Sexual Offences

A wide-ranging bill introducing new standalone offences of stalking and non-fatal strangulation, increasing the maximum sentence for various offences and introducing new protections for victims has completed all stages in the Oireachtas. The Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, which de

A wide-ranging bill strengthening the law around sexual offences and improves protections for victims of sexual offences and of human trafficking has been published. Among the main provisions of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023 are changes to the law on consent, rem

Rape complainants in England and Wales will be given the opportunity to meet the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) staff involved in their case ahead of a trial in the latest move to guide them through the criminal justice system. The move aims to give them the chance to discuss what they can expect i

A 21-year-old woman who pretended to be a man to seduce a teenager into a relationship has been found guilty of sexual assault. Georgia Bilham, from Alpraham, Cheshire, was convicted of sexual assault, by kissing, at Chester Crown Court after approximately three hours of deliberation.

The Court of Appeal has increased the sentence for a man convicted of raping his two younger sisters as a teenager. The offending occurred while the man was aged between 14 and 19. He had initially been sentenced to six years’ imprisonment with the final 18 months suspended. Delivering judgmen

The Department of Justice has launched a new awareness campaign highlighting that threatening to share intimate images of another person is a crime with potentially serious consequences. The ‘Serious Consequences’ campaign — which will run on TV, cinema, local and national radio, d

Victims and survivors of domestic and sexual abuse are being retraumatised by having to simultaneously navigate separate criminal, family and child protection processes, according to a new report. The Report on the Intersection of the Criminal Justice, Private Family Law and Public Law Child Care Pr

Human rights lawyer Noeline Blackwell is to step down as CEO of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) this autumn. Ms Blackwell, a solicitor who previously led legal rights group FLAC and before that ran her own general law practice in Dublin, has been in the post since 2016.

One in five women in Ireland have been raped and more than half of women have experienced some form of sexual violence, according to research by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The national statistics body yesterday published the findings of the Sexual Violence Survey (SVS) conducted in 2022 at

The Court of Appeal has quashed a conviction for sexual assault against a seven-year-old boy on the basis that the trial judge erred in failing to direct an acquittal. The complaint in the case was that the accused touched the boy’s penis and rubbed their bodies together. However, the court he

Legislation allowing for the electronic monitoring of sex offenders has been signed into law and will come into effect later this year. The Sex Offenders (Amendment) Act 2023 includes measures aimed at strengthening the management and monitoring of sex offenders in the community, including amendment

The Court of Appeal has upheld a 10-year sentence imposed on a man who entered into a coercive sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl. The girl had a child with the man during the abuse. The accused had pleaded guilty to one count of the defilement of a child and one count of sexual assault. De

A woman who suffered image-based abuse at the hands of her former partner has been awarded nearly £100,000 in the first civil case of its kind to come before the English courts. The woman had discovered that her partner had secretly filmed her naked on a number of occasions and uploaded the im

Juries in England and Wales are more likely to convict than acquit a defendant of rape, and this has been the case for at least 15 years, according to a large-scale analysis of all jury verdicts by University College London’s Professor Cheryl Thomas. The analysis found that the jury conviction

Women are able to recall details of sexual assault and rape with accuracy, even if they have drunk — or expected to drink — moderate amounts of alcohol, a new study claims. A study conducted at the University of Birmingham found that women who had drunk alcohol up to the legal limit for