Deb Leary thought crime fiction was as close as she’d ever get to murder mystery. Then the former secretary created a product now famous across the forensics world. Here, she explains why her killer-instincts are now being focused on boosting British businesswomen.
Deb Leary never thought of herself as a detective. Then a snatched conversation overheard one evening enticed her into the murky world of forensics, an investigation that involved countless police officers and a chase that would finally end in China.
Leary was a 36-year-old mother of two when she initially decided to change career. Having worked in secretarial services all her life, she enrolled at university to do a degree in English Literature with the dream of becoming a teacher. But just as she was on the cusp of making it come true, everything changed.
Finishing her degree in 2001 and finding a teaching post, Leary had a three-week break before starting her new job. So she accompanied her police officer husband to a forensics conference he was attending in Toronto. But what started out as a holiday soon turned into a private investigation that would culminate in a multi-million pound forensics company that’s still going stronger today.
"The conference was about crime scene work and I found myself really interested in it," remembers the 48-year-old mother of two, who hails from Staffordshire. "Police investigation is all about story telling and, having done my degree in English, I loved stories."
At the bar after the conference that evening, she overheard two police officers talking about the use of ‘Stepping Plates’ at crime scenes – a series of plates (about the size of a carpet tile) that can be used to create a pathway to a crime scene without contaminating evidence.
“Police investigation is all about story telling and I love stories. I began turning up at police stations at 7.30pm, asking them questions”
"I didn’t know what they were, so scribbled down ‘Stepping Plates’ on my notepaper and asked my husband to get me one when we got home. In my head, I imagined them to be transparent, lightweight, easy to transport and use. They turned out to be aluminium, heavy, you couldn’t see the crime scene beneath them and they were coming into contact with evidence," she explains.
Discovering there was no other type of Stepping Plate available world-wide, she set about creating one, which involved extensive research each evening after her day job teaching. "I was turning up at police stations at 7.30pm, asking to look at the equipment," she says, laughing now she could well have come across as a deranged, serial killer herself. But the police welcomed her in and were happy to give their opinion on how they thought things could be improved.
After gathering all the hard evidence, Leary set about finding a supplier. The company’s first estimate on material costs was £250K, which left her crestfallen. "I was on £17K with my teaching post and family allowance at the time, but not much else."
However, on a trip to China to source materials for a different client, the company did some investigation into Leary’s product and returned with a revised material cost of £60K. Having won a Smart award for £30K from the government to develop a prototype of the Stepping Plate, she got a bank loan to cover material costs in 2003.
Today, Leary’s product is world famous. But that’s just the beginning. She is CEO of Forensic Pathways, an internationally recognised business leader in the market, which employs 15 people, including her husband as managing director and her 26-year-old son as sales director.
In fact, so cutting edge are their range of forensic products and services, which have been extended to the corporate market (uncovering fraudulent insurance claims), their innovations regularly appear on crime shows like CSI New York. "I’d never even watched it before!"
But her business journey hasn’t been all highlights. Back in 2003, having given up her teaching post the year before, it looked like Forensic Pathways was at a dead end. "We had about £5 in the bank and were up for a business award at a ceremony that evening. I remember thinking ‘This is going to be embarrassing’ as I closed the door to the office, thinking I was closing the door on the business altogether."
In fact, she would win the award for Best New Business that night and Business of the Year the following year. Then go onto win British Female Inventor of the Year 2005, European Woman of Achievement for Entrepreneurship 2006, International Woman Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 and an OBE in the Queen’s Birth Honours list in 2008. "I’ve learnt that you might have a really bad day but then you wake up the following one and the sun comes out and you find the answer."
It’s advice like this that she’s intent on spreading amongst Britain’s women entrepreneurs and business owners today. Alongside Forensic Pathways, she holds a variety of positions, including Chair of the Midlands World Trade Forum and Deputy Director of the United Nations UK Global Compact Network – which supports multinationals and SMEs in Corporate Social Responsibility. But it is her role as President of the British Association of Women Entrepreneurs (BAWE) that she is most excited about right now.
Originally set up in the 1950s to support women who took over companies and businesses while their husbands were away at war, BAWE’s focus today is helping women expand their horizons and aim beyond the lifestyle businesses they traditionally gravitate towards, which often operate on micro-credit.
“We had about £5 in the bank and were up for a business award that evening. I remember thinking ‘This is going to be embarrassing’”
"The government lumps women’s enterprise under one hat, but there’s lots of different enterprises within that. We’ve got to be able to support these women at every position and stage, otherwise we will always hover around the micro-credit level."
This month, BAWE launches ‘Aspiration 2011’, a range of seminars taking place across the country for women (and ‘webinars’ for those unable to attend) helping them get to grips with today’s business challenges – including how to deal with social media, personal and business branding, presentation skills and the financial aspects of setting up and running a business.
As Leary says, help and support like this will be the key to solving the crime repeatedly committed against businesswomen all these years – boxing in their potential. And with Deb Leary’s killer instinct, no stone will remain unturned.
Visit British Association of Women Entrepreneurs for more information and find out more about Forensic pathways .
By Barbara Walshe
