Case of Michael Lytton

Case of Michael Lytton
(AKA: Michael R. Lytton)

Ilford, England

Essex, England

Fake Doctorate from Toronto University

Michael Lytton was sentenced to six years in prison back in 2003 for physically and sexually assaulting women who came to see him for psychological help.  At the time Lytton claimed to have a doctorate in clinical psychology from Toronto University.

Lytton was no stranger to the law.  In the past he had previously posed as a policeman to evade Tube fares and even tried to avoid paying a parking fine by posing as a doctor.

Back in 2003, the police fear there may be many more female victims who have never been traced or did not want to come forward.

According to records, Lytton would have been released from prison in 2009 or 2010.  He should be seen as a danger to unsuspecting women.

If anyone has any more information about him along with a photograph of him, please forward it to The Awareness Center. 

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Disclaimer: Inclusion in this website does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement. Individuals must decide for themselves if the resources meet their own personal needs.
 

Table of Contents: 

2002

1. OM: LIFE: HEALTH: Brief encounters: The talking cure of choice for the NHS is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy - it's quick and cheap. But, asks Michele Kirsch , is it selling patients short? (05/19/2002)
    

2003 

1. Patient 'raped' by bogus therapist (09/09/2003)
2. I'll strip to deny rape (09/10/2003)
3. Pervert Jailed (10/2/2003)

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OM: LIFE: HEALTH: Brief encounters: The talking cure of choice for the NHS is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy - it's quick and cheap. But, asks Michele Kirsch , is it selling patients short?
Michele Kirsch - May 19, 2002 


If the NHS were to advertise its outpatient psychological treatments, they'd probably say, 'It's good to talk. But not for too long.' Long waiting lists, budget restrictions and a shortage of qualified staff mean that talking therapies tend to be short-term. But there is a fine line between 'short-term' and 'not really finished', and an increasing number of patients seem to be crossing it. That is, the therapy comes to an end before the patient is feeling better. 

The short-term talking therapy of choice on the NHS is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), which appeals to doctors and patients alike for its relative brevity and wide application to a variety of mental health problems. Publications by the Department of Health and the Mental Health National Service Framework plug it as the first line of treatment for depression, anxiety, panic disorder, agoraphobia, post traumatic stress disorder, bulimia, chronic fatigue, obsessive compulsive disorder and deliberate self harm. 

Which is fine - CBT is also the form of therapy with the most academic studies to show that, when carried out properly, treatment success rates can be as high as 90 per cent. But in these clinically controlled trials, the CBT went on for longer than is usually on offer in primary care. Typically, on the NHS, a patient is offered six to eight sessions, but in these clinically controlled cases patients had had between eight and 20 sessions. Professor David Clark, head of psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, says that addressing panic disorder usually takes about 12 sessions, social phobia 16 sessions and post traumatic stress, eight to 12 sessions. These recommendations are not set in stone, and some people will feel better sooner rather than later, but even a psychologically illiterate layman can grasp the idea that a person with a problem that has been years in the making may not recover after just six treatments. 

The basic idea behind CBT is that thoughts or cognitions lead to feelings and actions, and that if those thoughts are negative, the feelings will be bad. 

The therapy teaches the patient to recognise and change those negative thought patterns. Hamlet grasped the CBT philosophy when he said, 'Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so,' but he was still a very depressed guy. This illustrates the trouble with CBT that doesn't go on long enough for the patient - he might get the principle, but he doesn't get enough sessions to turn the theory into action. 

Forty-year-old mother of three (NAME REMOVED) has suffered from depression on and off since 1988. She traces her illness back to abuse she endured as a child. 'A few years ago, I was offered six sessions of CBT on the NHS. The sessions were one-hour long and it usually took me about 40 minutes before I felt comfortable enough to really open up. At the sixth session, they reviewed my case and I was offered another four sessions. At the end of that, the psychologist told me he didn't think there was anything else I could gain from the therapy. He implied that I was becoming dependent on the sessions, and the point of CBT is to help you help yourself. But all that had happened by that stage is that I had worked out what the problem was. I didn't know how to fix it. It's like when you try to mend something and you take it apart, but then can't put it together again. That's how I felt.' 

