Seb’s solicitor had requested an opinion on whether his client’s mental state at the time of the offence amounted to insanity. Richard Taylor: I only really fully learned the story whilst writing this book and family members were opening up about it.

I am also hosting four lectures for people who have an interest in forensic psychology but cannot afford to go to university. I specialise in forensic psychiatry, a branch of medicine that deals with the assessment and treatment of offenders in prisons and secure hospitals, many of whom exhibit violent behaviour.

Sana Qadar: And because of their nature, they're the kinds of murders that make up a sizable chunk of Dr Taylor's work.

It comes as a surprise to many that these experiences are not uncommon among the general population.Those reductions were especially apparent in regions of the brain associated with emotional processing, behavioral control and social cognition. Delusions may respond to psychiatric treatment, whereas culturally normative beliefs about witchcraft will not.

My findings, some of which can be found in the first book in the planned series ( Dead on Arrival in Manhattan), were, not surprisingly, interesting. Jealousy, anger, revenge, love, hate, and other intense feelings can make people do terrible things, we all know, with these tales from the past making that perfectly clear. This was particularly true during the Prohibition era (1920-1933), when disputes related to bootlegging or the myriad of other illegal businesses it funded, would sometimes result in someone getting whacked.If she did go ahead with her plans for another baby, a child protection team would be keeping a watchful eye on her with a pre-birth case conference. And I think my decision to take up the post at Holloway may have been influenced by this family story, a sort of curiosity. Now Dr Charles, 34, from ­Edinburgh, is passing on her expert knowledge to Scotland’s next generation of forensic psychologists.