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24 Mar 2021

Sexual grooming (sometimes all grooming) is not a legal term, but it covers a set of behaviours which are related to preparing children to be sexually receptive. This can be either with positive reinforcement by befriending and trust-building or negatively through isolation and inducing fear. If you have been accused of sexual grooming our sexual offence solicitor is here to help.

A sexual grooming charge is one of the most severe criminal offences on the statute book and the ramifications to your life are likely to be very dramatic and can be irreversible. Maintaining your privacy and ensuring that all parties respect that you are innocent until proven otherwise is one of our highest priorities. In the event you are convicted on top of a prison sentence you will have to be entered on the Sex Offenders Register, which will affect your job opportunities and international travel options.

The law on grooming

The Sexual Offences Act of 2003 is a law covering grooming, which sets the associated sentencing from between 6 months to 10 years in prison. It applies to anyone over the age of 18 who has communicated with someone below the age of 16 intending to meet them anywhere in the world to commit a sexual offence. No sexual offence or meeting needs to occur to meet the requirements to be charged.

A subsection of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 which came into force in 2017 made sexual communication with a child a crime. This removes the need or intention to meet and makes the communications themselves a criminal act, this includes things such as texts or emails. This makes any form of communication from an individual over 18 to one below 16 intending to gain a sexual response punishable by 12 months to 2 years imprisonment depending on the severity.

How can a solicitor help?

Our sexual offence solicitor has extensive experience in representing those accused of sexual grooming, both as individuals and as part of a multi-defendant case.

The nature of these cases makes legal representation at the earliest juncture a must and we would be happy to help you with representation in police custody if you are at the pre-charged point in your case.

We aim to achieve acquittals, as any form of admission of guilt would result in an entry in the Sex Offenders Register, which we always try to avoid for our clients. With a calm and well-reasoned approach to your case, there will be several opportunities to reach a favourable outcome.

Much of the defence will rest on the technical aspects of how evidence was collected and processed, as well as the credibility of the witnesses and of their statements, utilising third party experts’ testimony.

Our sexual offence solicitor understands the need for discretion in this field of legal defence and the false accusations that fail to even be heard in court can have devastating consequences if they become public knowledge. Therefore, we would assist you in any defamation, slander or other cases which may occur during this process.