Jason Payne-James

Jason Payne-James is  a Specialist in Forensic & Legal Medicine. He is an independent forensic physician in active clinical practice.   He is an independent researcher, an author and an editor and initiates, leads or has collaborated in research projects with a number of organisations including the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the Metropolitan Police Service, the Home Office Centre for Applied Science & Technology and the National Crime Agency. He is an advisor to governmental and other agencies in the UK and abroad. He is co-author of Faculty of Forensic & Legal Medicine documents related to medication management in custody, management after exposure to Taser® and irritant spray, head injury and choking.  He is frequently asked to act as an expert witness in a range of settings. He has been involved in many high profile and sensitive cases including miscarriages of justice.  He provides pro-bono support in a number of cases for individuals and campaigning bodies.

He qualified in medicine in 1980 at the London Hospital Medical College and undertook additional postgraduate education to higher degree level at Cardiff Law School, the Department of Forensic Medicine & Science at the University of Glasgow and with the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland.

He is Director of Forensic Healthcare Services Ltd and he was President of the Faculty of Forensic & Legal Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians from 2015-2017 and of the World Police Medical Officers from 2011-2014. He is Honorary Professor at the Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia. He is Honorary Clinical Professor at the William Harvey Research Institute,  Queen Mary University of London, UK. He is Lead Medical Examiner at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Trust and with others is developing the NNUH Medical Examiner Service. He is Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee on the Medical Implications of Less-Lethal Weapons.

His forensic and legal medicine interests include complaints against healthcare professionals,  forensic & legal medicine careers, healthcare of detainees (prisoners), principles of care, deaths, harm and near misses in custody, use of early warning scores,  spithoods, torture, drugs and alcohol, wound and injury interpretation, elder abuse, asphyxia, sexual assault, neglect, non-accidental injury, restraint and use of force injury (including Taser and irritant spray), excited delirium syndrome, police complaints, medical examiners, age estimation and photographic imaging of injury.  Some other examples of research and other academic publications and his research background can be found at  www.researchgate.net.

Jason has developed,  co-edited, co-authored and contributed to a number of books including the Encyclopedia of Forensic & Legal Medicine; Forensic Medicine: Clinical & Pathological Aspects; Symptoms and Signs of Substance Misuse (1st & 2nd and 3rd editions with Margaret Stark and Mike Scott-Ham); Artificial Nutrition Support in Clinical Practice; Symptoms and Early Warning Signs; Medicolegal Essentials of Healthcare (1st and 2nd editions); Colour Atlas of Forensic Medicine. He is co-author of the 13th and 14th Editions of  Simpson’s Forensic Medicine (an Irish edition co-authored with Cliona McGovern was published orientated in the context of  law in Eire); he co-authored the Oxford Handbook of Forensic Medicine and co-edited both Age Estimation in the Living with Professor Dame Sue Black and Anil Aggrawal and Current Practice in Forensic Medicine (a third volume co-edited with John Gall will be published in 2022). Together with Joe Beynon and Duarte Nuno Vieira, their book Monitoring Detention, Custody, Torture and Ill-treatment was highly commended in the BMA Medical Book Awards. With Suzy Lishman he is co-editing a new text The Medical Examiner System in England & Wales: A Practical Guide which will be published in 2022.

He provides expert opinion and advice for defence solicitors, the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, Service Prosecuting Authority, HM Coroners and other agencies in the UK and overseas. He was first Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed Journal of Forensic & Legal Medicine. He has developed new scales (the ForensiGraph®)   for use in forensic imaging – www.forensigraph.com and with Cathy Cooke the ForensiBag® and OOHBag® .  He designed the forensic medical documentation App, ForensiDoc®. He advises on, contributes to, presented and has broadcast widely in a number of media settings, including documentaries on Jack the Ripper . He has presented  12 episodes of the Channel 5 series,  Autopsy and a documentary on serial killer Trevor Hardy. He has contributed to podcasts of causes of death in countries such as Canada and New Zealand.