The Minister for Mental Health, the Hon. Tanya Davies MP, requested a review of the Mental Health Review Tribunal (the Tribunal) in respect of forensic patients, and appointed former Supreme Court Judge, the Hon. Anthony Whealy QC, to lead the Review in July 2017.
The Tribunal makes decisions on the management and treatment of forensic patients, who are people found not guilty by reason of mental illness; found unfit to be tried; or found, on the limited evidence, to have committed the offence after being found unfit to be tried, and given a limiting term.
The Review was commissioned in response to community concerns over the level of consideration given by the Tribunal to public safety and the victims affected by the offence, and the ‘transparency’ of Tribunal decisions.