Mike Scott-Ham
Toxicology Expert
With more than 40 years of experience in forensic science, including 30 years in forensic toxicology and 10 years in forensic drugs work Mike is well-placed to provide advice on many aspects of forensic casework involving drugs and alcohol.
He has dealt with many high-profile cases during his career and appeared in courts on many hundreds of occasions.
He has co-authored several scientific papers including contributions on casework findings in ‘so-called ‘date-rape’ (Drug-facilitated Sexual Assault, DFSA), drugs and driving cases and interpretation of post-mortem results.
He has many professional memberships including, the Royal Society of Medicine and the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences and was formerly a committee member of the United Kingdom and Ireland Association of Forensic Toxicologists (UKIAFT)
From 2013 to 2017 Mike was on various Expert Panels advising the Department for Transport regarding drug/driving matters including implementation of the prescribed limit offence.
He has attended and lectured at international conferences and has delivered training to a wide range of professionals including solicitors, police officers and medical personnel to raise awareness of requirements for good forensic toxicology submissions and thereby promote ‘best practice’.
He had an attachment to the Abu Dhabi Police Forensic Science Laboratory toxicology Section to prepare them for ISO 17025 accreditation which was successfully achieved.
Prior to closure of the Forensic Science Service Mike was the Principal Scientist for Toxicology with overall responsibility for quality of work in a forensic toxicology laboratory with a wide scope of ISO 17025 accreditation and with a large team of well-trained forensic toxicologists.
Mike has co-authored a book entitled “Symptoms and Signs of Substance Abuse” (2014) and contributed chapters to 3 recent books on forensic toxicology.
He undertakes a wide variety of casework, mainly for solicitors and insurance companies, including simple and complex criminal toxicology, coroners toxicology, high-profile casework, drink driving, drugs driving and alcohol technical defence calculations. He also performs casework and training for overseas customers and has trained forensic toxicologists working in the private sector in the UK.
Mike has been involved in many high profile cases including the unmasking of a bogus defence “expert” representing motorists in alcohol technical defence cases. Far more seriously, when investigated, the so-called “expert” was found to have also been working as a medical practitioner without qualifications and had been involved in intimate examinations of young females. He was convicted at the Old Bailey of numerous offences and placed on the Sex Offenders Register.
Another complex and high profile case involved a male A&E nurse at a Surrey hospital who was taking female patients into side rooms, administering sedatives to render them unconscious and subsequently sexually assaulting them. A previous victim, a work colleague, died due to being drugged by him. He was found guilty of manslaughter and several rape/sexual assaults and received seven life sentences. The BBC aired a TV programme about the case.