This sentiment is validated by clinical psychologist Michael Lytton, who works both privately and for the NHS and is also senior clinician at the National Phobics Society (NPS), a charity that helps people with phobias. In this capacity, he has seen many patients who have > < been left hanging by too-brief CBT. 'If the therapy has to end before the patient is seeing signs of getting better, they could be left feeling more vulnerable than when they started, because their emotions have been stirred up. If the patient needs 20 sessions but the practise isn't funded to that level, they have to throw them out early. It is not written down anywhere, but it is implied. They have to get through the waiting lists. But for many patients, six to eight sessions are not enough.' 

Nicky Lidbetter, manager of the NPS, says that it is often left to the mental health charities to pick up where the NHS left off. 'We are contacted daily by people who have had a course of CBT on the NHS and have found that they are only just starting to get some little benefit when the therapy has to end.' 

When (NAME REMOVED) moved a few years after her initial treatment, she found herself in a local health authority that provided an intensive and ultimately effective form of CBT. 'I went three times a week for group CBT. At the assessment, I brought up that my first treatment had ended prematurely, and they reassured me that this time the CBT would only end when we both felt I was ready.' She also found the quality of treatment superior. One of the most important aspects of CBT is that the patient has to do 'homework' between sessions, to keep a diary of the kind of thoughts or cognitions that lead to the bad feelings, and on the behavioural side, to go into the kind of situations that they find challenging. Having not been given any homework between sessions in her first lot of CBT, with her second lot, 'there was lots of homework and handouts to read between sessions, and being in a group setting made me feel less alone, that there were lots of us going through the same type of thing. For me, the group worked much better than one to one, though I had a key worker I could talk to about things I didn't feel comfortable bringing up in the group. I went for three and a half months, and I can honestly say it has changed my whole outlook on life.' 

(NAME REMOVED) was lucky enough to eventually get the treatment she needed. But what options are really available to those who feel that their CBT ended before they could really get a handle on it? One route, though requiring great self-motivation on the part of the patient, is self- directed CBT, either through CD roms or self-help books. One CD rom available through the Mental Health Foundation is called Restoring the Balance , and is designed to help people with mild to moderate anxiety or depression. It uses CBT principles and, though it is no substitute for clinical treatment, can be a good top- up for people who feel that they haven't quite finished what they started. The best consumer-friendly CBT-based books are a series put out by Constable & Robinson, including Overcoming Panic , Overcoming Traumatic Stress , Overcoming Depression and Overcoming Low Self- Esteem . All are written by practising cognitive behavioural psychologists, and all are very thorough. 

The mental health charities and support groups are good, not only for helping people who feel they have not had enough treatment, but also as a lifeline for those who can't access treatment in the first place, or are in waiting-list purgatory. The National Phobics Society offers both CBT (by trained clinical psychologists who donate their time) and hypnotherapy at greatly reduced rates (typically pounds 7.50 for the unemployed, pounds 15 for employed, but more if you are a high earner) as well as offering telephone sessions addressing specific phobias and a counselling service for the housebound. 

The Depression Alliance has a network of self-help groups, some of which use CBT principles as a framework for group activities. 

If money isn't an issue, and CBT still seems the right thing to do, The British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies has a register of private practitioners. Fees can be as much as pounds 150 an hour (though usually more in the region of pounds 60), but the very nature of CBT means it won't go on forever. 

