Sexual Offences

The Supreme Court has allowed an appeal brought by an accused who claimed that the Court of Appeal failed to consider the totality principle in his case. The man had successfully argued in the Court of Appeal that the trial judge had erred in sentencing him for several indecent assault offences, but

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has determined that the appropriate sentence for a violent repeat rapist was 18 years, with an additional five-year extended custodial sentence. In reaching this decision, the court was conscious of the violence of the attack, the appellant’s attempts t

A member of the Northern Ireland Assembly has submitted a formal complaint to the Lady Chief Justice in connection with remarks made by a judge during a sexual assault hearing. The complaint centres on comments made by Judge Brian Sherrard KC in Dungannon Crown Court as he was sentencing a man who a

Government plans to combat domestic, sexual and gender-based violence will next year benefit from a record 22 per cent funding increase worth around €9 million. The Department of Justice launched its five-year "zero tolerance" strategy earlier this summer, containing 144 detailed actions to be

Catfishing — the practice of using fake photos on social media or dating apps to lure people into a relationship on false pretences — would become a criminal offence in Ireland under a proposed bill. Fianna Fáil senator Lisa Chambers, whose own photos were stolen and used on a dat

Scottish academics have called for judges to stop directing juries to take body language into account when assessing the credibility of witnesses. Sixty-four mock juries were set up for research, featuring a total of 863 participants. Half of them were shown a recorded rape trial while the remainder

New reforms to the law on consent, knowledge and belief in rape trials will require that an accused's defence that he believed the complainant was consenting has to be objectively reasonable. The Criminal Justice (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2022 will amend the fault or mental elemen

Progress on a cross-departmental strategy to stop domestic and sexual violence and abuse in Northern Ireland has been published. The ministers for justice, health, communities, education and finance have published an action plan setting out proposed activity for year seven of the seven-year domestic

A broad new offence of intimate image abuse should be introduced in England and Wales to criminalise acts such as "downblousing" and the creation of "deepfakes", the Law Commission of England and Wales has proposed. The law reform body has called for a clearer legal framework broadening the scope of

The UK Information Commissioner has called on the criminal justice sector to immediately stop collecting excessive amounts of personal information from complainants in rape and serious sexual assault cases. The call is published in a Commissioner’s Opinion which informs the sector how to use p

Complainants in rape cases will only have their phones taken by police for evidential purposes “when absolutely necessary”, the solicitor general is to say. Alex Chalk QC will say today that police will be ordered to retained detailed written explanations and justifications for when they

The Supreme Court has upheld a conviction of sexual assault against a 14-year-old boy who smacked the bare bottom of a six-year-old child. The court held that the assault involved an element of indecency which justified the conviction of sexual assault as distinct from mere assault. Delivering the m

The Court of Appeal has quashed the conviction of a man accused of sexually assaulting his daughter in bed after the trial judge failed to adequately address the jury on whether the man was awake at the time of the offending. It was argued by the man that no assault occurred, but that if it did occu

A landlord has been jailed following the first sex-for-rent conviction in England. Christopher Cox, 53, of Guildford Road, Cranleigh, pleaded guilty to two counts of inciting prostitution for gain and one count of controlling prostitution for gain when he appeared before Guildford Crown Court in Mar

A new qualification programme to train intermediaries who will help vulnerable people, including sexual abuse victims and children, when giving evidence in the justice system has been launched at the University of Limerick in collaboration with the Department of Justice. The part-time professional d