A breastfeeding mother of two kept in police custody for 11 hours after misgendering a transgender woman on Twitter pleaded not guilty to charges in court on 18 September 2019 before her defence barrister announced she will be making a ‘bad character application’ regarding the complainant.

Kate Scottow, 38, was arrested in front of her children last December after a complaint was made to police by Stephanie Hayden, 46, a trans woman who describes herself as a lawyer and social commentator, over messages posted on the social networking platform.

Mrs Scottow was charged in August with ‘sending false messages’ but the charge was amended by the Crown Prosecution Service to ‘persistent’ messages during the hearing at Stevenage Magistrates Court. The prosecution counsel, Daniel Siong, told magistrates: ‘This is a novel case’.

As a trial date was agreed for 6 February 2020, defence counsel Diana Wilson of 9 Bedford Row Chambers said extended time in the witness box for Ms Hayden would be required alleging ‘because of her extensive bad character’. Ms Wilson added: ‘I can’t bring it [the application] until I have the relevant material.’

Earlier she noted: ‘There is quite a lot of disclosure pending.’

The defence also stated its intent to make an application over abuse of process.

The Crown’s case against Mrs Scottow, a PhD student, refers to ‘making persistent use of a public electronic communications network’ for the purpose of ‘causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety’ to another under an obscure subsection of the Communication Act’s controversial section 127. It carries a potential six-month prison sentence.

Ms Wilson told the court: ‘There are two main issues. The first rests on whether Twitter is a public electronic communications network,’ which she said ‘had not been litigated in the high court’.

The second was the defendant’s intent, claiming the impact of the messages was ‘irrelevant’ and referencing also her rights under Article 10, a section of the European Convention on Human Rights that covers freedom of expression and to hold opinions.

The trial is scheduled to take place at the magistrates court over two days in front of District Judge Dodd [I think; it sounded like Dobbs] in a case that has attracted international attention after Mrs Scottow’s arrest including from Donald Trump Jnr and Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Mrs Scottow spent seven hours in a cell at Stevenage Police Station after she had been frisked in front of her children at home in Hitchin, Herts, by four officers from Hertfordshire Police on 1 December last year. Her daughter, who is autistic, was aged 10 at the time and her son 20  months.

According to ushers, Ms Hayden was given permission to attend the hearing, although witnesses are usually not allowed into the courtroom until giving evidence. Ms Hayden left the building before the hearing began.

Civil action against Mrs Scottow has been stayed until after the prosecution trial.

Please credit the source when using information from this blog. All rights retained. Thank you.

Published in part March 2018.

The first trial for transgender hate crime sensationally collapsed on 1 March 2019 in a case against a transgender blogger charged with harassment over an argument on Twitter with a trans rights campaigner.

The judge in the case of the Crown against Miranda Yardley, a prominent women’s rights activist who is transsexual, decided there was no case to answer after hearing evidence from Helen Islan, a volunteer for controversial trans children’s charity Mermaids.

The trial would have been precedent setting if it had been successful, according to defence counsel Gudrun Young of Hare Court Chambers.

Islan, a mother of three who lives in Leeds, went to police claiming Ms Yardley had ‘outed’ her transgender child on Twitter, using the child’s trans status to target and harass her. 

But District Judge John Woollard declared the prosecution had failed to provide evidence of a course of conduct that constitutes harassment, with the case centring on one tweet in which Yardley had linked to a Google search of Islan that showed a picture of her family including her transgender child.

The judge decided Islan herself had already identified her child as transgender by having previously posted publicly on social media in her own name as the parent of a transgender child. Noting that Ms Islan had even discussed the child’s medication online, he said:

‘Ms Islan seems to have been putting information about her child around the internet for years.’

Islan appeared distressed and often tearful giving evidence by video link, after a request to have reporting restrictions enforced was rejected. The Crown applied to prohibit publication of the complainant’s name and details that could be used to identify her and her transgender child under section 46 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999.

It stated: 

‘The case concerns an allegation which the Crown submits is essentially a transgender hate crime. Allegations of this nature should where at all possible be prosecuted.’

On Islan’s behalf, the Crown suggested the defendant may not be able to give evidence unless she was assured anonymity.

