Family and Friends Forum

As already mentioned all those with a sex offence (doesn't have to be child sex abuse related) will be on the sex offenders register. It isn't that hard to manage, essentially any new info on the offender has to be disclosed to the police within three days and overall update/annual review from each new disclosure.

E.g. new bank cards/accounts. New car, new address etc.

Also need to disclose where they are staying (more than three nights I think), and I believe permission to travel abroad.

The sexual harm prevention order is the part that is more tailored to the offender. My partner cannot communicate with under 16s online, cannot delete anything on his Devices, must show his devices when required, needs SS approval for contact with under 16s if the parents know of the offending and allow contact.

Its important to remember that the sex offenders register (SOR) and a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) are two separate things.

The SOR is a notification system, where by an offender has to notify the police every 12mths of their whereabouts as well as other information as laid out in the act.

It is important to note that if any new or updated information is given to the police in that 12mths period then what is called "resets the clock" occurs for example a persons first notification date was the 1/3/2021 if he did not have to give any new information then his next annual notification would be 1/3/2022. For example lets say on the 1/7/2021 a new bank card arrived, and had to register the new one by doing this it reset the annual notification date so instead of it being 1/3/2022 it would become 1/7/2022.

Any of the things below that you notified the police within the 12mths period would cause this clock to reset

The offender using a name that he has not already notified to the police (including names used online).

A change to the offender’s home address, or, where the offender has no such residence, a change to the location in the United Kingdom where he can regularly be found

The offender staying at an address in the United Kingdom, that has not previously been notified, for a “qualifying period” (this is a period of seven days or two or more periods in any 12 months which taken together amount to seven days).

The offender residing or staying in a household with a child for a period of at least12 hours (whether this is the offender’s household or that of another).

Any changes to the offender’s bank account or credit card details, including the opening or closure of accounts (personal, business and joint accounts) and the cancellation, expiry or issue of credit cards.

If going on holiday in the UK or staying with friends in the UK you are only required to inform the police if you will be staying at that locality for more than 7 days in any 12mth period or if the house you are staying in for more than 12hrs (ie over night stay) has a person under 18 living there

Staying in a hotel for a few nights does not require you to inform the police. The fact that people under 18 might be in the hotel at the same time does not matter, it would only be if a person under 18 was in the same room as you sleeping. The same goes for days out at the zoo,museum or fun fair for example there is no need to tell the police this information.

Being on the SOR does not stop you from travelling abroad, as part of the notification requirements you have to inform the police of where you are going, you do not need to seek there permission,(if you were still on license then you would speak to probation and while on license Foreign travel is not allowed) they cant stop you from going away. The only way that it could be done is to apply to the court for a travel ban. One thing to keep in mind while on the SOR if you do decide to travel overseas then the police could put a green notice on the passport, which may cause issues in some countries, for them to do this there has to be a Proportionate reason but can be backed up with current risk assessments.

One word of advice i would give is you only give the police the information that they are legally entitled to have, if there is no legal requirement then do not give it, one example is that the police seem to ask for car registration numbers, there is no legal requirement under the SOR to have to give this information, so do not, it will be more beneficial in the long run

Being on the SOR does not stop a persons conviction from becoming spent the thing that causes this is the SHPO

A SHPO is a court order that tells the offender what they cant do, it is important that any SHPO is Smith Compliant (This was a court of appeal judgment from 2011) that stated,

a SHPO only runs for the period that a person is on the register,

should not duplicate other regimes designed to offer public protection,

Blanket prohibitions on computer or internet use are not appropriate,

Prohibitions on unsupervised contact with children should not be included in the case of those convicted of internet-based offences ‘just in case’ they progress to contact offences. Instead “There must be identifiable risk of contact offences before this kind of prohibition can be justified”

Police and prosecutors should provide a draft of a proposed order at least two days in advance of any hearing and certainly not on the day of the hearing itself.

While this order is active, this is what stops a persons conviction from becoming spent, you are within your rights to take the order back to court, if done within the first 5yrs then you need support from the police officer, if after 5yrs you do not need there support.