https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15227741/Psychologist-advice-led-dozen-children-removed-mothers-evidence-thrown-custody-case.htmlPsychologist whose advice led to at least a dozen children being removed from their mothers has evidence thrown out in custody case
By HANNAH SUMMERS
Published: 09:06, 26 October 2025 | Updated: 09:06, 26 October 2025
A psychologist accused of peddling ‘harmful pseudoscience’ whose advice led to at least a dozen children being removed from their mothers has had her evidence thrown out in a landmark legal ruling. Melanie Gill describes herself as a ‘highly specialised’ expert who has been paid tens of thousands of pounds to give evidence in more than 150 family court disputes many of which involve decisions over whether to remove children from parents. Critics, however, claim that Gill makes hugely controversial assessments of families based on a disputed concept called ‘parental alienation’, where a child has rejected one of their parents after supposedly being manipulated by another. Now, in a landmark legal judgement, a high court judge has rejected evidence by Gill which led to a mother losing custody of her two daughters. The bombshell ruling by Mrs Justice Judd, revealed following an investigation by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, has thrown the family courts into crisis amid calls for a review of cases in which Gill has been used as an expert witness. In an exclusive interview, the mother at the centre of the case this weekend said Gill’s evidence had torn her family apart. The mother has only been allowed to see her two daughters under strict supervision once a fortnight after Gill told the family court that she was a ‘narcissist’ who had alienated her children against their father. ‘The damage caused by Melanie Gill will stay with me and my girls for a lifetime,’ she said.
‘I’ve missed out on all the important milestones in their lives: school plays, birthdays, sports days, first periods, graduations.’
Gill stated that the woman’s children had suffered ‘emotional and psychological harm’ as a result of her parenting and would continue to do so if they were returned to her care without her receiving therapy. As a result, a judge ordered that the girls should live with their father a decision made against the advice of a social worker and despite allegations, which he denies, that he had mistreated the children. Gill was paid £10,688 for her assessment of the woman’s family. But in a judgment published last week, Mrs Justice Judd ruled Gill’s report and the subsequent findings should be disregarded because they were based on a ‘mistaken foundation’. This followed a crucial ruling by Sir Andrew McFarlane, the president of the family division, in 2022 that parental alienation ‘is not a syndrome capable of diagnosis’ and that instead a judge should look at the facts of the case. The mother said the ordeal has done irreparable damage to her relationship with her children, who were six and nine when they were taken from her. For the last five years she has not seen or spoken to them on Christmas Day or on Mother’s Day. The ruling throws the spotlight on the controversial use of unregulated experts by the courts. A former music promoter with a third-class degree in psychology, Gill is not registered with the Health and Care Professions Council. Guidance. Judges can appoint experts who are not regulated, although the body which sets the rules for the family courts is considering whether to ban the use of such witnesses. Last night, in a major intervention, Claire Waxman, the incoming Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, called on Sir Andrew to now review every case where Gill or any other unregulated expert has diagnosed ‘parental alienation’ and where children were subsequently removed from parents. ‘I’ve seen appalling cases where unregulated “parental alienation” experts have torn children from their protective mothers who were victims of domestic or sexual abuse, and even led to children being handed back to the very person who harmed them, all because those experts dismissed disclosures of abuse as lies. This judgment must signal an end to this harmful practice, once and for all. It is a national scandal that unregulated ‘experts’ have been given such unchecked power, endangering mothers and children and inflicting irreversible damage.’
Dr Jaime Craig, chair of the Association of Clinical Psychologists UK, said the mother’s case is ‘just the tip of the iceberg’. ‘Gill is far from the only expert who has been diagnosing “parental alienation” in the family courts based on harmful pseudoscience.’
Family barrister Charlotte Proudman said: ‘This ruling could have significant ramifications for other families which have been torn apart because of false diagnoses which are wrongly accepted by judges.’
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: ‘We share the concerns about these unregulated “parental alienation” experts and we are working with the Family Procedure Rule Committee to prevent them from giving evidence in the family courts.’
It is understood that Ms Gill asserts that she is an expert psychologist in family dynamics and an attachment specialist, with around 19 years’ experience of providing expert reports in care and legal proceedings. During a 2023 case, she told a court: ‘I have been challenged and questioned on my qualifications in every single private law case I have ever undertaken and I have never been criticised.’
Ms Gill was approached for comment.
