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Professor Susan Edwards

Professor

School: Northumbria School of Law

Professor Susan S.M. Edwards joined the University of Northumbria, as Professor of Law. She is currently an Associate Tenant, at Red Lion Chambers, London and a barrister with a full qualification certificate (currently not practicing). She has previously practiced in the criminal, family and civil courts.

Currently, she acts as an Expert witness and is instructed in cases which involve domestic abuse where the accused has acted in self defence against a violent abusive partner/defence is duress/compulsion where both history and impact of abuse is of relevance to mens rea, and mitigation in sentencing. She is cited at paras 30, 31, RT v The First Tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber) and Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority: [2016] UKUT 306 (AAC). Also cited in sentencing remarks in The Queen v D (R),2013 (paras 4,10,19,20, 34) .

Published in October 2025 in Counsel Magazine on Sean Combs, Coercive control and the expert witrness

Susan serves on the Board of Trustees for Advance , a charity supporting women and young girls affected by domestic abuse.

She is a mentor for CARA (the Council for At-Risk Academics) . Cara is a rescue mission for academics around the world who need urgent help to escape from discrimination, persecution, violence or conflict.

She is a member of the an alliance of UK activists and organisations dedicated to closing Guantanamo prison and securing fair trials or safe release for the men held there and a member of their APPG.

She is a member of the Criminal Bar Association and a member of the Bar Human Rights Committee (BHRC). and Co-authored a report for the BHRC with WHRIN: following a research scoping visit to Nepal “Witchcraft Accusation and Persecution in Nepal”, Country Report Launched at National Women’s Commission in Kathmandu, Nepal, 2014

Susan is Professor of Law (Emerita) University of Buckingham, where she served as Dean of Law for ten years, and University Dean of Research 2007-2018 with responsibility for post graduate students, and also Director of External Relations 2018-2020 . She was appointed as Professor in 2003.

Susan has spoken at the Criminal Bar Association events on domestic homicide and abuse. She has lectured in the UK, US, Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia, Japan, Australia, Tasmania, the Middle East, Iran, Bahrain, amongst other countries and conducted empirical research on domestic abuse and homicide in the US (Portland Police Department, Maine). She has also contributed to work on Human Trafficking first with the Coalition Against Trafficking in the 1990's when funded by Safer Cities project and Nuffield Foundation to research the CJS reponse to 'prostitution; and more recently the Human Trafficking Foundation report ‘The Voice of British Survivors of Modern Slavery 2021’.

Susan has worked for over four decades to improve the law and the criminal justice system and human rights and justice, engaging with gender related issues including sexual exploitation, pornography, abuse and domestic abuse and sexual assault victims/survivors working with and training police, working with survivors and the CPS. She has trained police in the UK and served as consultant on the Metropolitan Police in London first Domestic Violence Working Party 1985 and later in 1992 following publication of her research on policing domestic violence in 1985 and 1989. Commissioned by Standing Together she wrote the seminal work on implementing the Duluth Model in the UK. She served as project coordinator for four Home Office projects on enhancing prosecuting domestic violence in 2000 and was commissioned in 2002 to write a report for CPS London on 'Expert Witnesses' . She continues to work closely with the CPS and contrubtes to 16 Days of Activism. She served as Research Director for the charity 'Pornography and Violence Research Trust' and her research with the Obscence Publications Squad and then the Child Protection Unit in Scotland Yard pioneered changes in sentencing regarding child 'pornography' in 2000.

Susan has tutored post graduate students across the world including Umeå Centre for Gender Studies Sweden (2009-2011), and Women’s Human Rights Training Institute Bulgaria (2003-2006) providing sessions for advocates across Europe in gender-based ECHR claims. Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation

Susan has written over 150 academic articles many peer reviewed and several books including: Female Sexuality and the Law (1981) Martin Robertson, Women On Trial 1984 MUP (Nominated for the American Sociological Association Distinguished Scholar Award), Policing Domestic Violence (1989) Sage, Sex and Gender in the Legal Process (1996) Blackstone Press, The Political Appropriation of the Muslim Body, Islamophobia Counter-Terrorism law and Gender( 2021) Palgrave, .

Editor and contributor to Gender Sex and the Law, Croom Helm (1985), Coauthored Family Law OUP 1st 2007,2nd 2009,3rd 2011,and 4th ed 2013. Coauthored and editor Blackstone’s Guide to the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. OUP (202)3.

Served as one of the specialist editors for Borrie and Lowe: The Law of Contempt 4TH ed (2010) Butterworth Ch 6 ‘Civil Contempt’ pp 123-253.

Dzܳٳǰ Contemporary Family Law, Routledge (2025)

Voted as a Distinguished Alumna (University of Manchester General Assembly elected 2016 – 2019).

Her media work has included being part of the team (Atlantic Eye production) for the Channel Four programme 'Streetlegal' transmitted 1993. She has written opinion pages over the years for The Times Law Page, most recent 2019. and appears regularly commentating on legal matters in the news. She dissiminates her work widely and has acted as Chairperson for Westminister Forum and regular speaker for Public Policy Exchange, and several other fora and regularly contrubute to the Law Commission reform agendas

Member of several learned societies serves on the editorial board of four law journals. Formerly Editor of Denning Law Journal from 2003-2016.

Susan Edwards

Writing a book on Women who Kill men who abuse them. And several research papers including Family protection proceedings and extremism: Rule of law and suppression of political core speech: Fear and domestic abuse: Expert opinion evidence.

Currents interests include Gender, race, ethnicity, Islamophobia, criminal law, international human rights, domestic abuse, homicide, legal history, rule of law, counter terrorism.

Recent Media 2025-2024

  • Sky News interviewed by Kamali Melbourne on the Mohamed Al Fayed allegations September 19, 2024
  • (from 44.15)

Media 2023 and earlier

  • Talk Radio Professor Edwards with Petrie Hosken 31 January 2024
  • Discussion on ‘CPS Report on Rape attitudes. Contact Susan for the recording.
  • Sky News interviewed on ‘Scottish Rape trial Reform’ 25 April 2023
  • LBC with David Lammy LBC @10.00 Trafficking in Women and Ghislaine Maxwell.
  • Domestic violence strangulation and ‘sexual’ violence 30 December 2021
  • Sky News Mark White
  • Radio New Zealand ‘Domestic violence strangulation and ‘sexual’ violence.’ 24 June 2020, Radio New Zealand ()
  • BBC Radio5 Mick Turner live ‘Millane case – sentencing’ 17 March 2020
  • BBC 3 Georgia Sawyer BBC 3 ‘Millane case – sentencing’ 20 March 2020
  • Sky news ‘Grace Millane case’ 22 November 2019
  • LBC ‘Grace Millane case’ 23 November 2019
  • Talk Radio Mathew Wright show ‘Grace Millane case’ 28 November 2019
  • CNN- https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/21/world/grace-millane-sex-game-gone-wrong-intl-gbr/index.html
  • BBC Radio 4 Contributor on panel with Clive Anderson ‘ on “Violence” broadcast September 7, 2016 () Where strangulation is raised at 5.18 mins and 10.24 mins.
Barrister 2004

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