“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy” - Hamlet

Speak to any lawyer and they will tell you that the law strives for objectivity and impartiality. They will say that they are in the business of making rational and reasoned arguments and have no time for the mysterious or macabre. However, people have often believed that ghosts, demons and witches have made them do terrible things, and when their defence is that the Devil forced them to commit the crime they are accused of, the law has to examine the evidence. From cases involving witches during wartime to murders of alleged fairy changelings, judges and jurors have been asked to weigh up whether the supernatural really does exist.

Naomi Ryan will discuss the strange cases in which the paranormal has been subjected to the harsh forensic scrutiny of the criminal justice system, only for the law to struggle to resolve the mysteries that it has been forced to consider.

Tickets £12 including a Hendrick's gin cocktail. Please click here to buy.

NAOMI RYAN
Naomi Ryan is a barrister and government lawyer. After qualifying with a Masters in Law from St Catherine’s College, Oxford, she taught criminal law to undergraduates at St Hilda’s College Oxford and University College London before embarking on her career as a criminal barrister, where she both prosecuted and defended. She now works as an advisory lawyer on criminal matters within government. She regrets that she has yet to cross-examine a ghost.