Finally it should be noted, as a leaflet issued by MIND says, that CBT is not a miracle cure. Of course, the therapist has to have expertise, but the patient, says MIND, 'must be prepared to be persistent, open and brave. Not everyone will benefit, at least not to full recovery in a short space of time. It's unrealistic to expect too much.' OM 

Restoring the Balance is available from the Mental Health Foundation (020 7802 0304) for pounds 25, plus p Constable & Robinson books cost pounds 7.99 each, plus p&p, from distributors TBS (01206 255 800), or at major bookstores; publications from MIND can be ordered by calling 020 8519 2122; The National Phobics Society can be contacted on 0870 770 0456; The Depression Alliance on 020 7633 0557; and The British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies on 01254 875 277

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Patient 'raped' by bogus therapist
The Times (London)  - September 9, 2003

 
A BOGUS psychologist raped a vulnerable patient after using hypnotism to programme her to accept his advances, a jury was told yesterday. 

Michael Lytton began "therapy" sessions with hugs and French kissing after assuring the woman that it would help to treat her sexual insecurities, Snaresbrook Crown Court was told. 

Louise Kamill, for the prosecution, said that Mr Lytton, 53, had admitted lying about having a doctorate in clinical psychology from Toronto University and had used it to help him to get work advising solicitors and insurance firms on clients' mental state after accidents, and for private practice. Miss Kamill said Mr Lytton targeted two women from Essex who were "vulnerable and needing assistance" after they were involved in car crashes. 

Mr Lytton denies single charges of raping, physically assaulting and indecently assaulting a 26-year-old patient and indecently assaulting a 30-year-old woman. 

Miss Kamill said the younger patient contacted Mr Lytton after seeing his advertisement in the Yellow Pages. During 25 sessions he had made her dependent on him. "Mr Lytton encouraged her to be physical towards him. They greeted each other at the door with a hug that grew into kisses and towards the latter stages French kissing. It's all part of the procedure of grooming her to be vulnerable to him." 

Then, "utterly programmed by him", they had gone to the bedroom together. "He undressed her and invited her to have a sensual body massage. He massaged her and once he reached her face she became wholly hazy about what was going on." It was then, Miss Kamill said, that Mr Lytton raped her. 

Miss Kamill said Mr Lytton had conducted an internal examination on the second woman, who had lost the baby she was carrying after a car crash in 2001. The trial continues.

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I'll strip to deny rape
Daily Mirror - September 10, 2003

A DOCTOR accused of hypnotising a patient and raping her offered to drop his trousers in court yesterday to prove his innocence. 

The woman claimed she saw scars on psychologist Michael Lytton's body. 

But he told Snaresbrook crown court in London: "I am more than willing to drop my trousers here if that will help." 

The judge said: "There are ways we can deal with that without doing anything of the sort."
Lytton, 53, of Ilford, Essex, denies rape, indecently assaulting a second woman and actual bodily harm. The trial continues.

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Pervert Jailed
TotallyJewish.com - October 2, 2003


A "perverted" conman from Ilford who posed as a psychologist and hypnotised a female patient before indecently assaulting her has been jailed for six years.

Michael Lytton, 57, who claimed to have a doctorate in clinical psychology, lured women to his flat before carrying out bizarre sexual assaults on them.

He indecently assaulted one 27-year-old woman after putting her under hypnosis and carried out a smear test on another even though he had no medical qualifications.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also accused him of raping her while she was under his spell.

As the verdicts were read out at Snaresbrook crown court, Lytton, from Royston Gardens in Ilford, hung his head in his hands as his family and partner, who attended everyday of the three week trial, gasped in horror.

The jury did not know that he had already pleaded guilty to five counts of obtaining property by deception and five counts of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception.

He had also earlier pleaded guilty to one count of common assault on another female patient. He used a stethospcope to examine the woman while her husband waited in the room downstairs.

The jury was also unaware that he had also pleaded guilty to one count of battery on another female patient in her mid 20s on whom he carried out a blood pressure test even though he had no reason or qualification to do so.

It was also revealed that he had previously posed as a policeman to evade Tube fares and even tried to avoid paying a parking fine by posing as a doctor. And police fear there may be many more female victims who have never been traced or did not want to come forward.

Sentencing Lytton to six years in jail, Judge David Richardson said that the precise motive for the attacks may never be known, but added: "I am sure that grandiosity may be part if it, and I suspect that sexual motivation may be part of it too."