The court was adjourned after counsel for the Crown said her witness needed time to consider if she was able to give evidence when District Judge Woollard ruled against the application in favour of ‘huge public interest’. On reconvening and discovering Islan had still not made up her mind, the judge said: 

‘Let’s save your client the embarrassment of being dragged into the courtroom and give her one last phone call.’

When Islan then agreed to proceed, appearing on camera from Leeds clutching tissues and breathing rapidly, she was asked by the defence counsel, Ms Young, if she had been attempting to blackmail the court by stating in a late submission that she ‘would have no choice’ but not to give evidence if the application wasn’t granted. Islan replied she was ‘trying to save my child from further harassment’.

The case revolved around a Twitter spat in February 2018 in which several prominent transsexual activists – people who were born male but have surgically reassigned to live as women – argued about self-

identification which allows people to be recognised as being transgender simply by declaring themselves to be the opposite sex.

Islan, tweeting under the name @MimmyMum, joined the conversation to argue in favour of self-ID. Miranda Yardley, who has also surgically transitioned but identifies as transsexual, added a screengrab which identified the @MimmyMum account as belonging to Helen Islan in order, he later said, to highlight her role as a political activist. The screengrab of a Google search of Helen Islan’s name also included a photograph of Islan with her children.

In her evidence to the court, Islan claimed the post made her feel ‘stressed, sick and ill’ and said ‘my child is so distressed that people are using him to target me’, adding she had even considered changing her family name to protect her child’s identity.

It emerged, however, that the picture had originated from one of Islan’s own social media accounts that is now dormant. Islan argued she had removed the picture and Yardley would have had to have undertaken an extensive search to have found it. But the judge disagreed, saying the image came up on the first page of a Google search.

Giving evidence during which she was described by the defence as a ‘hugely controversial figure with harmful and dangerous views’ and responsible for helping make the debate around transgender issues ‘toxic’, Ms Islan was also asked to avoid repeatedly accusing Ms Yardley of deliberately using her trans child to ‘target’ her on Twitter and of misgendering her child.

‘We’re going to be here forever if every time I ask you a question you repeat all the evidence,’ Ms Young told Ms Islan. The judge interjected: ‘We certainly won’t.’

Ms Islan said that she had been unable to market herself professionally on social media for fear of being targeted by those who now knew her identity as a result of the screengrab.

The defence, however, suggested Ms Islan herself had effectively outed her child by pointing out in her own posts in response that the image in the screengrab included her transgender son. Ms Islan said she wanted people to know how upset she had been by the image appearing on Twitter, saying she was ‘in pieces’ and to ask others to report the post. But Ms Young said: 

‘It was you who made the extra link this was your trans son Ms Yardley did not make. You’re the one who identified your son, not Ms Yardley. ‘Any reasonable person who saw that would know it was me and my son,’

Ms Islan replied.

‘You went on and on on social media, trying to garner support against Miranda Yardley,’ Ms Young continued. ‘You repeatedly referred to TERFs. You were using this to further perpetuate your beliefs and marshall a campaign against Miranda Yardley.’

Ms Islan said: ‘I was desperate, my son was desperate. Miranda Yardley was in a position of power. Twitter wouldn’t react. I didn’t know what to do.’

Ms Young referred to several pages of evidence of social media posts in which Ms Islan was ‘regularly tweeting about your trans son, about him taking blockers, that he had “come out” at school’.

The defence also made reference to Islan’s own behaviour on the social media platform, highlighting in particular posts about Stephanie Davies-Arai, founder of Transgender Trend, an organisation that provides schools with advice packs that suggest a ‘watchful waiting’ approach to children identifying as transgender.

‘You have pursued Ms Davies-Arai relentlessly by social media,’ Ms Young said to Ms Islan who replied, ‘The pack she puts together is potentially damaging.’

The judge then interjected: ‘There is a tweet that says she had an unhealthy obsession with trans kids. Did you write that.’ ‘Yes,’ Ms Islan replied.

Ms Young continued: ‘You have repeatedly called Stephanie Davies-Arai transphobic and encouraged others to do the same. You have contacted journalists and asked them not to report what she says. You have done your best to silence her views.

‘I don’t think I’ve done something illegal,’ Ms Islan replied.

Bringing Ms Islam’s evidence to a close, the judge asked the barrister for the Crown Prosecution Service: ‘Where is the evidence [of harassment] taking into account the need for free speech? You have to show a course of conduct and at the moment we have one tweet. Where is the evidence for Miranda Yardley outing Ms Islan’s son?

