Freephone: 0800 1933 999
Mobile Freephone: 01623 397 200

Chat Online

Criminal Defence Blog

Sexual Offences – Commonly Asked Questions

Posted on: May 25th, 2016 by steve

Sexual offences – commonly asked questions

 

What are sexual offences?

 

Sex offences are crimes that are covered by the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

 

What does the Sexual Offences Act 2003 actually cover?

 

The first part of the Act covers sexual offences.

 

The second part of the Act covers offenders with an emphasis on the protection of vulnerable individuals.

 

The Act gives a full list of sex offences to protect individuals from abuse and exploitation. It is designed to be fair and non-discriminatory.

 

What, exactly, constitutes ‘Rape’?

 

Rape includes penetration of the mouth, vagina or anus by the penis.

 

What does ‘consent’ mean, in real terms?

 

Definitions of ‘consent’ are now intended to address the needs of victims without prejudicing the defendant’s right to a fair trial.

 

‘Consent’ is defined by law thus – a person consents if he or she agrees by choice to the sexual activity and has the freedom and capacity to make that choice.

 

All the circumstances at the time of the offence will be looked at when deciding whether the defendant is reasonable in believing the complainant consented – for example, if there were threats, fear of serious harm, unconscious, drugged, abducted, or unable to communicate because of a physical disability.

 

What is the definition of ‘Child Sex Abuse’?  

 

Any sexual intercourse with a child under 13 will be treated as rape. No one accused of child rape can argue that the child consented. Other offences against children under the age of 13 are: sexual assault by penetration, sexual assault, and causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

 

There are new offences of sexual activity with a child under 16, covering a range of physical and non-physical contacts and behaviours.

 

Children and young persons under the age of 18 can be charged with sexual offences.

 

What is meant by the expression ‘grooming’?

 

Following increased use of the Internet, and on-line sexual approaches to children, there is a new offence of meeting a child following sexual grooming. It is a crime to befriend a child on the Internet, or by other means, and meet or intend to meet the child with the intention of abusing them. The maximum sentence is 10 years in prison.

 

What is a Sex Offender Preventative Order?

 

Convicted sex offenders have to report yearly to their local police station, inform the police quickly (within 3 days) of any change to their name or address, disclose if they spend 7 days or more away from home and supply their national insurance number. Failure to report is a criminal offence carrying a prison sentence of up to 5 years.

 

A Sex Offender Preventative Order (SOPO) can be imposed on anyone convicted of a serious violent offence if there is evidence that they pose a risk of causing serious sexual harm. The prohibitions of the order will vary in each case and are subject to the conditions of necessity and public protection. The order can be of a fixed period, but of not less than 5 years.

 

What other offences are covered by the 2003 Sexual Offences Act?

 

The Act also includes other offences against:-

 

  • trafficking persons for the purposes of sexual exploitation;
  • child abuse through prostitution and pornography;
  • sexual abuse of vulnerable persons with a mental disorder;
  • voyeurism, that criminalises those who watch for sexual gratification people engaged in a private act without their consent;
  • exposure, where a man or woman exposes their genitalia with intent to cause alarm or distress;
  • preparatory offences (i.e. drugging a person with intent to engage in sexual activity with that person);
  • committing any offence with intent to commit a sexual offence;
  • trespassing on any premises with intent to commit a sexual offence;
  • engaging in sexual activity in a public lavatory.

 

If you are being investigated for or charged with any sexual offences, you will need a specialist team of lawyers.  Forrest Williams are specialist sexual offence defence solicitors.  We can help.  Call us now.

NEED URGENT ADVICE? CALL US NOW ON 01623 397200

 

Policing and Crime Bill 2015-16 and 2016-17

Posted on: May 24th, 2016 by steve

 

POLICING AND CRIME BILL 2015-16 AND 2016-17

What is the Policing and Crime Bill?

The Policing and Crime Bill is a public bill presented to Parliament by the Government.

MPs considered the Bill at Report Stage on Tuesday 26 April.  This was the first of two days of debate in the House of Commons.

What are the next steps?

MPs will debate the second day of the Report Stage followed by the Legislative Grand Committee and Third Reading on a date to be announced.

The House of Commons agreed a carry-over motion for this Bill on 7 March 2016.  This means that consideration of the Bill will be resumed in the 2016-17 session.

