Child Sexual Exploitation

RASSO RAPE AND SERIOUS SEXUAL OFFENCES Only Senior Crown Prosecutors specifically trained can deal with sexual violence offences, including child and vulnerable adult victims.

THIRD PARTY MATERIAL RELEVANT EVIDENCE OR UNUSED MATERIAL IN THE HANDS OF ANOTHER, WHICH COULD BE PROTECTED BY DATA PROTECTION OR COURT ORDER, WHICH MAY BE RELEVANT TO THE CASE: :SOCIAL SERVICES RECORDS :FAMILY COURT PROCEEDINGS :SCHOOL RECORDS :MEDICAL RECORDS :COUNSELLING NOTES :CHARITY ASSISTANCE: NSPCC, BARNARDOS :CAMHS RECORDS

NATIONAL 2013 PROTOCOL & GOOD PRACTICE MODEL PRE NATIONAL PROTOCOL, NUMBEROUS PROBLEMS WITH SOCIAL SERVICES AND CARE PROCEEDING MATERIAL. COURT ORDER REQUIRED. CAME INTO FORCE IN JANUARY 2014, SIGNED BY THE COURTS, POLICE AND CPS, BUT NOT THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES. THIS IS SPECIFICALLY FOR CHILD ABUSE CASES BUT IS USED AS GOOD PRACTICE IN ALL CASES. DE-CLASSIFIES THIS MATERIAL AS NON SENSITIVE. LOCAL PROTCOLS NEED TO BE AGREED. ALL GREATER MANCHESTER LOCAL AUTHORITIES ARE SIGNITORIES. .

Code For Crown Prosecutors 1. Sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction: “Would a reasonable tribunal, properly directed, be more likely than not to convict the defendant of the charge alleged” 2. It must be in the public interest to proceed: “The prosecutor is sure that the public interest factors tending against prosecution outweigh those tending in favour”

Consent Case Law Lord Justice Fulford in the case of Ali and Ashraf, reported at 2015 EWCA Crim 1279: “One of the consequences, when vulnerable people are groomed for sexual exploitation, is that compliance can mask the lack of true consent on the part of the victim…., where there is evidence of exploitation of a young and immature person who may not understand the full significance of what he or she is doing, that is a factor the jury can take into account in deciding whether or not there was genuine consent.”   “…grooming does not necessarily vitiate consent, it starkly raises the possibility that a vulnerable or immature individual may have been placed in a position in which he or she is led merely to acquiesce, rather than to give proper or real consent  

Continued Lord Justice Fulford went on to say: “it is necessary to focus on the complainant’s state of mind in the circumstances and overall context of the particular sexual activity in question, as you find them to have been. In particular, you will need to consider the history of the relationship between the parties and the nature of the sexual encounter. Against that background you must consider the critical question: did the particular complainant agree to sexual intercourse by choice, and did they have the freedom and capacity to make that choice?”

Exploitative Behaviour the age and maturity of the complainant, the history of the relationship, whether the complainant has any vulnerabilities such as a learning disability, the existence of any grooming such as gifts, alcohol, insincere compliments, the provision of apparent security or a more exciting way of life, simply attention and false promises. the provision of alcohol and drugs and the effect of them upon the complainant; use and threat of any violence or intimidation; sometimes also the use of other means of control, such as emotional or situational control.