Panel Members
The Independent Expert Panel is guided by the principle of transparency. Membership requires the highest standards of propriety, involving impartiality, integrity and objectivity. It is expected that members will undertake other paid and unpaid roles and they are not therefore expected to declare all financial and other interests. Any actual or potential conflict of interest relating to the work of the Panel (in general or in relation to individual cases) is brought to the attention of the Secretary to the Panel.
Members have been encouraged to include in their profiles:
- an outline of previous professional experience, especially where relevant to the work of the Panel;
- all current paid positions;
- any significant unpaid positions, especially where relevant to the work of the Panel; and
- any notable distinctions, awards or honours.
There are eight members of the Independent Expert Panel. You can read brief biographies of each of the Panel Members below:
Ms Monica Daley
Monica Daley is a barrister of 25 years’ standing. She has acted in a judicial capacity since 2006, first as a Fee-Paid Property Judge of the Residential Property Tribunal and also, more recently, as a fee-paid judge for both the Health and Social Care Tribunal and the Special Education and Disability Tribunal dealing with appeals in cases involving sensitive and confidential issues.
In 2015 Monica was appointed as one of the first cohorts of independent legal Chairs of the Police Misconduct committee for East England. In 2016, Monica was also appointed as a Legal Assessor for fitness to practice committees of the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
Lyndsey de Mestre KC
Lyndsey is the Chair of the Inns of Court Conduct Committee, chairs Bar Disciplinary Panels, and is Chair of Police Misconduct Panels for six police forces across the Eastern region. She is also the Chancellor (ecclesiastical judge) for the dioceses of St Albans and York and is a Chair of Bishop’s Disciplinary Tribunals, hearing clergy disciplinary cases.
In her disciplinary roles Lyndsey regularly hears complex cases of sexual misconduct, bullying and harassment.
A barrister of 25 years call, Lyndsey was appointed KC in 2018 and is a specialist in insolvency, company and disciplinary law.
Sir Adrian Fulford (Chair)
Sir Adrian was appointed a High Court Judge in 2002 and was elected a judge of the International Criminal Court in 2003. He was made a Lord Justice of Appeal and Privy Councillor in 2013, and subsequently Vice-President of the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal in 2019 before retiring in 2022.
Sir Adrian was the first Investigatory Powers Commissioner (IPCO) from 2017 to 2019 and is currently a judge of the Courts of Appeal of Guernsey, Jersey and Gibraltar; he also chairs the Security Vetting Appeals Panel; and he sits as a Lord Justice of Appeal in retirement.
Dr Andrew Hoyle
Andrew is dual qualified as a registered doctor and a practising barrister, called to the bar in 2006, specialising in medical law, clinical negligence and professional regulatory law.
He is an Assistant Director in Fitness to Practise at the General Medical Council where he leads the statutory decision makers who determine, at the end of the GMC’s investigation, whether a case closes or goes forward to a fitness to practise tribunal, including cases involving allegations of bullying and sexual misconduct.
Prior to joining the GMC, Andrew was Head of Medico-legal services for the RAF and was a panel member for the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service who make decisions about doctors’ fitness to practise.
Andrew also served for over 13 years in the Army Reserves, and he is a trustee of The Air Ambulance Service.
Miss Dale Simon
Dale is a qualified barrister who had an extensive career with the CPS where she was the Director for Public Accountability and Inclusion and had corporate responsibility for hate crime and violence against women and girls. She spent three years as Head of the Office for Judicial Complaints and was also a Non-Executive Director at the Parole Board for 6 years where she was Chair of the Standards Committee.
Dale currently sits as an independent panel member for public appointments for the Ministry of Justice and as a lay chair of Fitness to Practice Hearings for the Nursing and Midwifery Council. She is also a member of the National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel; and chairs Police Misconduct Panels for the Metropolitan, British Transport and Ministry of Defence Police.
Dale was an advocate consultant for Phase II of The Young Review taking forward the review’s recommendations to reduce the disproportionality negative outcomes for young Black Asian and Minority Ethnic and/or Muslim men in the criminal justice system. In 2013 Dale was awarded a CBE for services to equality and diversity.
Sir Peter Thornton KC
Sir Peter was a Senior Circuit Judge between 2007 and 2016 sitting at the Central Criminal Court, hearing cases involving murder, terrorism and serious sexual offences. He also sat as an appellate judge in the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) and in the High Court on inquest appeals.
Sir Peter was the first person to hold the post of Chief Coroner of England and Wales, between 2012 and 2016. Having chaired five different disciplinary panels, including misconduct panels for academic staff at University College London and fitness to practise appeals for medical students, Peter was until recently the present Chair of the UCL Discipline Review Body.
He is currently a Visiting Professor in the Law School at King’s College London and trains judges and coroners in the UK and abroad. Peter is also the author of a practical guide for those getting older on organising their affairs.
Dr Matthew Vickers
Dr Matthew Vickers is the Director of Connections Reform at the National Energy Systems Operator, an independent public corporation.
Matthew has extensive experience in complaint handling and administrative justice and served as Chief Executive and Chief Ombudsman of the Energy Ombudsman and the Communications Ombudsman from 2018 to 2023, having joined as Deputy Chief Ombudsman in 2015.
Matthew was a Board member of the National European Energy Ombudsman Network (NEON) and of the Ombudsman Association (OA). Prior to that he was the Chief Executive of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission and a Trustee of the Scottish Mediation Network. From 2009 to 2012 he led consular teams in the Canary Islands and subsequently Madrid as British Consul in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Matthew's early career was spent in food and drink retail execution. Matthew lives on Merseyside and his doctoral research was on civic image and civic patriotism in Victorian and Edwardian Liverpool.
Wendy Williams
Wendy was one of His Majesty’s Inspectors of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services from 2015 until her retirement in March 2024, covering 13 police forces and 11 fire and rescue services. A qualified solicitor, from 2003 to 2015 she was a senior prosecutor in the CPS, including serving as Chief Crown Prosecutor for the North East from 2009.
From 2018 to 2020 Wendy was appointed by the Home Secretary to carry out an independent review of “lessons learned” into the Windrush Scandal, and a follow-up progress report in 2022.
Wendy is also a non-executive director of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme; a member of the Cambridge Judge Business School Advisory Board and was recently appointed as a lay member of the General Medical Council. In 2022 Wendy was awarded a CBE for public service.