Engaging In Sexual Communication With A Child

The Legislation

On the 3rd April 2017 Section 67 of The Serious Crime Act 2015 inserted a new section 15A into the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and created an offence of “engaging in sexual communication with a child.”

The offence is committed when:

(1) A person aged 18 or over (A) commits an offence if—

(a) for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification, A intentionally communicates with another person (B),

(b) the communication is sexual or is intended to encourage B to make (whether to A or to another) a communication that is sexual, and

(c) B is under 16 and A does not reasonably believe that B is 16 or over.

(2) For the purposes of this section, a communication is sexual if—

(a) any part of it relates to sexual activity, or

(b) a reasonable person would, in all the circumstances but regardless of any person’s purpose, consider any part of the communication to be sexual;

and in paragraph (a) “sexual activity” means an activity that a reasonable person would, in all the circumstances but regardless of any person’s purpose, consider to be sexual.

The Offence In Detail

The new offence criminalises conduct where an adult intentionally communicates, for example, by e-mail, text message, written note or orally, with a child under 16, whom the adult does not reasonably believe to be aged 16 or over, for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification, if the communication is sexual or intended to encourage the child to make a communication that is sexual.

The new offence is designed to ensure that it does not criminalise, for example, ordinary social or educational interactions between children and adults or communications between young people themselves.

It is clear from case law that the prosecution would succeed where, either a defendant made a relevant communication in order to obtain immediate sexual gratification or, the obtaining of such gratification was part of a longer term plan, or both.

Case law states that “sexual gratification” has a wide meaning and may take many forms.