Sexual Offences

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

A proposed ban on exploitative "sex-for-rent" arrangements has moved closer to becoming law after a private member's bill passed second stage in the Dáil yesterday with cross-party support. The Ban on Sex for Rent Bill 2022, proposed by Social Democrats TD Cian O'Callaghan, would introduce a

Wide-ranging legislating updating the law on sexual offending in Northern Ireland has completed its final stage in the Assembly. The Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Bill creates several new offences, including non-fatal strangulation, up-skirting and down-blousing, cyber-flash

The Court of Appeal has increased the sentence for a woman convicted of making a false statement to gardaí about a sexual assault. The woman was initially sentenced to two years' imprisonment which was fully suspended. However, the Court of Appeal held that the offending was so serious that i

A new statutory offence of "cyber-flashing" will be introduced in Northern Ireland under legislative amendments approved by MLAs yesterday. The Northern Ireland Assembly agreed to amend the Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Bill to include the new offence, which will criminalise the

So-called "sex-for-rent" arrangements should be criminalised in Ireland, justice minister Helen McEntee has said. Speaking in the Dáil yesterday, Mrs McEntee said she and housing minister Darragh O'Brien have jointly sought advice from the Attorney General on "how we can go from here to try t

Just eight people were convicted of rape in Northern Ireland in the 2020/21 financial year amid a significant decrease in court business during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Public Prosecution Service (PPS) received a total of 1,568 files involving a sexual offence in 2020/21, a decrease of 6.9 per cen