Dr Gwen Adshead MBBS FRCPsych MA MSt

Dr Adshead is a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist.  She also has a Masters' Degree in Medical Law and Ethics; and a Master of Science degree in Mindfulness based Cognitive Therapy ( MBCT).   She has acted as an expert witness for over 20 years; but now only provides expert testimony in the family courts. She has a particular research interest in attachment theory, parents  with personality disorder and medical child abuse. Her most recent book for a general audience, written with Eileen Horne, is called ‘The Devil you know’ and is published by Faber.

gadshead@forensicpsychiatrychambers.com

Dr Philip Baker MA MSc MBBS MRCPsych

Dr Baker is a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist. He is the medical director of a large mental health NHS trust in London and also has responsibility for outpatients with a full range of mental disorders, including mental illness, personality disorder and substance misuse problems.  He is approved under Section 12(2) of the Mental Health Act. He has extensive experience of preparing independent reports for criminal and family law cases and for mental health tribunals.  He has regularly given evidence in Court.

pbaker@forensicpsychiatrychambers.com

Dr Claire Dillon BSc MBBS MRCPsych

Dr Dillon is a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist.  She has a senior managerial post in the NHS as well having extensive experience in clinical forensic psychiatry. She has experience of acting as an expert witness in both criminal and civil cases within England and the Channel Islands.

cdillon@forensicpsychiatrychambers.com

Prof. Michael Kopelman PhD FBPsS FRCPsych FMedSci

Prof. Kopelman is Emeritus Professor of Neuropsychiatry at King’s College London (IoPPN), and was formerly based at St Thomas’s Hospital, London. He has acted as an expert witness in cases involving neuropsychiatric or memory disorders, including amnesia for an offence, false confessions, civil liberties (detainees, control orders, Guantanamo returnees), death row, extradition proceedings, and some civil cases mainly involving head injury. He has been involved in criminal, Appeal Court, House of Lords/Supreme Court, Privy Council, and United Nations-sponsored cases. Prof. Kopelman is not accepting instructions but continues to be a member of Chambers to participate in the peer review process.

mkopelman@forensicpsychiatrychambers.com

Dr Richard Latham MBBS MRCPsych LLM

Dr Latham is a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist. He is a clinician and manager in the NHS. He has clinical experience in mental illness, personality disorder and intellectual disability services. He has provided reports in complex medico-legal issues in criminal, civil and tribunal proceedings for twenty years. He has also conducted assessments and reported in foreign jurisdictions.  He holds a Masters degree in mental health law and his thesis for this degree was relating to the utility and limits of mental health expert evidence. He is an author of the first edition of the Oxford Handbook of Forensic Psychiatry. He teaches on the role of psychiatrists as expert witnesses to various professionals in the United Kingdom and around the world.

rlatham@forensicpsychiatrychambers.com

Dr Marc Lyall BSc MBBS MRCPsych DipFMH LLM MAcadMED

Dr Lyall is a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist.  He has specialist accreditation in both General and Forensic Psychiatry.  His medico-legal work is split between family, criminal and civil law. He has been instructed in over seven hundred family law cases, including in care and adoption proceedings, and considering issues including contact and residency.  He has been instructed in over eight hundred criminal law cases including involving defendants charged with murder and serious sexual offences.  He has prepared around one hundred reports in civil proceedings, consisting of reports concerning negligence and housing law. Dr Lyall is an examiner for the Royal College of Psychiatrists and an elected member of the Executive Committee of the Forensic Faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He acts as an External Advisor on behalf of the Royal College and is a Specialist Advisor in Forensic Psychiatry to the CQC.  He is an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry.

mlyall@forensicpsychiatrychambers.com

Prof. Gillian Mezey MBBS FRCPsych

Prof. Mezey is an Emerita Professor of Forensic Psychiatry based at St Georges University of London and an Honorary Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist at South West London and St Georges NHS Mental Health Trust. She currently has clinical sessions with Practitioner Health, which is a National service providing mental health and addiction services to health care professionals. She was until December 2021 a specialist psychiatric member of the Parole Board for England and Wales. She has expertise in the assessment and treatment of individuals with severe mental illness, personality disorder and psychological trauma and has published extensively in these areas, specifically focussing on the effects of sexual and domestic violence and their relationship to offending behaviour. Her publications include:  Textbooks on : Male Rape; Psychological Trauma; Violence against Women and Social Inclusion and over 100 peer reviewed research publications. Her current research is focussed on social exclusion and  stigma experienced by individuals with mental health problems. She has extensive experience of giving expert evidence in both criminal and civil cases in the UK, including the UK Court of Appeal cases; the International Criminal Court (The Hague) and international jurisdictions  e.g. Court of Appeal, Belize.

gcmezey@forensicpsychiatrychambers.com

Dr Norman Poole MD (Res), FRCPsych, MSc

Dr Poole is a Consultant Neuropsychiatrist. He works at St George’s Hospital, London with a special interest in functional neurological symptoms and the neuropsychiatry of cognitive and motor disorders. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, holds a Masters degree in the philosophy of mental disorder, and an MD (Res) in Neuropsychiatry. He has published over 50 papers in peer reviewed academic journals and is the recipient of an NIHR grant conducting a randomised controlled trial of a novel psychological treatment for functional cognitive disorders. He previously edited the the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Neuropsychiatry Newsletter (2012-17) and the BJPsych Bulletin (2018-22). In March 2021, Dr Poole was nominated onto the board of directors for the British Neuropsychiatric Association (BNPA). He is also a member of the Independent Medical Expert Group (IMEG), an advisory non-departmental public body that advises the Minister for Defence Person and Veterans on medical and scientific aspects of the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) and related matters. Dr Poole acts as an independent medical expert in both criminal and civil cases.

npoole@forensicpsychiatrychambers.com

Dr Cleo Van Velsen MBBS MRCPsych MBPsychoanalytic Soc.

Dr Van Velsen is a Consultant Psychiatrist in Forensic Psychotherapy. She was previously the Responsible Clinician in the Personality Disorder Medium Secure Unit in East London and is now Consultant Psychiatrist in the Family Trauma Team at the Anna Freud Centre for Children and Families plus private practice. She is also a member of the British Psycho-analytical society. She worked full time for one year in the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. She has extensive experience in the assessment, management and treatment of those suffering with personality difficulties, violence and trauma. She is a member of the Factitious and Induced Illness reference group at the Royal College of Psychiatrists and member of the Psychoanalysis and Law Committee of the International Psychoanalytic Association. She has carried out assessments in the Family, Civil and Criminal Courts. She is the co-editor of a textbook on Forensic Psychotherapy and section editor of the Edinburgh International Encyclopaedia of Psychoanalysis as well as contributing chapters to other publications. She regularly teaches and presents.

cvvelsen@forensicpsychiatrychambers.com