Forensic Psychologists - Criminal Cases

Dr Bryan Tully
expert witness psychologist
forensic psychologists

typical cases

Intellectual assessments carried out on parents called as "appropriate adults" under PACE, and evaluation of their children and their role as laid down in the code of practice.

Assessment of whether a young woman was a "mental defective" for the purposes of the Sexual Offences Act, and whether there were any good reasons why a defendant accused of rape (where consent is not a defence) should have known her status given the circumstances of their encounter.

Assessment of the capacity of people with severe hearing disability to understand charges and give valid instructions in civil and criminal proceedings.

Whether the psychological profile of a vexatious complainant against a NHS Trust indicated he could pose a threat to staff, on the basis of his correspondence.

Assessment of a disputed confession obtained after prolonged police questioning, and the manifestation of signs of psychological disorder late in the series of interviews.
Assessment of general levels of intellectual functioning and suggestibility of adults interviewed by police without appropriate adults being called, and being charged with arson and murder after making self incriminating statements.
Assessment as to whether a "Personality Disorder" could contribute to a false confession where attempts to gain hospital admission by other presented histories had failed.
Whether the conduct of a senior police officer in procuring a confession from a suspected arsonist was so unjustifiable that a newspaper report was not liable.
Psycholinguistic analysis of taped exchange between an undercover police officer and a target could be reasonably shown to be consistent with the officer driving the target subject to agree to his killing someone, for which the subject was eventually charged with conspiracy to murder.
Impeachment of early interviews of a Master of oil tanker run aground and lost, by insurance and salvage investigators, demonstrating that accounts gathered were unreliable memories.

Assessment of the credibility of multiple allegations of sexual abuse by children against a Local Authority teacher, particularly addressing the techniques of interviewing used on the children and the as to whether those techniques could have jeopardised the veracity of the children's testimony.
Research based expert testimony given before a Scottish Court on how a children's memories and developments of accounts of ritualised and organised abuse developed over months of questioning and carried few characteristics of real memory process.
Assessment, disentangling questionable recovered false memories, aided by psychotherapy and family intensive questioning on the part of the alleged adult victim of childhood sexual abuse.

Assessment of psychological factors of mitigation present in a case of arson committed as a "crime passionelle" by a French homosexual man.
Assessment of whether persistent pickpocketing could fit a "kleptomania" diagnosis in a manner similar to shoplifting.
Assessment as to whether a child possessed sufficient intelligence and moral reasoning to know that a sexual assault on another child was wrong.