Meet the Team

Dr Mary Wakeham (Founder & CEO)

Dr Mary Wakeham is the Founder of Refuge4Pets and our Chief Executive Officer.

Mary has over 15 years of experience working in the domestic abuse sector. She founded Refuge4Pets in 2017, driven by her lived experience and passion to enable freedom from domestic abuse for all victim-survivors, both people and animals.

Mary is also a Senior Research Associate at the University of Bristol with a specialism in the dynamics and implications of the use and abuse of animals in the context of domestic abuse, particularly animal abuse as a strategy of coercive control. Mary is currently researching ‘the use and abuse of animals by perpetrators and domestic abuse-related deaths’, a study hosted at the University of Bristol and funded by Defra.

Dina Holder (Chair)

Dina Holder is our Chair of the Board of Trustees.

Dina has recently retired from The Women’s Centre Cornwall, where she led innovative work on inclusion, diversity and equality by developing their Community Engagement projects. She is a qualified social worker and, before joining The Women’s Centre, worked in probation and youth offending teams, as well as developing and establishing services in Cornwall that provide vital support to victim-survivors of domestic abuse. Dina is now offering a consultancy service to local organisations working to end Violence Against Women and Children. Dina has always had horses, dogs and other pets, and Refuge4Pets brings together these two areas of her life that she is passionate about – tackling domestic and sexual abuse and promoting animal welfare.

Caroline Harding (Secretary)

Caroline Harding is a Refuge4Pets Trustee and is also the Secretary.

Caroline comes from a business and marketing background and for the last 18 years has run a branding and graphic design agency with her husband. Back in 2019, she was looking for a new challenge outside of work that was related to helping animals and people and saw an article about Refuge4Pets in Cornwall Life magazine. She approached us to become a fundraising volunteer and has been helping at our events ever since, even completing a 15,000ft skydive in 2022 to raise money for the charity!

Joining as a trustee in January 2024, Caroline brings her business skills to our board and continues to help at our events.

Dr Harriet Lawrence

Dr Harriet Lawrence is a Refuge4Pets Trustee.

Hattie is an equine vet by background and spent nearly 30 years in clinical practice and running a variety of veterinary businesses. She is now the CEO of Langford Vets, the clinical teaching platform of the University of Bristol Veterinary School. Hattie has seen first-hand in veterinary practice the link between animal abuse and domestic abuse and is committed to help widen understanding of this widespread issue, especially within veterinary teams.

She brings to the team veterinary expertise and extensive leadership experience and business acumen. When not working Hattie loves to be out in the beautiful countryside of the southwest, running or walking with her little lurcher Piper.

Lesley Leahy

Lesley Leahy is a Refuge4Pets Trustee.

Lesley spent her career in Housing, working as Area Housing Manager for the London Borough of Ealing, Housing Services Manager at Herefordshire and as a housing consultant. Lesley is well versed in working in fast paced organisations working with people at crisis point. She is experienced in business planning and management, governance, strategic planning and public relations.

Now happily retired Lesley has volunteered for Refuge4Pets since 2019, fostering dogs, fundraising, working as a peer mentor and she joined the trustee team in 2022.

Sarah Moffat (Treasurer)

Sarah Moffat is a Refuge4Pets Trustee and is also the Treasurer.

Sarah is currently the Finance Systems Implementation Manager at Age UK and has previously been the Head of Finance for a local social enterprise, managing a large team in an organisation with circa. £40m turnover. Sarah has worked in finance roles for many years and qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant in 2022. All of her career has been in not-for-profit organisations, and she is passionate about working for organisations with strong values, like Refuge4Pets.

Sarah joined as the Treasurer in April 2025 and is proud to be using her experience and knowledge to assist with the management of the charity’s finances.

Mark Randell

Mark Randell is a Refuge4Pets Trustee.

Mark is a retired senior detective who now trains police officers, prosecutors and politicians globally on the importance of taking animal welfare seriously within relationships and communities. His policing background focused on understanding criminal and abuser motivation
within serious crime and terrorism, then working collaboratively to protect communities.

His passion has always been animals, and he uses his international policing skills to persuade others why keeping pets safe keeps people safer too.

Laura Smit-Chesterfield (Vice Chair)

Laura Smit-Chesterfield is a Refuge4Pets Trustee and is also the Vice Chair.

Laura worked as an Independent Domestic Abuse Advocate in Cornwall and was the founding team leader of the one-stop-shop for anyone experiencing domestic abuse. After the arrival of her second child, Laura decided to go on to explore other avenues in her career. She is the former Managing Director of The Lost Gardens of Heligan and now runs her own creative consultancy.

Alongside Dina Holder, she was one of our founding Trustees, when Mary set up the charity in 2017. Laura’s love of animals and dedication to providing support to victim-survivors of domestic abuse is what inspires her to work as part of the Board of Trustees at Refuge4Pets.