Sexual Offences (Anonymity of Defendants) Bill

House of Commons

Session 1998-99
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Other Bills before Parliament

Sexual Offences (Anonymity of Defendants) Bill

This is the text of the Sexual Offences (Anonymity of Defendants) Bill, as presented to the House of Commons on 30th March 1999.

Sexual Offences (Anonymity of Defendants) Bill

ARRANGEMENT OF CLAUSES

Clause

1. Anonymity of certain defendants in sexual offences cases.

2. Provisions supplementary to section 1.

3. Interpretation.

4. Short title and extent.

A
B I L L
TO
Provide for the anonymity of teachers, etc. accused of sexual offences against children in relation to whom they are in a position of trust; and for connected purposes.
BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

Anonymity of certain defendants in sexual offences cases.     1. - (1) Except as authorised by a direction given in pursuance of this section, after an allegation that a child has been the victim of a relevant offence has been made by the child or by any other person, neither the accused's name nor his address nor a still or moving picture of him shall before conviction-

(a) be published in England and Wales in a written publication available to the public; or

(b) be included in a relevant programme for reception in England and Wales,

if that is likely to lead members of the public to identify him as an alleged perpetrator of such an offence; but nothing in this subsection prohibits the publication or inclusion in a relevant programme of matter consisting only of a report of criminal proceedings other than proceedings at, or intended to lead to, or on an appeal arising out of, a trial at which the accused is charged with the offence.

    (2) In subsection (1) above "picture" includes a likeness however produced.

    (3) If, before the commencement of a trial at which a person is charged with a relevant offence, he applies to a judge of the Crown Court for a direction in pursuance of this subsection and satisfies the judge-

(a) that the direction is required for the purpose of inducing persons to come forward who are likely to be needed as witnesses at the trial; and

(b) that the conduct of the applicant's defence at the trial is likely to be substantially prejudiced if the direction is not given,

the judge shall direct that the preceding subsection shall not, by virtue of the accusation alleging the offence aforesaid, apply in relation to the accused.

    (4) If at a trial the judge is satisfied that the effect of subsection (1) of this section is to impose a substantial and unreasonable restriction upon the reporting of proceedings at the trial and that it is in the public interest to remove or relax the restriction, he shall direct that that subsection shall not apply to such matter as is specified in the direction.

    (5) If any matter is published or included in a relevant programme in contravention of subsection (1) of this section, the following persons, namely-

(a) in the case of a publication in a newspaper or periodical, any proprietor, any editor and any publisher of the newspaper or periodical;

(b) in the case of any other publication, the person who publishes it; and

(c) in the case of matter included in a relevant programme, any body corporate which is engaged in providing the service in which the programme is included and any person having functions in relation to the programme corresponding to those of an editor of a newspaper,

shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

    (6) Where a person is charged with an offence under subsection (5) of this section in respect of the publication of any matter or the inclusion of any matter in a relevant programme, it shall be a defence, subject to subsection (7) below, to prove that the publication or programme in which the matter appeared was one in respect of which the accused had given written consent to the appearance of matter of that description.

    (7) Written consent is not a defence if it is proved that any person interfered unreasonably with the accused's peace or comfort with intent to obtain the consent.

    (8) For the purposes of this section a person is accused of a relevant offence if-

(a) an information is laid alleging that he has committed a relevant offence; or

(b) he appears before a court charged with a relevant offence; or

(c) a court before which he is appearing commits him for trial on a new charge alleging a relevant offence; or

(d) a bill of indictment charging him with a relevant offence is preferred before a court in which he may lawfully be indicted for the offence,

and references in this Act to an accusation alleging a relevant offence shall be construed accordingly.

    (9) Nothing in this section affects any prohibition or restriction imposed by virtue of any other enactment upon a publication or upon matter included in a relevant programme; and a direction in pursuance of this section does not affect the operation of subsection (1) of this section at any time before the direction is given.

    (10) In this section-

"complainant", in relation to a person accused of a relevant offence or an accusation alleging a relevant offence, means the child against whom the offence is alleged to have been committed;

"relevant programme" means a programme included in a programme service (within the meaning of the Broadcasting Act 1990);

"written publication" includes a film, a sound track and any other record in permanent form but does not include an indictment or other document prepared for use in particular legal proceedings.

Provisions supplementary to section 1.     2. - (1) If after the commencement of a trial at which a person is charged with a relevant offence a new trial of the person for that offence is ordered, the commencement of any previous trial at which he was charged with that offence shall be disregarded for the purposes of subsection (3) of the preceding section.

    (2) When an offence under subsection (5) of the preceding section which has been committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that offence and be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members the preceding provisions of this subsection shall apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with his functions of management as if he were a director of the body corporate.

    (3) Proceedings for an offence under subsection (5) of the preceding section (including such an offence which is alleged to have been committed by virtue of the preceding subsection) shall not be instituted except by or with the consent of the Attorney General; and where a person is charged with such an offence it shall be a defence to prove that at the time of the alleged offence he was not aware, and neither suspected nor had reason to suspect, that the publication or programme in question was of, or (as the case may be) included, such matter as is mentioned in subsection (1) of that section.

    (4) In section 31(1) of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968 (which provides that certain powers of the Court of Appeal may be exercised by a single judge) after the word "1976" there shall be inserted the words "or under section 1(3) of the Sexual Offences (Anonymity of Defendants) Act 1999".

Interpretation.     3. In this Act "relevant offence" means an offence by a person aged 18 or over ("A") against a person who is under 16 ("B"), where-

(a) A is regularly involved in caring for, training, supervising or being in sole charge of persons under 16 at the educational institution where B-

(i) is registered or otherwise enrolled as a full-time pupil or student; or

(ii) receives education under arrangements with another educational institution at which he is so registered or otherwise enrolled;

and

(b) the offence is an offence under-

(i) the Sexual Offences Act 1956;

(ii) the Sexual Offences Act 1967; or

(iii) the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1999.

Short title and extent.     4. - (1) This Act may be cited as the Sexual Offences (Anonymity of Defendants) Act 1999.

    (2) This Act extends to England and Wales only.

© Parliamentary copyright 1999
Prepared 31 March 1999