Earlier the court heard how Lytton duped his patients into believing he was a fully-qualified doctor.

Louise Kamill, prosecuting, said: "These women went to him needing assistance. They thought they were being treated by him and took advice from him believing he was a genuine doctor."

Detective sergeant Roy Udall, who led the investigation, said: "This man is a pervert who conned women into thinking he was a bone fide doctor for his own sexual gratification.

I believe that there may be many more women out their who have suffered at his hands. This could be a whole can of worms waiting to open up."

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FAIR USE NOTICE
Some of the information on The Awareness Center's web pages may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this update for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

--Margaret Mead

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Rabbis Must Report Acts of Child Abuse: Local Leaders Agree Upon an Amendment to the Abuse Reporting Bill

Jewish Advocate, May 9, 2002 -  V.193; N.18 3

By Jason Nielsen

BOSTON -- Naming clergy members as mandatory reporters of suspected acts of child abuse, local lawmakers along with social and religious leaders drafted the final version of an amendment to the Abuse Reporting Bill last Tuesday, April 23, sending it to the desk of Acting Governor Jane Swift to sign into law.

Co-sponsored by Sen. Susan Tucker (D-Andover), Sen. Cheryl Jacques (D-Needham), Reps. Byron Rushing (D-Boston) and Antonio Cabral (D-New Bedford), the amended statute responds to the current situation involving the sexual abuse of children by members of the Catholic Church.

"The Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action (JALSA) was certainly comfortable to the notion that clergy be held to the same standards as everyone else," expressed Sheila Decter, executive director of JALSA and participant in the drafting of the amendment.

One of the main concerns in naming additional reporters to the bill was to not define those associated or affiliated with religious organizations as so broad as to place unnecessary burden on those unconstitutionally required to report like the head of the janitorial department at the Maimonides School, explains lawyer Joel Eigerman, one of the architects of the amendment. "It's not constitutionally permissible to put a burden on somebody, just because he has a religious affiliation."

Yet there remains a discrepancy. Eigerman notes how a little league coach sponsored by a religious organization would become liable, while one sponsored by a pizzeria may not be required to report.

Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston's Executive Director Nancy Kaufman added, "While we realize that there may be gray areas that present ethical and legal dilemmas for Jewish and non-Jewish clergy alike, on the whole I think that this legislation is a positive development."

Another worry held by both Jewish community and religious leaders was that the amended law would impede upon the unique role clergy plays in people's lives.

"The subtlety of the issue has to do with the role the clergy play in people's lives, which the state can't really understand: People don't come to their senator for counseling, they come for legal matters and help in social endeavors; it is not forgiveness and counseling," explained Rabbi Barry Starr of Temple Israel in Sharon.

Hoping to subdue concerns, the amendment states that the clergy member shall be required to report all cases of abuse, "but need not report information solely gained in confession or similarly confidential communication in other religious faiths. Nothing in the general laws shall be construed to modify or limit the duty."

Rabbi Meir Sendor of Young Israel in Sharon asserts that this may be closer to the Jewish perspective rather than the Catholic one, which comes from the vantage point of a privileged relationship -- such as the clergy-penitent one -- whose integrity must be protected.

"The Jewish perspective starts from the opposite direction. In truth, we should maintain confidentiality in all of our communication with other people. In other words we are not permitted to gossip. Yet, when there is an issue where someone may be in physical, emotional or financial harm, one must break that confidentiality in a controlled manner, informing only those who may be in harm's way or those who may be able to remedy the situation."

Case of Faiz Suleiman Abukarinat

Case of Faiz Suleiman Abukarinat

(AKA: The Negev Pedophile)

Beersheva, Israel

Ashdod, Israel 

Faiz Suleiman Abukarinat, "the Negev pedophile,"  was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison for kidnapping and raping three girls from Beersheba and Ashdod. 
 
