We are delighted to be able to confirm that Professor Ireland, the author of the controversial 2012 report on expert witnesses which Researching Reform supported and endorsed, has been cleared of all wrongdoing by the Health and Care Professions Council. Professor Ireland is a forensic psychologist at the University of Central Lancashire.
The damning study revealed serious concerns about the quality of expert evidence used inside the Family Court and suggested that around 20% of psychologists acting as expert witnesses were not properly qualified. The report went on to show that two-thirds of expert witnesses in family courts were ‘poor’ and that the absence of clinical practice among expert witnesses posed challenges for the courts.
The report was well received by campaigners and reformers and gained widespread attention in the media. The medical profession’s response was predictably defensive, and the sector chose to launch a campaign discrediting the report and Professor Ireland’s fitness to practice. In May 2016, an eight point charge sheet was produced which suggested that Professor Ireland’s claims were not supported by the data provided and that her conclusions were unsubstantiated.
Every single charge was dismissed by the Council.
Researching Reform would like to congratulate Professor Ireland for her courage and determination, and we will continue to support her work, which is robust and thought provoking.
Researching Reform 
Professor Jane Ireland deserves a medal for speaking out shame more court experts cannot support her, at least she has proved that she is or was not a court expert for money she was another voice for the children screaming to be heard, so lets get more people such as this lady on board.
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Reblogged this on World4Justice : NOW! Lobby Forum..
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Relief that after four long years of being ‘hung out to dry’ the Fitness to Practice concern against Prof Ireland was dismissed. Why did the HCPC who is supposed to act in the interest of public safety permitted this case to be brought in the first place?
Inadequate psychological assessment reports are routinely used for snatching children into the lucrative £2Bn ‘Adoption Industry’. Furthermore Child Abuse is routinely covered up by Authority Representatives who find it easier to hire a mental health professional to find a ‘personality disorder’ in a protective mother than to properly investigate a case to prosecute against a ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ threshold.
The system is so endemically corrupt that abusers ‘game’ proceedings e.g. three individuals seemingly got ‘bumped off’ in order to let an ‘unbelievable’ assault on a child result in smuggling of a prized target child INTO abuse and simultaneous destruction of the abuse victim/survivor mother:
The shoddy standards in Family Courts (e.g. legal representatives not properly pursuing the interests of biological parents) seem to now spill over into the Criminal Courts:
Family Court judges routinely dismiss allegations of abuse, rape and murder by organised crime networks (e.g. as in the North London case) as based on ‘coaching’ by the parent – when realistically they have absolutely nothing to gain from ‘inventing stories’.
Conversely when Foster Carers make claims of organised child sexual abuse they are blindly believed by the vested interests in ‘The System’ even when they have a £20k per head per year financial incentive to ‘coach’ such allegations. There is a case in the ‘Near East’ that was last year presented to the public as an advance in policing and protecting child abuse victims. This case may actually be rather about depriving the tax payer of £250k per year and sending three innocent citizens into jail!
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This is good news indeed. May we live in hope that Dr. Squier (she who challenged many assumptions of ‘shaken baby syndrome’ and was recently struck off the Medical Register) is similarly vindicated.
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Reblogged this on Musings of a Penpusher and commented:
Good news for justice.
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Was there any real doubt that Prof. Ireland got it wrong? She was used as an example to others who want to tell the truth, that they would be penalised if they opened their mouths!
This closing of ranks is dispicible when the industry claims to be for the protection of childre doing the best for the children. In most cases it would in in the childs best interests if the professionals would leave the kids alone.
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Well done Professor Ireland. She is a light in the darkness of corruption.
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I knew nothing about this case but it is clear from the comments that Professor Ireland was treated shabbily. The family courts where SS in particular are concerned are such that no one is interested in the truth and as such lies told by the ‘professionals’ involved persist and are designed to help SS win their cases. Having been victims of this due to experience in care proceedings, I am well able to confirm this. It is about time the truth was encouraged.
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Thanks so much for risking your career for the sake of others. A step foreward for all the poor people who are reaching out to so called proffesionals only to be treated inhumanely by many charlitans who claim expertise. Your reports are a step foreward I feel in our evalution. Hopefully now more scrutiny to these so called expert witnesses.
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