same. I can really get my teeth into this kind of work and thrive on the everyday challenges." |
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| "One of my favourite projects is working as a Mystery Shopper for the licensed trade. Pub chains, off-licences and supermarkets employ us to evaluate whether their store managers will sell alcohol or tobacco to minors. It often involves dressing in school uniform and playing the part of a schoolgirl! I am quite short - 5'2" - so I can carry it off well" |
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| "What I find incredible is the lack of response from off licence managers and staff. Slouch up to the counter in school uniform and alice band in your hair with a school rucksack on your back, fumbling to have enough pocket money and 9 out of 10 staff will sell you 10 Marlboro Lights and an Alcopop without asking for ID. The response when we debrief with their bosses with video and report is often amusing, and the service is a valuable standards and training tool for retailers" [watch video] |
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| "Having a job like mine has it's benefits in that people are interested in what we do. I have always wanted to appear on a chat show and my ambition was realised recently when, having done some location filming, we were invited on to the Richard & Judy [watch video] show to talk about our Neighbours scheme - had to have my photo taken with them!". I also had a lot of fun doing an article for New Woman Magazine and even the News of the World - as well as filming for a BBC series called "Private Eyes" [watch video] |
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