Dr Blott has been approved under section 12(2) of the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA) as a medical practitioner with special experience in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorder since 2017, and has Approved Clinician status under the Act. 

He studied medicine at University College London, from where he graduated in 2012, and has been a Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists since 2017. He completed an intercalated Bachelor of Science in Pharmacology in 2009 as part of his medical degree. His Core Psychiatry training was in central and west London, and his Higher Forensic Psychiatry Specialty training was in the south London scheme. 

Dr Blott’s prior experience includes roles in child and adolescent, general adult, and older adult psychiatric services. He also worked for three years in a self-employed capacity as an independent doctor approved under section 12(2) of the MHA, providing an independent view as to whether the criteria for detention under the Act were met. Within forensic psychiatry services, he has worked in low-, medium- and high-secure units, community and women’s services, and in prison mental health in-reach services.

He has completed specialist training in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD and the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders, and previously worked in a clinic for prisoners with neurodevelopmental disorders at HMP Wandsworth. He is also trained in assessing violence risk, risk assessment of lone-actor terrorists, and identifying psychopathy. He has a particular clinical and medicolegal interest in the sequelae of trauma, and has worked with a specialist trauma service.

Dr Blott provides regular teaching to medical students, and has an academic interest in the training and development of junior expert witnesses. He regularly delivers medicolegal workshops to trainee forensic psychiatrists, and has developed a free, practical course in providing oral evidence in court, which is delivered periodically to trainees across London and the south east of England. He also has an interest in the use of technology in healthcare delivery, including the potential applications of artificial intelligence. 

EXPERIENCE OF GIVING EVIDENCE

Dr Blott has experience of providing reports on the instruction of the courts, solicitors, Parole Board and the Crown Prosecution Service in a variety of criminal and civil cases. He has given oral evidence to Crown Courts in contested cases, as well as to Parole Boards, Coroner’s Inquests, and First-Tier Mental Health Tribunals. Reports and oral evidence are regularly provided both in the course of his daily clinical work and as an independent expert. 

CASES UNDERTAKEN

Dr Blott has accepted instructions in a wide variety of criminal cases, including serious violence, organised crime and money laundering, drug offences, sexual offending and murder. These cases have been heard at a variety of courts, from Magistrate’s Courts to the Central Criminal Court. Instructions have included fitness to plead and effectively participate, capacity to form intent, insanity, automatism, diminished responsibility, loss of control, and sentencing recommendations. He also accepts instructions in civil cases, including mental capacity, capacity to litigate, and personal injury.