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Andrew Forrester

Professor Andrew Forrester

Professor of Forensic Psychiatry, Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences

School of Medicine

Email
ForresterA1@cardiff.ac.uk
Campuses
Hadyn Ellis Building, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ

Overview

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

I have 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.

My 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.

I am forensic lead at the National Centre for Mental Health (https://www.ncmh.info/investigators/andrew-forrester/), and Director of the Offender Health Research Network Cymru. 

I chair 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.

I am Editor-in-Chief of the BJPsych Bulletin, Editor in Chief of the SAGE journal Medicine, Science and the Law, and I sit on the editorial board for the journal Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health. 

I sit 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.

I am a member of the Howard League’s advisory board for sentencing principles for young adults. I am a member of the Society of Expert Witnesses, the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland, and the Royal Society of Medicine.

I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, an honorary member of the World Psychiatric Association, and a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Special Committee on Human Rights. 

Publication

2024

2023

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1996

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Research

My 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.

Biography

I trained in psychiatry at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital, London, and have worked as a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist for 20 years. During that time, I have worked in London, Melbourne, Cornwall, Liverpool, Manchester and Cardiff. 

Clinically, my main interest has been in prison psychiatry, from which I developed an interest in other parts of the criminal justice system (police custody, the criminal courts and probation), and people who are detained in other settings (e.g., immigration removal centres). 

I collaborate widely and have a broad interest in mental health conditions as they arise in the criminal justice system in Wales, the wider UK, and internationally, with a focus on vulnerability and marginalisation. My interests are under-pinned by a focus on fair and equal treatment for people in the criminal justice system, taking into consideration human rights obligations and issues in respect of social justice.

Honours and awards

BSc(Hons), MBChB, MPhil, MD(Res), CMgr, MCMI, FRSA, FRCPsych