I am a medical graduate of
Aberdeen University where I obtained a Bachelor of Medical Biology
(Honours) degree in neurophysiology in 1972 and qualified Bachelor
of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 1975. I have obtained
higher degrees of Master of Philosophy (Edinburgh) and Doctor
of Medicine (Aberdeen) following study and research in psychiatry.
I have been awarded the degree of Master of Laws (Distinction) in Medical Law and Ethics by De Montfort University, Leicester. I obtained the Membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists
in 1979 and was elected to the Fellowship in 1991. I became
a Chartered Biologist and Member of the Institute of Biology
in 1985. In 1995 I became a Member of the Academy of Experts.
In 1997 I became a Member of the Expert Witness Institute and
in 2002 I was one of the first to be elected Fellow.
My experience of the forensic field goes back
to 1966 when I first lived in hostels for ex-offenders and undertook
assessments of prisoners for after-care hostels. My general
professional training in psychiatry was in Edinburgh from 1976
to 1979 and I undertook higher training as Lecturer in Psychiatry
at Manchester University between 1979 and 1983. Between 1983
and 1990 I was Senior Lecturer and Consultant Psychiatrist at
St. James's University Hospital, Leeds, and also since 1983
I have been Visiting Consultant Psychiatrist at H.M. Prison,
Leeds. From 1990 to 2000 I was Consultant Psychiatrist and then
Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist in Leeds and responsible for
the city forensic psychiatry service and the Leeds Magistrates'
Courts Mental Health Assessment and Diversion Scheme. I am a
subscribing member of the British Academy of Forensic Sciences
and the Medico-Legal Society of London. I am a Member and Past
President of the Leeds and West Riding Medico-Legal Society.
Between 2000 and 2006 I undertook locum consultant positions
in general adult, forensic, learning disability and old age
psychiatry in the NHS.
I am now a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist at
The Grange, where I have a medicolegal and clinical practice,
and at Cygnet Hospital, Wyke. My recent medicolegal cases include
Ian Brady, Harold Shipman and Mariette Bosch (the
first white woman to be hanged in post-Colonial Botswana).
I am the author of books on alcohol problems and
editor of A Handbook for Trainee Psychiatrists. My research
publications include: drunkenness offenders in a Scottish police
court, psychiatric disorder in prison, alcohol problems in the
elderly, alcohol problems in the fishing industry, arson, court
assessment and diversion schemes and psychiatric reactions to
CS exposure. My published case reports concern capacity, false
imprisonment, intent, needle phobia, out of court silence, thyroid
disorder and attempted murder, an appeal against a section 41
restriction order, the defence of provocation in battered woman
syndrome and psychiatric evidence at an agricultural land tribunal.
I am also the author of 'Fit to be interviewed by the police?',
'Expert evidence and the courts' and 'The New Civil Procedure
Rules' for the Royal College of Psychiatrists, a paper 'Working
with psychiatric problems in probation', and a paper on 'Psychiatric
reports in criminal proceedings in England and Wales'.
