Sexual Harm Prevention Orders

We can help you to defend, vary or discharge a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

What Is A Sexual Harm Prevention Order?

A Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) is an order made by the court when a person is convicted either in the UK or overseas of a sexual offence listed within schedule 3 or schedule 5 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. It can also be made where a person is found not guilty by reason of insanity or found to be under a disability and to have done the act charged.

The purpose of such an order is to prohibit a person from certain activities relevant to the offence which they have been convicted of.

For the court to make an order it must be satisfied that the offender presents a risk of sexual harm to the public or particular members of the public, for example; children, and that an order is necessary to protect against this risk. The details of the offence are likely to be a key factor in the court’s decision, together with the any previous convictions and the assessment of risk presented by the Probation Service in any pre-sentence report.

What Will The Court Consider When Making a Sexual Harm Prevention Order?

When considering making an order the court may want to consider:

Would an order minimise the risk of harm to the public or to any particular members of the public?

Is it proportionate?

Can it be policed effectively?

It is not always necessary for the court to make such an order, therefore obtaining specialist advice in relation to any proposed order, or an offence which carries the potential for a SHPO or SOPO is crucial.

Our lawyers have experience in successfully challenging applications for all orders which relate to sexual offending which are applied for by the CPS and made by the court upon, or in some circumstances before, a conviction.

Sexual Harm Prevention Order Restrictions

The only prohibitions which can be imposed by a SHPO are those which are necessary for the purpose of protecting the public from sexual harm from the offender, and which relate to the offence. These can, however, be wide ranging. The terms are not generic and they are drafted by the police or the CPS and should be specific to each case. An order may, for example, prohibit someone from being unsupervised around children, this is likely to be in cases which concern contact sexual offending against a child.

An order may also prohibit the offender from engaging in particular activities on the internet. The prohibitions within a SHPO should be tailored to the exact requirements of the case, be necessary and proportionate, have terms which are clear and understandable, not have terms which would be easy to breach accidentally by the person subject to the order.

Appealing a Sexual Harm Prevention Order

Where an error has been made with an order you have the right to appeal. If your order is imposed by the Magistrates Court then you must make the appeal at the Crown Court within 21 days. You would not require permission for this as you would when appealing to the Court of Appeal.

If it was the Crown Court who made the order then the application for permission to appeal will be made to the Court of Appeal.

Varying or Discharging a Sexual Harm Prevention Order

Personal circumstances of an individual frequently change, being subject to a preventative order can cause difficulties for a persons change in circumstances whether this be in their employment, relationships and/or their desire to travel. It is therefore not unusual for applications to be made to vary or discharge court orders, some of which may have been in place for a number of years.

To vary the terms of an order or to apply for it to be discharged (ended), then the application is made to the court who imposed the order originally. The reasons why an application to vary or discharge is being made are set out in a written legal submission to the court, with supporting legal authorities. This document is drafted by your lawyers and its purpose is to persuade the court to rule in your favour and vary or discharge the SHPO in place. Following the submission of the application the prosecution can respond, usually a court hearing will be required where oral arguments will be heard by the judge.

The Length of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order

The order may have effect for a fixed period (not less than five years) or until further order, with the exception of a foreign travel prohibition which must be a fixed period of no more than five years.

Different time periods may be specified for individual restrictions and requirements and some orders can be made until a further order.

This means that the court will not provide an end date, the person subject to the order would have to seek an order from the court to end their SHPO. This cannot be done until five years has elapsed.