Jonathan Vince

I lead a multidisciplinary team in the provision of mental health care to a highly culturally diverse borough.

Hounslow has a very high immigrant population and has a high population of asylum seekers in part due to the fact that many are placed in Hounslow in asylum seekers' centres.

I am therefore familiar with psychiatrically assessing asylum seekers who will often have experiences associated with psychiatric morbidity, but also the potentially confounding factor of the investment in mental morbidity that may support their asylum claim

I ran the forensic unit at St Anns Hospital, providing assessments and reports for the courts for the entire country of Trinidad and Tobago.

Courts would refer for assessment of defendents' fitness to plead and to be apprised of the mental state and disturbances at the time of the alleged offence and the implications for issues in respect to intent and capacity to form the requisite intent for a crime.

Issues of simulation of symptoms were a relatively frequent feature of cases.

I was based in a medium secure in-patient unit which principally took referrals from courts, but would also take patients from General Adult Services who were deemed to represent a significant risk to others.

Undertaking assessments and providing reports to courts was a major part of the role; as was giving oral evidence in court.

I would assess and report on pretrial issues such as Fitness to Plead; trial issues such as capacity to form requisite intent, the possibility of alternative intents as a consequence of mental disorder, legal insanity; and pre-sentence matters which would address risk, amenability to treatment and any particular vulnerabilities in respect to various possible disposals.

I also undertook assessments and reports in civil and family court proceedings on behalf of the courts or social services in childcare proceedings and cases of domestic violence.

During my time training in forensic psychiatry and as a consultant, I developed expertise in the subspeciality of sexual offending, both in respect to assessment and reporting to court and administering treatment via Sex Offender Treatment Groups in partnerhip with Probation Services.

I undertook many hundreds of reports and gave oral evidence in court on scores of occasions