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07 Dec 2022

It is seen by many as a simple scenario with an easy outcome.

Someone was accused of committing a sexual offence many years or decades ago, and without any evidence to back up such a claim, surely it won’t be taken seriously by the police. Or will it?

Due to the impact of Hollywood cases relating to Jeffrey Epstein and other producers, actors and celebrities, there has been an explosion in the number of people coming forward admitting to being victims of sexual assault and abuse. Thus, police in the UK and in the US are taking such accusations and allegations extremely seriously.

So what action should you take if you are on the receiving end of such an accusation?

When you call our team at ABV Solicitors, our sexual offence solicitor will listen to your story without judgement and will seek to separate the legal facts from the hearsay and will work on building up your defence. We pride ourselves on transparency and will aim to ensure you understand the process of defending your case, as well as being informed on the most likely outcome.

So, with that in mind, how exactly can we help you defend your case, and what is defined as historical sexual assault in the UK? Our sexual offence solicitor answers these questions below.

Historical sexual assault; what is it?

According to our sexual offence solicitor, a sexual assault is defined as historical if it took place a minimum of 3 years ago or more. Accusations of historical sexual assault include incidents dating as far back as the 1960s or 70s and may be based around one incident or could be linked to many, involving many alleged victims.

Remember, even if you have only been accused of one historical offence, you need to contact our team at ABV Solicitors as soon as possible so we can begin building your defence.

How we build your defence

The key issue with sexual offence allegations from 5, 10 or 20 years ago is that the trail has gone cold. There are unlikely to be any witnesses, and if there are, their memory of the event will likely be unreliable, whether it is linked to defence or prosecution.

Our team will aim to look at evidence from the time of the alleged assault, such as doctors’ reports, police reports and eyewitness reports, if there are any. We will also look through transcriptions of the accusers’ reports and try to detect any inconsistencies in their side of the story.

Talking to the police

The first step in any sexual offence investigation, historical or not, will involve you being called into the police station for an interview. We must advise that you do not undertake this by yourself and instead call a member of our team to sit in and advise you on what to say and how to say it. This will work well in your defence and could potentially lead to all charges being dropped and you being able to get back to your regular life.