‘There is no case and there never was a case,’ he concluded awarding costs to the defendant.

It later emerged that Debbie Hayton, a transsexual schoolteacher who was due to give evidence for the defence, had been called ‘a man in a dress’ by Ms Islan on social media. 

‘This has been the worst ten months of my life,’ Ms Yardley said, following the judge’s decision. He continued:

‘It seems to be a deliberate tactic by representatives of Mermaids to use the police to silence criticism and close down analysis of their activities which are undoubtedly controversial and with lifelong implications for children and their families.’

Ms Young said: ‘This was a prosecution allegedly for harassment but which, in fact, had at its heart an ideological disagreement over transgender issues.

‘A successful prosecution in these circumstances would have set an extremely dangerous precedent, potentially criminalising the legitimate expression of political views and curtailing free debate on social media. The judge was right to conclude there was no case to answer and that it was a prosecution that should never have been brought.’

Commissioned but unpublished June 2018. 

A Conservative MP facing possible suspension for hosting an event to discuss the impact of transgender rights on women has had charges dropped after a complaint was made by a transgender councillor.

David Davies, 47, MP for Monmouth in south Wales, was investigated for a breach of House of Commons rules after stepping in to provide a committee room for women unable to find space in which to meet as a result of threats made to venues by trans activists.

The event, Transgenderism and the War on Women, was standing room only as 150 women gathered to listen to campaigners discussing proposed changes to legislation that will allow men who ‘self-identify’ as women access to all sex segregated spaces including public loos, changing rooms and even domestic violence refuges.

It was originally booked to be held in conference facilities at Millwall Football Club, but the venue cancelled after a barrage of complaints from trans activists including, it is believed, death threats.

Mr Davies agreed to host the event in March, commenting at the end of the meeting that he had never in his career experienced the intensity of the campaign to demand he withdraw his invitation.

The House of Commons was bombarded with complaints from trans activists and several prominent pro-LGBT MPs were contacted requesting their intervention, prompting former EastEnders actor Lord (Michael) Cashman to comment on Twitter that he would ‘track down’ the meeting.

Although the event went ahead without disturbance, a complaint was then made to the Parliamentary Committee on Standards by Zoe O’Connell, 40, a Liberal Democrat councillor for Cambridge, who identifies as transgender and is in a relationship with Sarah Brown, 44, and Sylvia Knight, 42. She is bidding to become Britain’s first polyamorous MP. Ms O’Connell and Ms Brown were born male and Ms Brown was formerly married to Ms Knight, but the two are now in a civil partnership.

The grounds of the complaint centred around the allegation that Mr Davies had ‘misused public resources’ in the belief tickets to the event had been sold against House of Commons rules that insist facilities are not used for financial benefit.

However, the Committee has now ruled the complaint is ‘not upheld’ after receiving evidence money raised from tickets to pay for facilities at Millwall Football Club had been returned.

Speakers at the event included feminist author and historian Sheila Jeffreys, academic Dr Julia Long and former Labour women’s officer Anne Ruzylo who was forced to resign last year after accusations of ‘transphobia’ were made against her by Labour’s first transgender woman’s officer, Lily Madigan.

The event was held to discuss proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act that will allow people to ‘self-identify’ as the opposite sex and therefore gain access to segregated facilities designed for the opposite sex. The Government has recently announced it will shortly begin consultation about the proposed amendments to the act which are supported by all main political parties.

Mr Davies said:

‘This has been hanging over me for months and has been a real worry. The investigation could have resulted in the end of my career

and I haven’t even been able to talk to the Press or my constituents to explain the situation, despite it being made public that I was being investigated.

‘I said then and I still say now, everything I did was right,’ Mr Davies continued.

‘It may be old fashioned, but if you have a penis and testicles, in my view you are a man. And if you disagree with that we should at least be able to debate it.

I should not be investigated, pilloried and hounded just for trying to discuss that view – and for giving women the space to talk about their very real concerns.

‘Gender self-identification will allow transgender women, most of whom have male genitalia, to access places where women would not expect males to be present such as hospital wards, changing rooms, refuges and female prisons. But we now have a situation where anyone who is concerned is not even allowed to talk about it and this investigation has only made it harder for MPs to talk about the issue for fear they, too, may risk losing their careers.’