Abukarinat was married and the father of children.  He has no police record for sex crimes, prior to his arrest.
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Disclaimer: Inclusion in this website does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement. Individuals must decide for themselves if the resources meet their own personal needs.

Table of Contents:  


2002

1. 'Southern pedophile' captured (05/06/2002)
2. 'Negev pedophile' gets 30 years in jail  (12/18/2002)

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'Southern pedophile' captured
By Itim
The Jerusalem Post - Monday, May 6, 2002, NEWS; Pg. 3

Beersheba police yesterday announced the capture on Saturday of a man they suspect is the notorious "southern pedophile," responsible for the rapes of four young girls over the past 14 months.

The suspect, 33, lives in the South and is married and the father of children. He has no police record for sex crimes. Three of his alleged victims live in Beersheba and the fourth in Ashdod.

Beersheba police chief Cmdr. Yitzhak Aharonovitch said the suspect - whose identity is barred from publication - was remanded for 10 days by Beersheba Magistrate's Court on Saturday.

Yesterday he reenacted one of the rapes for police cameras. Two of the victims provided biological evidence that reportedly confirms DNA samples from the suspect. He has denied perpetrating one of the rapes.

The suspect reportedly said he did not plan any of the attacks, which he claimed were the result of irresistible compulsion. But he also told investigators he had read in the newspaper of the rape of a young girl and decided to rape one himself.

The first rape occurred in January 2001 in Beersheba's Nahal Ashan section. A man enticed an eight-year-old girl into his car, drove to a secluded place, and sodomized her. He then drove her home. In March the second rape, involving a seven-year-oldgirl, occurred.


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'Negev pedophile' gets 30 years in jail
By Itim
The Jerusalem Post, December 18, 2002, Wednesday


The Beersheba District Court on Tuesday sentenced Faiz Suleiman Abukarinat, "the Negev pedophile," to 30 years in prison for kidnapping and raping three girls from Beersheba and Ashdod.

Abukarinat, who committed his crimes over an 18-month period, was convicted based on his confession. The first attack took place in a Beersheba neighborhood in January 2000 when he dragged a seven-year-old girl into his car, raped and sodomized her, and then dropped her back at her home.

Abukarinat was not charged with that crime, however, since he did not confess to it and the police had no evidence against him. Only after attacks on three other girls was he arrested this past May, after passersby reported cries for help coming from the car he drove.

The defendant was found to be fit to stand trial, during which it was discovered that at the age of eight he was raped by two 15-year-old boys. He expressed relief that his capture put an end to his struggles to overcome his pedophilia and desire for treatment for his uncontrollable urges.

Judge Yehoshua Pilpel, in his sentencing, called Abukarinat "cruel" and "inhuman" and said: "Nothing can compensate for the terrible damage the defendant caused with his awful and debased acts on these three young girls."

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FAIR USE NOTICE
Some of the information on The Awareness Center's web pages may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this update for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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Orthodox Rabbi Issues Warning on Sexual Abuse, Says Community Needs To Learn From Catholic Church Scandal

BLAST TO THE PAST: While researching archived articles in The Awareness Center's database, I found this article that was published back in 2002.  This article was published when The Awareness Center was about 3 years old.

It's sad to say that our orthodox rabbis have not changed much in the way the handle cases of sexual abuse/assault.  They have learned nothing from what's been going on within the Catholic Church.  How long until Jewish survivors really unite and start filing civil suits against not only their offenders, but also those who helped to cover up sex crimes.  It's so difficult to watch our beit dins (Jewish Religious Courts) response to be no different then that of the Vatican.  -- Vicki Polin

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Orthodox Rabbi Issues Warning on Sexual Abuse, Says Community Needs To Learn From Catholic Church Scandal 

By AMI EDEN

Forward - May 3, 2002 

The rabbi of a prominent Manhattan synagogue is using the occasion of the Catholic Church's sex scandal to warn that Orthodox institutions are often "dismissive" of abuse complaints.

