Child protection in Criminal Court

Regina v D (sexual offences prevention order) CA TLR 3 January

A court considering making a sexual offences prevention order to protect from abuse within the family, particularly a sibling of the abused person, has jurisdiction to draft the order in terms that provide a link with the court’s family jurisdiction where it is desirable to do so. In the present case it was thought that there was a risk that D would in future commit one or more Schedule 3 offences which, unless the court protected L, a sibling of the abused child, by an order, would cause L to suffer serious psychological harm. Accordingly, it was necessary to make such an order. Under s108 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 persons who might apply for the order to be varied did not include the sibling. In a case such as this the family court’s jurisdiction with its more flexible approach should be reflected in the order. The court ordered: ‘D shall not, without the order of a judge exercising jurisdiction under the Children Act 1989, communicate, or seek to communicate, whether directly or indirectly, with L while he remains under the age of sixteen years.’ In that way the child’s interest in a possibly changing situation could better be met than through the blunt instrument of the order alone.