Who We Are

Emeritus Professor of Forensic Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry. King’s College London.  Medical training in Birmingham.  Psychiatric training at the Maudsley.  Professor of Forensic Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry 1978-2002. At the Maudsley developed the largest postgraduate teaching centre in Britain for forensic psychiatry, including London’s first medium security service, the Denis Hill unit. Research has included epidemiological studies of prisoners, a controlled study of the therapeutic community at Grendon prison, relationships between violence and mental disorder. An emphasis on education resulted in a large training scheme for forensic psychiatrists and the development of a diploma in forensic psychiatry. With Professor Pamela Taylor co-editor of a large textbook of forensic psychiatry (now in its second edition).  Other books include one on epileptic prisoners, another on violence and another on the therapeutic community at Grendon.  Co-editor Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health.

Pamela is Professor of Forensic Psychiatry in the School of Medicine, Cardiff University and consultant forensic psychiatrist in Abertawe Bro Morgannyg and Cardiff & Vale University Health Boards, and forensic psychiatry advisor to the Chief Medical Officer for Wales.

She is a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. She leads the Offender Health Research Network-Cymru (OHRN-C) and is a member of the scientific council of the Dutch Expertise Center for Forensic Psychiatry. Her main research themes include understanding associations between mental illness and violence and meeting the needs of alcohol misusing offenders.

She is lead editor of Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health and international editor of Behavioral Sciences and the Law. Her books include Violence in Society (1993), Couples in Care and Custody (edited with Tom Swan, 1999), Personality disorder and serious offending (edited with Chris Newrith & Clive Meux, 2006), Forensic psychiatry, clinical, legal and ethical issues (1993, 2014, edited with John Gunn)  

Professor of Forensic Psychiatry at Cardiff University, and a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist with Swansea Bay University Health Board and Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust.

He has worked as a psychiatrist in prisons and other criminal justice settings for 25 years, and written over 1000 reports to the Courts, mainly in criminal proceedings. Professor Forrester’s clinical and research interests relate to mental health conditions as they present in the criminal justice system, including prisons, courts, police custody, probation, and other places of detention, with a focus on vulnerability and marginalisation.

Professor Forrester is also forensic lead at the National Centre for Mental Health, Director of the Offender Health Research Network Cymru, and chair of the Criminal Justice Steering Group Traumatic Stress Wales.

He chairs the Quality Network for Prison Mental Health Services, Royal College of Psychiatrists, and am Academic Secretary to the Faculty of Forensic Psychiatry, Royal College of Psychiatrists. Professor Forrester is Editor-in-Chief of the BJPsych Bulletin, Editor in Chief of the SAGE journal Medicine, Science and the Law, and sits on the editorial board for the journal Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health. He also sits on the executive committees of the Forensic Faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the British Academy of Forensic Sciences, and the charity Crime in Mind.

Professor Forrester chairs the World Psychiatric Association's prison mental health task-force, is  a member of the Howard League’s advisory board for sentencing principles for young adults a member of the Society of Expert Witnesses, the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland, and the Royal Society of Medicine.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, an honorary member of the World Psychiatric Association, and a former member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Working Group on the Mental Health of Refugees and Asylum Seekers.

Rikki Garg has been in practice for over 20 years and specialises in prison, mental health and community care law. He also takes public law challenges on matters arising from these areas of work. Rikki was a Director and practice manager for Scomo until 2014.

Having commenced practice in Criminal law and, as an accredited police station representative, Rikki decided to focus on the rights of people in detention. He has been a member of the Law Society’s Mental Health Panel since 1995.

He was chairman of the Prisoners’ Advice Service, a not for profit organisation, providing legal advice to serving prisoners from 2006 to 2014. .

He was a founding member (and current Chair) of the Association of Prison Lawyers (APL), which was established to ensure a high a quality standard for prison law representatives as well as working with key agencies in the development of this area of law.  

His reported cases include: SSHD v MHRT & BR [2005] EWCA Civ 1616 SSHD v MHRT & BR [2005] EWHC 2468 (Admin) (Wyles) v Parole Board [2006] EWHC 493 (Admin) (Mills) v (1) Home Secretary (2) Parole Board [2005] EWHC 2508 (Admin) R (M) v Ministry of Justice EWHC (Admin).

Recently, Rikki also represented Daniel Roque Hall, a severely disabled prisoner who was then released from prison.

Rikki has also written and trained on issues related to both mental health and prison law. Chambers have rated Rikki a leading civil liberties lawyer described him as ‘a lawyer with a long experience and deep knowledge of the area’.

Paula Murphy is Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist at St Andrew’s, Northampton where she works in the women’s service in a medium secure unit.

Paula did her forensic psychiatry training at the Maudsley in London. She is an elected member of RCPsych Forensic Psychiatry Faculty Executive. She holds a Masters in Public Health/Health Services Management from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Her interests include clinical leadership and mental health policy and research.  She was a Prepare to Lead candidate in 2010/11 and a NICE Scholar in 2014/5.  

She is currently co-editing a handbook on Clinical Leadership and Management for Oxford University Press, in association with the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management.

Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist in the North London Forensic Service.Clinical Director of the National Stalking Clinic and Clinical Director of Turning Stones, a service for assessing risk in sex offenders.Co-author of 20 papers in the specialist literature and several book chapters.

Consultant Adolescent Forensic Psychiatrist, North West London FCAMHS

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Honorary Research Fellow, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge. He was previously University Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychiatry at the Institute of Criminology, and Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist in the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust. He is a Sentence Review Commissioner and Parole Commissioner in Northern Ireland, and a medical member of the First Tier Tribunal (Mental Health).

Don Grubin is Emeritus Professor of Forensic Psychiatry, Newcastle University and (Hon) Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear NHS Trust.

He has many years' experience in the treatment and supervision of men who have committed sexual offences, and also has a longstanding research interest in this area. He helped develop and is a consultant to the NHS England Medical Management of Sexual Arousal (MMSA) programme.

In addition he is responsible for the training and supervision of probation and police polygraph examiners who carry out polygraph examinations on individuals convicted of sex offences in the community.

I am a clinical academic in forensic psychiatry. My main research interest is the neuroscience of antisocial personality and psychopathy. As a clinician, I work as a consultant forensic psychiatrist in Nottinghamshire NHS Trust prison mental health service.

I completed my medical training and core psychiatric training at National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG), before moving to London in 2011. There, I completed my higher training in forensic psychiatry as an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow at South London and Maudsley Foundation Trust and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience. I then obtained a Wellcome Clinical Research Training Fellowship to complete a PhD in the neurochemistry of antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy, using pharmacoimaging (oxytocin and fMRI) and MRS. I have also completed clinical research projects in forensic psychiatry, including the first research on GPS electronic monitoring in forensic services and clinical issues in female forensic services. I am a Cochrane Reviewer and I am on the editorial board of CNS Spectrums.

I have a postgraduate diploma in medical education (NUIG) and have taught and supervised undergraduate and MSc students and published an examination textbook in psychiatry for medical students. I am interested in the role of the arts in psychiatry and wrote the Minds in Music blog on music and mental health for the Royal College of Psychiatrists website between 2013 and 2018.