Rabbi Ari Berman, the religious leader of the Jewish Center, a well-heeled Modern Orthodox congregation on the Upper West Side, issued the warning last weekend during a Saturday morning sermon. Berman said the Orthodox community needs to learn from the sex abuse scandal racking the Catholic Church. While asserting that sexual abuse cases are far more common in the Catholic community than in Orthodox circles, Berman criticized Orthodox institutions for dismissing many of the claims that do arise in their own backyard.

"Perhaps in the outside world there might be an exaggerated tendency to launch a witch hunt, to fire people and prosecute immediately," said Berman, whose predecessors at the Jewish Center include Rabbi Norman Lamm, president of Yeshiva University, and Rabbi J.J. Schachter, dean of a Modern Orthodox think tank in Brookline, Mass. "But in the Orthodox world we have the opposite tendency: to circle the wagons and deny wrongdoing. The concern for the reputation of the teacher or school is given greater weight than the child's words."

Berman's sermon comes as American Jews are struggling to understand the ramifications of the church's sex scandal for their own religious institutions. It also comes as the most prominent Orthodox organization in

America, the Orthodox Union, attempts to recover from its own sex scandal involving Rabbi Baruch Lanner, a popular leader of its youth group, the National Council of Synagogue Youth.

An independent commission set up by the O.U. determined that the organization had failed to act on complaints about Lanner, who allegedly abused dozens of students over 30 years. In his sermon, Berman said that allegations of sex abuse were not limited to Lanner and had not disappeared in the wake of the O.U. scandal.

"Just a short time ago, a much publicized case of abuse and negligence in the Modern Orthodox world raised this issue in the public consciousness," Berman said, in an apparent reference to the Lanner scandal. "I wish I could say that these were the only cases that I have heard in our community, but they are not. There are others, and some with tragic endings."

To hammer home his point, Berman told the story of a pre-teen child who claimed he had been molested by a rabbi at summer camp. According to Berman, even though the rabbi had been the subject of previous complaints, the camp rejected the allegation, and a teacher at the child's school told the student "to stop making up stories, to forget about it and to move on." The family was ostracized, Berman said, and had trouble enrolling the child in another school.

Rabbi Steven Dworken, executive vice president of the Modern Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America, argued that Orthodox sensitivity to sex abuse has greatly improved since the Lanner scandal became public almost two years ago. He cited one Orthodox school that, when faced with a credible complaint just a few months ago, immediately fired the teacher, contacted law enforcement authorities and supplied the student in question with psychological counseling.

"The Lanner incident really awoke and sensitized the community," said Dworken, whose group represents more than 1,000 Orthodox rabbis. "We are surely more sensitized now than five years ago. You don't think that the entire world is more sensitized since the Catholic Church scandal?

Unfortunately it takes such a scandal to sensitize people." Meanwhile, Rabbi Avi Shafran, spokesman for Agudath Israel of America, a leading ultra-Orthodox group, said leaders of his community have no tolerance for sex abuse, and that those who commit such acts are blackballed from holding educational positions.

But Rabbi Yosef Blau, a religious adviser to students at Yeshiva University and harsh critic of the O.U.'s handling of the complaints against Lanner, argued that in both the Modern Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox worlds, organizations still do not adequately respond to sex abuse complaints. He acknowledged, however, that some progress has been made, with several prominent rabbis, including the O.U.'s new professional head, Rabbi Zvi Hersh Weinreb, instructing followers to bring sex abuse complaints to law enforcement agencies.

Many rabbis, especially older ones, simply find it hard to believe that any of their colleagues would sexually abuse children, said Blau, who sat on a three-person rabbinical court that decided not to take severe action against Lanner in 1989. But, Blau said, after hearing additional complaints and learning more about sexual abuse, he realized that he had made a mistake in not pushing for Lanner to be barred from working with young people.

Blau said that even when rabbis are dismissed or leave their job under suspicion, they often manage to find educational work in another city. Blau said he is strongly in favor of Berman's call for the creation of a "national registry" for schools, camps and youth groups to check before hiring staffers.