Research Institute for Social Sciences

Qualified in medicine from Dundee and law from Keele. I’ve been interested in the sleepwalking defence ever since hearing about the notorious case of Kenneth Parks in Toronto.

The Framing of Expert Evidence to Refute or Support Parasomnias in Criminal Trials – I am conducting a series of semi-structured interviews to find out how expert witnesses testify about parasomnias where this is the basis of a defence. This usually means sleepwalking or sexsomnia. Recent high profile cases include Brian Thomas, who strangled his wife, and Zack Thompson, convicted of rape. My supervisors are Professor Martin Wasik (Criminal Law) and Professor Clive Hawkins (Neurology).

I am also analysing the relevant case law and legal doctrines.

Publications:

• ‘Diabetes and Criminal Responsibility’ (2010) Criminal Law & Justice Weekly 174(3): 21-23

This paper was based on my student essay and discusses the case law and when a diabetic will be held responsible for actions down during hypoglycaemic attacks.

• ‘Out of Control: Part 1’ Criminal Law & Justice Weekly (2011) 175(4): 41-42 and Part 2’ 175(6): 75-6

This article was a discussion of the defence of automatism, looking at the different definitions in the case law and how to reconcile them.

•  ‘Diabetic Drivers, Hypoglycaemic Unawareness, and Automatism’, Criminal Law Review November 2011, 863-72, an article co-authored with Professor Martin Wasik, on the case of a diabetic driver, Mr Clarke, convicted of causing death by dangerous driving. My contribution was to interview the expert witnesses in the trial, interview defence counsel, and examine the court papers, with kind permission of the defendant and the defendant’s solicitors and jointly write the paper. The paper described the features of a condition called ‘hypoglycaemic unawareness’, and how the effects of this were not recognized by the court (and still are not) and so resulted in arguable the wrongful conviction of a blameless man.

 Presentations:

• ‘The Sleepwalking Defence’, Mar 18^th, 2011, at the Social Sciences Postgraduate Research Symposium, Keele.

• ‘Why sleepwalking is both a classic example of automatism and an exception in the case law’, May 11^th, 2001 at the Postgraduate Research Symposium, Keele: commenting on the unique status of sleepwalking as an automatism in the case law.

•  ‘An Analysis of Press Reports of Parasomnia Trials’, Apr 3^rd 2012 at the SLSA Conference 2012, De Montfort University, Leicester: presenting the results of my analysis of press reports of trials where parasomnia was raised as a defence from 1996-2011.

• ‘A Case of Unrecognized Hypoglycaemic Unawareness Resulting In A Conviction for Causing Death by Dangerous Driving’, May 12^th 2012 at the  Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine Conference 2012 at the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh: a presentation about the case of Clarke focussing on the forensic and legal medicine issues, including the necessary assessment.

• Seminar on ‘Negotiating the provision of expert evidence in automatism’ at the Centre for Social Ethics and Policy, Manchester University, Oct 17^th 2012.

• I have been invited to speak on ‘Medico-Legal Aspects of Sleep Disorders’ at the 2013 British Sleep Society conference in Edinburgh.

I have a webpage here: http://keele.academia.edu/DocInsanity

Twitter Handle @DocInsanity

I am a student member of the Socio-Legal Studies Association and a member of the British Sleep Society