Background
Dr Taylor is a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist and the Medical Director of Forensic Psychiatry Experts. He worked for many years as a visiting psychiatrist in prisons and young offender institutions, including HMP Birmingham, HMP Gartree, HMP Long Lartin and HMYOI Brinsford, and from 2020 to 2023 was Clinical Director at Arnold Lodge, an NHS secure hospital in Leicester with 100 in-patient beds.
He left the NHS in November 2023 for private clinical practice alongside his expert witness work. He has worked for the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and the Parole Board, and has delivered training to the Mental Health Casework Section of HM Prison and Probation Service.
Expert witness work
Dr Taylor has acted as an expert witness since 2004. He has extensive Crown Court experience, including homicide, diminished responsibility, contested fitness to plead hearings, mutism, insanity and capacity to form intent. He also acts in civil and personal injury claims, professional disciplinary hearings, extradition proceedings and the ecclesiastical court.
His legal training – an LLM in Legal Aspects of Medical Practice – informs his work at the interface between clinical presentation and the legal tests the court has to apply. He writes pritchardcriteria.uk, a reference on the legal test for fitness to plead.
Practice areas
- Crown Court
- High Court
- Magistrates’ Court
- Civil and personal injury
- Parole Board
- Professional disciplinary hearings
- Extradition
- Ecclesiastical court
Qualifications and memberships
- MB ChB, University of Bristol
- Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (FRCPsych)
- LLM in Legal Aspects of Medical Practice, Cardiff University
- Approved under section 12(2) of the Mental Health Act 1983
- Royal College of Psychiatrists – member of the Executive Committee of the Private and Independent Practice Special Interest Group
- Expert Witness Institute
- Medico-Legal Society
More about Dr Taylor is at drnicholastaylor.me.