2nd sexual offence
Notifications OFF
My person was charged with indecent exposure back in 2016. Mental health and alcohol played a huge part in this. 2 years suspended sentence and 10 years SOR. SS became involved when had a baby, was classed as low risk and closed case.
Fast forward to last week when we got the knock, phone and computer taken. He's being accused of sending cat B image to someone. My person has said he has no knowledge of this and doesn't understand where this could have come from.
My question is; if they find no other evidence on phone and computer what could the outcome be? They will of course take into account he is still on SOR but has had no issues and classed as low risk the whole 8 years. I'm so scared because of his mental health that he won't cope if he has to go to prison aswell as media coverage on this. He is also fearful of not being able to see his child if SS classes him as 'unsafe' around them, which terrifies him.
He has come such a long way since his conviction in 2016 and is such an amazing dad to our child. I'm just so fearful of the future now :(
Fast forward to last week when we got the knock, phone and computer taken. He's being accused of sending cat B image to someone. My person has said he has no knowledge of this and doesn't understand where this could have come from.
My question is; if they find no other evidence on phone and computer what could the outcome be? They will of course take into account he is still on SOR but has had no issues and classed as low risk the whole 8 years. I'm so scared because of his mental health that he won't cope if he has to go to prison aswell as media coverage on this. He is also fearful of not being able to see his child if SS classes him as 'unsafe' around them, which terrifies him.
He has come such a long way since his conviction in 2016 and is such an amazing dad to our child. I'm just so fearful of the future now :(
Hi there and although you are so welcome here I'm sorry that this is the context for you.
Can I just say that SS will almost certainly want to be involved again but if you have a good SW who believes (as they all should) that a child needs a relationship with their father they will devise something for your family so this can happen safely. It doesn't matter how safe you think/know the baby is with your person as SS have to err on the side of the simple fact that a sexual offence might have occurred and therefore there could be a risk to the baby. That is a hard pill to swallow but the best way forward is to accept this and work with the SW. I do hope you have a good, non judgmental one assigned to you as that seems to make all the difference.
Are there any pre-charge bail conditions as this too will affect things? If not you may still find things conditional on some supervisory 'rules' to follow as dictated by the SW, possibly the baby put on a Child in Need plan (this sounds horrific but it really shouldn't be) and your life suddenly dominated by considering all these things. I remember being completely flumoxed in the early days of our experience (it's our adult son son who offended) when his son wanted to go to the loo at the motorway services and our son couldn't take him in as he'd be on his own with him, his son refused to come into the ladies with me so I had to lurk in the entrance to the gents whilst he went in on his own which was far more risky imo than his dad taking him in but we didn't dare risk it.
You will find on here people with positive experiences and those who weren't so fortunate (if any of this can be classed as fortunate!) so I have my fingers crossed for you, your person and your baby xx
Can I just say that SS will almost certainly want to be involved again but if you have a good SW who believes (as they all should) that a child needs a relationship with their father they will devise something for your family so this can happen safely. It doesn't matter how safe you think/know the baby is with your person as SS have to err on the side of the simple fact that a sexual offence might have occurred and therefore there could be a risk to the baby. That is a hard pill to swallow but the best way forward is to accept this and work with the SW. I do hope you have a good, non judgmental one assigned to you as that seems to make all the difference.
Are there any pre-charge bail conditions as this too will affect things? If not you may still find things conditional on some supervisory 'rules' to follow as dictated by the SW, possibly the baby put on a Child in Need plan (this sounds horrific but it really shouldn't be) and your life suddenly dominated by considering all these things. I remember being completely flumoxed in the early days of our experience (it's our adult son son who offended) when his son wanted to go to the loo at the motorway services and our son couldn't take him in as he'd be on his own with him, his son refused to come into the ladies with me so I had to lurk in the entrance to the gents whilst he went in on his own which was far more risky imo than his dad taking him in but we didn't dare risk it.
You will find on here people with positive experiences and those who weren't so fortunate (if any of this can be classed as fortunate!) so I have my fingers crossed for you, your person and your baby xx
Thank you for your reply. He has bail conditions; not sleeping where under 18s live, not allowed to be unsupervised with child and not to do any personal care for child. These are for three months but as other people have said on previous posts, things may take much longer than that.
Do you think they will take into account his other conviction in 2016 even though it didn't have anything to do with children? And that he is still on the SOR from that conviction?
Do you think they will take into account his other conviction in 2016 even though it didn't have anything to do with children? And that he is still on the SOR from that conviction?
I honestly don't know if in a court case old charges can be mentioned although I think that they can't as you hear of juries finding someone not guilty and then discovering that the person had already been tried for a similar offence in the past. But hopefully someone else will have some accurate information, especially about the SOR. It's certainly yet another thing to add to what I'm sure are very anxious times. Your best bet would be to find a good criminal defence solicitor and have an introductory chat with them for advice, or ring the LFF helpline for their perspective.
The bail conditions are exactly the same as the ones we were dealing with (I'm sure the police just use the same ones for everyone) so once you meet the assigned SW you can maybe ask about any safeguarding courses you could think about doing, also get your person to read the LFF web pages and even apply to do their Inform plus course for online offenders. It all shows a willingness to comply with safeguarding.
You're right saying that the 3 months will be extended as there is a huge backlog but try to take one day at a time. And try to find some support for yourself from a trusted friend or family member or you will feel very alone and having to carry a heavy weight by yourself.
All the best x
The bail conditions are exactly the same as the ones we were dealing with (I'm sure the police just use the same ones for everyone) so once you meet the assigned SW you can maybe ask about any safeguarding courses you could think about doing, also get your person to read the LFF web pages and even apply to do their Inform plus course for online offenders. It all shows a willingness to comply with safeguarding.
You're right saying that the 3 months will be extended as there is a huge backlog but try to take one day at a time. And try to find some support for yourself from a trusted friend or family member or you will feel very alone and having to carry a heavy weight by yourself.
All the best x