Gap in the law covering sexual offences with children to be presented to ECHR

Human rights lawyers who represent a woman who was groomed and abused by a man 22 years her senior when she was aged 13 to 15 are working to have the loophole closed. 


It means charges will not be brought against the man who has admitted to police that he had unlawful sex with the woman, who we have called Lucy, when she was aged 14 and 15 between 1986 and 1989.

Lucy did not report this abuse at the time it occurred, but in 2023, following the death of her parents, she reported it to Devon and Cornwall Police. However, after the police investigated the abuse, they decided they could not prosecute the abuser, even though he admitted having sex with Lucy a number of times when she was underage.  


Devon and Cornwall Police told Lucy the offence had happened too long ago and there was a specific section in the law that stopped them from prosecuting him now. They told Lucy: “this is not saying that an offence has not happened, it is just so long ago there is no longer a law in place that we can prosecute it under”. 


The issue is caused by section 6 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 which governed sexual abuse laws between 1956 and 2004.  Section 6 says girls who allege unlawful sexual intercourse between these years and were aged between 13 and 16 years old at the time of the alleged offence had a maximum of 12 months to report the alleged offence to the police, after which time their allegations would be time barred. 


The act was updated and replaced by the Sexual Offences Act 2003 which introduced a new crime of “Sexual activity with a child” but it does not apply to historic offending. 
 


The Devon and Cornwall Police decision was upheld after it was examined under the Victim’s Right to Review (VRR) process, because of the time-bar under section 6 of the 1956 law. 
 


Section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 puts no time limit for bringing prosecution for rape. 


In an application to the European Court of Human Rights Leigh Day human rights team partner Tessa Gregory argues that the 12-month procedural bar on bringing a prosecution for an offence under section 6 of the 1956 Act breaches the Applicant’s human rights:

• The State has a positive obligation to enact criminal law provisions that effectively punish all forms of rape and sexual abuse.  
• It is particularly important to protect children from acts of sexual abuse and rape.
• It must be recognised that children usually experience extreme difficulties in telling anyone about being sexually abused.  
• It is important that the legal framework provides effective deterrence against acts of sexual violence.  

It is argued that the UK has a positive obligation to enact criminal law provisions to effectively punish all forms of rape and sexual abuse and the failure in this case to do so breaches the Applicant’s rights under: Article 3  (right to be free from cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment) and Article 8 (right to a private life). It is further argued that taken together with those rights the current situation is discriminatory, as it is only females of a certain age who are affected, in violation of the Applicant’s rights under Article 14.    


Lucy is represented by Leigh Day partner Tessa Gregory who said: 
  

“Our client has been forced to take her case to the European Court of Human Rights because she cannot get any justice in the UK courts for the serious sexual abuse she suffered as a child. 


“She alleges that in the late 1980s, from the age of 13, she was groomed by an older male neighbour who sexually abused her and made her pregnant when she was 15. Understandably it took our client many years to come to terms with the abuse she suffered as a child and as a result, she did not report it to the police until last year. Having summoned up the courage to go to the police, one can only imagine her distress when she was informed that, although the perpetrator had admitted under interview to having sexual intercourse with her when she was underage, nothing could be done to prosecute him.  This is because, under the law that applied between 1956 and 2003, a complaint had to be made to the police within 12 months of the alleged sexual offence taking place.  
  


“This legal loophole will inevitably impact many other female victims of historic sexual abuse and it means that, as in our client’s case, the perpetrators of serious sexual offences are likely to walk free. Our client wants it to be recognised that the requirement she had to report the offence within 12 months breaches her human rights as the Government has failed in its duties to enact effective criminal laws to punish sexual offenders and protect victims like her.” 


Leigh Day abuse team partner Dino Nocivelli, who has represented other women impacted by the gap in the law, said: 


“Society is increasingly aware of the difficulties that abuse survivors have disclosing childhood sexual abuse while the Independent Inquiry into Childhood Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and other research has suggested that it takes survivors on average about 30 years to disclose it. 


“This law punishes female survivors for not being able to disclose their abuse earlier and in essence also blames them for not doing so, while the alleged abusers are able to escape any form of justice or punishment due to a legal technicality. 


“Sadly, there are likely to be thousands of women who have been affected by this law and who have still not been able to disclose their abuse to the police.  Every survivor deserves a right to justice and closure, and I truly hope that this legal challenge is successful in helping to right some of the wrongs of the past.”   
 

Please click here for a link to Lucy's crowdfunder.