Mr Davies said he was contacted by a senior Tory MP who suggested he may face a criminal investigation for offences against the public order act over a previous meeting he held with women to discuss the Gender Recognition Act. The MP, whose middle initials are ‘TC’, also suffered online abuse over his views when, earlier in the year, the LGBT wing of the Conservative party tweeted: ‘It’s clear that the T in his name stands for transphobic. It’s equally clear what the C stands for,’ although it is understood an apology was subsequently made.

The organiser of the event, mother of two Venice Allan, 42, commented: ‘It is absolutely appalling that Mr Davies was investigated. As a result of complaints being made from the minute it leaked out that Mr Davies was giving us a place of safety in which to meet after being hounded out of every other venue and one of our attendees had previously been attacked by a transgender activist, we had to meet with the Serjeant at Arms to ensure we were complying with all regulations. So we did everything by the book.

‘Yet Mr Davies still had to go through the public humiliation of being investigated like this for being brave enough to allow women to talk about a hugely controversial issue that affects our rights to safety and privacy. It’s ironic for me as a lifelong Labour supporter and former Corbynite that the only MP willing to help belongs to the Tories.

‘As many of us said at the event, he has more balls than Millwall.’

Published in print but not online September 2018 after two months digging. 

A women’s group is predicting an upsurge in violent and sexual crime appearing to be committed by women as police forces are allowing offenders to choose whether they are recorded as male or female rather than by their biological sex.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council has confirmed that when it comes to ‘gender’, “as a general rule we will accept the details that an individual provides to us and treat them accordingly”, with implications for how crime is recorded as well as how police officers must cater for transgender individuals in custody.

Body searches on a biological male who identifies as a transgender woman should be conducted by a woman officer, for instance, even though the majority of transgender individuals remain physically intact.

“It could lead to an increase in violent crime committed by women when the perpetrators are actually biological males,” says Dr Nicola Williams of Fair Play for Women, a campaign group working to retain women’s right to sex segregated services and facilities. “That could have a profound impact on how women are viewed by society, if they are seen to be becoming more aggressive, as well as on the allocation of resources.”

Freedom of Information requests by the organisation showed that of the 43 forces contacted, all 11 of those that replied with data allowed people taken into custody to decide the sex by which they were registered, although at least one said a previous record could not be changed if an offender had since identified as transgender.

Problems with how offenders are recorded were highlighted after a vicious assault took place on London’s transport network during the summer in which a man was beaten to the ground and suffered a broken eye socket. The alleged perpetrators were described in a statement by British Transport Police as a group of four women.

Questions were raised by the public, however, when mobile phone camera footage and photographs accompanying media coverage appeared to show people with the physical appearance and strength of males although dressed in female attire.

British Transport Police at first claimed to be following legislation set out in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act in recording offenders’ sex according to their own definition. The section quoted, however, refers only to body searches.

The force then cited NPCC guidance for Northern Ireland, England and Wales that states: ‘If there is any question over the detained person’s gender you should ask the individual in which gender they wish to be addressed. A person who is ‘en femme’ may be comfortable with their male birth gender and wish to be treated as such…

Never assume sex or gender identity, each trans person will be unique in how they want to be treated.’

Amanda Jones, a barrister at Great James Street Chambers in London, says the policy is “legally incoherent” and breaching obligations under public sector equality duty.

“The relevant authorities haven’t thought through the purposes of recording this information and its uses,” said Ms Jones, who is acting in a proposed case against the Labour Party over its policy of allowing transgender members onto all women shortlists. “For example, the percentage of offences committed according to sex is now meaningless data and that has an impact such as in planning for refuges and witness support which depends on from whom you need to protect those people,” she said.

“The number of women offenders of any violent or sexual crimes is so small that a few males being counted as women could make a significant statistical difference,” Mrs Jones added, pointing out that transgender people offend at the same rate as their biological sex. “And

if you don’t know how violent women are really being you can’t make accurate assessments about how then to tackle it.”

Ms Jones said the police are effectively pre-empting possible amendments to legislation. A public consultation into the Gender Recognition Act is currently underway to decide if people can ‘self-identify’ as the opposite sex, rather than living as such for two years and obtaining a medical diagnosis as the act requires now. But the consultation doesn’t end until next month and the Government has signalled it is unlikely to allow self-identification.

