Advocate for Women’s Rights | Public Speaker, Consultant, Writer

Jade Blue McCrossen-Nethercott is an experienced advocate, campaigner, and commentator specialising in improving justice outcomes for victims of rape and serious sexual offences. A passionate champion for women’s rights and a committed voice for reform in the criminal justice system, Jade works across policy, advocacy, and frontline services to challenge systemic failings and secure meaningful change.

Her work is informed by both professional expertise and lived experience, giving her a rare ability to bridge policy discussions with the realities faced by victim-survivors. In 2020, Jade’s rape case was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service just days before trial after the defendant claimed she suffered from “sexsomnia” - an extremely rare sleep disorder - based on speculative evidence from experts who had never met her. Jade used the Victims’ Right to Review (VRR) process to challenge the decision, ultimately forcing the CPS to admit they had been wrong and that a jury would have been more likely than not to convict. She went on to successfully sue the CPS for their handling of the case, securing damages in 2024.

Her experience exposed serious flaws in the VRR process and in the use of untested medical defences such as sexsomnia in sexual offence trials. This has driven her current campaign ‘Right to be Reviewed’ to ensure the new VRR pilot in the West Midlands - which offers survivors a genuine opportunity to challenge decisions not to prosecute - becomes permanent policy and is rolled out across England and Wales.