The Bill was given a formal First and Second Reading (no debate) on Thursday 19 May to reintroduce it in the 2016-17 session of Parliament. The Bill will be restarted at the point it reached in the last session

Summary of the Policing and Crime Bill 2015-16 and 2016-17:

The Policing and Crime Bill is intended:-

–      to make provision for collaboration between the emergency services;

–      to make provision about the handling of police complaints and other matters relating to police conduct and to make further provision about the Independent Police Complaints Commission;

–      to make provision for super-complaints about policing;

–      to make provision for the investigation of concerns about policing raised by whistle-blowers;

–      to make provision about police discipline;

–      to make provision about police inspection;

–      to make provision about the powers of police civilian staff and police volunteers;

–      to remove the powers of the police to appoint traffic wardens;

–      to enable provision to be made to alter police ranks;

–      to make provision about the Police Federation; to make provision in connection with the replacement of the Association of Chief Police Officers with the National Police Chiefs’ Council;

–      to make provision about the system for bail after arrest but before charge;

–      to make provision to enable greater use of modern technology at police stations;

–      to make other amendments to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984;

–      to amend the powers of the police under the Mental Health Act 1983;

–      to extend the powers of the police in relation to maritime enforcement;

–      to make provision about deputy police and crime commissioners;

–      to make provision to enable changes to the names of police areas; to make provision about the regulation of firearms;

–      to make provision about the licensing of alcohol;

–      to make provision about the implementation and enforcement of financial sanctions;

–      to amend the Police Act 1996 to make further provision about police collaboration;

–      to make provision about the powers of the National Crime Agency;

–      to make provision for requiring arrested persons to provide details of nationality;

–      to make provision for requiring defendants in criminal proceedings to provide details of nationality and other information;

–      to make provision to combat the sexual exploitation of children;

and for connected purposes.

 

 

Racially or Religiously Aggravated Threatening Behaviour

Posted on: May 9th, 2016 by steve

Steve Williams of Forrest Williams

 

Racially or Religiously Aggravated Threatening Behaviour

 

What does it mean to be charged with racially or religiously aggravated threatening behaviour?

 

We were recently contacted by a gentleman who was charged with a Public Order Offence, namely using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress.  He was also charged with the racially or religiously aggravated offence.

 

Our client did not really remember much of the alleged incident. Our client accepted that he was drunk. He accepted that he may have been loud. He even accepted that his behaviour could have caused concern. But he did not want to plead to something he did not remember and he was certain that he would not have been deliberately racist or religiously offensive.

 

We discussed this and agreed that we would obtain all the evidence from the prosecution before advising him on a plea, including the statement of the ‘victim’, any witnesses along with CCTV of the interaction from the petrol station.

 

The CCTV had no audio, it was a petrol station forecourt so at best it showed our client’s body language. It showed him exiting his car and walking across the forecourt to the station serving window and a verbal exchange happening. He then returned to his car before once again returning back to the shop and rattling the doors – seemingly trying to get in. This, combined with the statement of the victim, did suggest that some level of alarm was caused – we therefore advised our client to plead Guilty to the basic offence.

 

For the Racially or Religiously Aggravated Threatening Behaviour we looked to the victim’s statement. For an offence to be considered “racially or religiously aggravated” it must meet the following criteria:

 

  • At the time of committing the offence, or immediately before or after doing so, the offender demonstrates towards the victim of the offence hostility based on the victim’s membership (or presumed membership) of a racial or religious group

Or

  • The offence is motivated (wholly or partly) by hostility towards members of a racial or religious group based upon their membership of that group.

 

From the victim’s statement we did not believe that either of these were proven and advised our client accordingly that a Not Guilty plea could be appropriate – the victim even said that our client did not say anything directly racist! Our client, when the comments were read back to him, was able to explain to us that it was a political discussion, that he was trying to provoke a debate – and his comments were very clearly not directed at one particular religious group or racial ethnicity as for each he commented on what could be seen to be it’s political opposite. He explained to us that certain comments were more a political commentary on the ‘tit for tat’ situation that appeared to be in place between religious extremists at the moment.  He certainly had not intended to be deliberately racist or religiously offensive.

 

We supported our client through the initial hearing, and then in the run up to and during the trial. Our client knew that he had a team of experts on his side that believed in him and were fighting for him. And when the verdict was read out and sentence passed he was happy with the outcome.

 

If you are charged with an offence and want a team who will listen to you, support you and fight for what is right for you then give the Forrest Williams team a call on 01623 397200 . We know that it’s not just about the offence, we understand that this is about you, and we will work with you to obtain the best possible outcome for you.