Discharging a Sexual Offences or Sexual Harm Prevention Order
Slee Blackwell have been independently ranked in the top 10 solicitors in the UK by the legal review website Review Solicitors. Contact us for a free initial consultation by calling 0333 888 0404 or emailing us at [email protected].
Jen Law is a criminal defence solicitor who is experienced in discharging a Sexual Offences or Sexual Harm Prevention Order. In this article she looks at when an application for discharge can be made and how to go about it.
A Sexual Offences Prevention Order (known as an SOPO) or the more recent Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) are put in place following the conviction of certain sexual offences.
While the court should give an end date to such an order, that is not always the case. An indefinite SOPO or SHPO without an end date can mean that registration requirements to the sex offender register are ongoing for longer than the automatic statutory time period.
Sex Offender Notification Requirements (SONR) are an automatic requirement following a conviction for a relevant sexual offence. The time period is set by law and, in most cases (other than registration requirements for life) the requirement to register will end after the fixed term, whether that be two, five, seven, or 10 years. However, where there is an indefinite SOPO or SHPO in place, the SONR will continue unless or until the SOPO/SHPO is discharged by the court.
For example, where a person was convicted on 1 December 2013 and the relevant registration period is 5 years, the registration period should finish on 1 December 2018. However if an indefinite SOPO or SHPO is in place, that registration will continue. In certain cases, a person may be subject to many more years under SONR than they need to be.
While a SOPO or SHPO can be given a fixed length by the court, or a specific end date, after five years an application to discharge a SOPO/SHPO can be made.
How we can help you with discharging a sexual offences prevention order or sexual harm prevention order
In order to make an application, the following are needed:-
- Certificate of conviction or finding
- The SOPO or SHPO
- Notice of requirement to register with the police
Those documents will need to be submitted to the court with a clear and concise application setting out the dates of the conviction, the order, the registration requirements, the time limits that have passed and other information that it is important to get right.
Having an experienced solicitor to guide you through this process is incredibly important. Very often it can be done administratively without the need for you to have to attend court yourself or incur the costs of having a representative attend a court hearing on your behalf. Jen Law specialises in dealing with these applications, and almost all of the applications she has made have been successfully dealt with without the need for a hearing.