National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues, Assistant Chief Constable Julie Cooke said:: “Police forces have processes in place to verify the details provided and where there is an objective, honestly held doubt about a person’s gender then every effort will be made to establish that person’s gender identity.

“There is no evidence to suggest that recording a person’s gender based on the information that they provide will have an impact on national crime statistics due to the low numbers involved.”

A spokesperson for British Transport Police said: “The police service recognises that people should be able to self-identify. However, officers apply a common sense approach that reflects the individual circumstances they are dealing with.”

Commissioned but spiked March 2018. References abstract, not published paper. Stats correct at time of not going to press. 

When Veronica’s* 15-year-old daughter told her mother and stepfather last year she thought she may be gay, there was no hesitation for this modern, liberal couple in supporting their only child as she adjusted to her sexuality.

After a fledging relationship broke up, however, and Caroline* suddenly announced she wasn’t gay but a boy trapped in a girl’s body, the news this time turned a once happy home into a combat zone.

With an unprecedented increase in young people reporting unhappiness with their biological sex, the experiences Veronica recounted have worrying implications that should concern all parents — not least the approach of the medical profession towards these young people.

A greater than 100% increase in referrals was reported in 2015/16 by the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at London’s Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, the centre for treating children and young people who may be suffering from gender dysphoria – discomfort with one’s birth sex. Last year saw another 42% rise. And data from clinics in Canada and Holland suggest for the first time gender dysphoria in adolescents now affects more girls than boys.

Questions are now also being raised about whether or not some of those describing themselves as transgender are, in fact, part of a new phenomenon.

Termed ‘rapid onset gender dysphoria’, it has been the subject of a study in America and described by one academic there as an epidemic.

ROGD is also being referred to as a ‘social contagion’ as incidences can appear in clusters or affect young people spending a lot of time accessing online sites and groups where being transgender is considered cool and brave. Identifying as transgender – particularly after the attention given to celebrities such as Caitlyn Jenner – may bring a sense of belonging to children who may be socially awkward, perhaps suffering mental health problems. Critically, it is believed to be temporary.

Veronica believes her daughter fits the bill for ROGD. ‘I split up from her father when she was a toddler which brought its own problems as she was growing up,’ Veronica explains. ‘Then she lost a relative after a long illness, followed by all of her friendship group as she first told them she was gay, causing some to reject her, before her romantic relationship with one of the girls ended badly.’

The transgender announcement came out of the blue shortly after. ‘There was no inkling beforehand,’ Veronica says. ‘She wasn’t tomboyish, wore dresses, had always had waist-length hair. But suddenly she started climbing trees and behaving as if that’s how she believed a boy should.’ Caroline even started wearing a chest binder to hide her developing breasts.

‘She talked about being trapped in the wrong body and had been born with a ‘boy’s brain’, that if we weren’t supportive of her aim to ‘become’ a boy we were guilty of abuse and she’d kill herself,’

Veronica recalls. ‘I recognised the expressions she used because I was monitoring the sites she was accessing. Many advocated children distancing themselves from their parents.’

But what is most shocking about Caroline’s sudden subjugation of her sex was the reaction of state services that, Veronica says, seemed concerned only with propelling Caroline towards ‘transitioning’ fully into a male. 

Veronica informed Caroline’s school in their Midlands market town who, without consulting Veronica, began to refer to Caroline by a male name and using male pronouns. She was also referred to an NHS counselling service for young people. ‘At the first session,

I was allowed in only at the end just in time to hear the counsellor reassure Caroline she didn’t have long to wait until she could access hormone blockers

which can’t be prescribed until the age of 16.’

Veronica was horrified. ‘I thought they’d try to get to the root of why she so suddenly felt ‘trapped in the wrong body’ rather than assuming she was,’ Veronica says. Veronica allowed her daughter to attend a couple more sessions while she searched for an independent therapist.

But events took a sinister turn as the counselling service removed Caroline from lessons for a meeting without her mother’s knowledge before calling the family to report that Caroline didn’t want to change therapists – and with the chilling implication that if they weren’t more supportive of her wishes, Caroline may not continue to live at home. 

Last month a meeting was called at Caroline’s school with the counselling service at which Veronica was told Caroline was considered to be Gillick competent – a term used in medical law to decide if a child under the age of 16 is capable of consenting to their own medical treatment. The family was also being referred to social services. 

Returning home that evening visibly upset and fearful at the speed with which her rights as a parent were being dismantled by strangers, yet another row broke out. But it became clear Caroline herself had not been informed of the meeting that had been called that day. In a rare moment of unity, mother and child lodged a complaint about the divisive and inflammatory approach taken by officials even Caroline recognised was causing harm to her family.

They are awaiting contact from social services.

‘If we hadn’t now found our own therapist who doesn’t seem hellbent in affirming what I think are mental health issues, I’d have keeled over,’ Kristina says.

‘I see a child desperately trying to fit in and she finds people online who accept her but who reinforce how she feels.

‘The trust has gone between us now and it is heartbreaking,’ Veronica adds. ‘We all feel utter despair at the entire process and the people following guidelines which we believe to be morally wrong and damaging to our daughter’s longterm future.’

Contact has been made by several other parents with similar stories, including mothers from America and Canada who are also reporting alarming enthusiasm by health professionals to confirm their children’s beliefs without question and the speed at which they are then propelled towards medical intervention. Some say they have ‘lost’ their children. All were fearful of talking openly in case they were accused of being ‘unsupportive’ and therefore abusive.

‘There’s not enough time for these kids to think and make a good decision,’ says Susan Bradley, a child psychiatrist in Toronto, who has specialised in child and adult gender dysphoria for four decades. ‘They’re being pushed. And

once you start on the path of blockers and sex hormones and surgery, you keep going, not least because some of the effects are irreversible.

Periods stop, breast enlargement and hair growth diminishes, the penis and testes don’t grow. In girls the voice deepens permanently. There is decreased calcification of bones so there may not be the same growth they should have. There is some evidence it interferes with fertility.’

Two young people who believed they were transgender and have now ‘desisted’ also made contact, one of whom believes she may have considered taking her own life had she begun the medical process of transitioning only to have changed her mind. Of course, there are many young people who feel similarly had they not been allowed to transition.

The pattern of young people suddenly deciding they are transgender at the same time as others among their peers in real life or online has been examined in a descriptive study currently awaiting peer review and publication by Dr Lisa Littman, assistant professor of the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Brown University of Public Health, New England.

Although Dr Littman cannot discuss her findings before publication, contact has been made with doctors familiar with her work who say the group studied reflects their own observations: young people suffering mental health problems, personality disorders or who have experienced trauma; report ‘homoerotic’ feelings; and with a disproportionate number on the autism spectrum.

Studies suggest rates of autism in transgender referrals range from 9.9% to a Dutch service to 26% of adolescents in the Finnish service.

‘What we are observing with ROGD is not like cases of child onset gender dysphoria, which are obvious and affect kids who do not learn their behaviour patterns from anybody,’ says Michael Bailey, professor of psychology at Northwestern University, Illinois, Chicago, a specialist in gender identity and dysphoria. ‘It develops independently of how they socialise and usually very early – by age four or five.

ROGD, he says, however, is ‘socially contagious’. He also describes it as a ‘rapidly growing epidemic’. ‘If you are seeing two, three, four transgender people in a year group, the likelihood that that may happen by chance is low,’ Professor Bailey says.

Dr Littman herself adds:

’Theorising the increase is due to decreased stigma doesn’t explain the predominance of girls now presenting. There’s something going on that isn’t explained.’

Dr Polly Carmichael at GIDS says the clinic is aware ‘there is discussion around what is being described as rapid onset gender dysphoria,’ adding: ‘There have always been adolescents who have more recently come to understand their experiences as being cross-gender. Some of those will go forward to physical interventions and some will not.

‘This is a time of huge interest in gender and young people are exploring different ways of expressing theirs,’ Dr Carmichael continues. ‘Young people use social media and the internet as part of their everyday lives, so it will naturally be a venue for their exploration.

She points out there is no research currently about clusters of referrals in the UK and ‘there isn’t yet any published evidence distinguishing ROGD in clinical samples’.

Dr Carmichael concludes: ’We feel it is appropriate to take a considered and paced approach to support every young person on an individual basis and not assume outcomes.’

Names have been changed.