Information for families of someone who has been arrested for online child sexual offences

In the UK you can consent to sexual activity at the age of 16. However, by law, a child is defined as any person under the age of 18.

Viewing illicit images of children of any persons under the age of 18 is an offence in the UK.

 

What are Indecent Images of Children (IIOC)?

Section 1 of the Protection of Children Act 1978 details various offences regarding the taking, making or distributing indecent photographs (or pseudo-photographs) of a child.

It is “an offence to take, to permit to be taken, to make, to possess, show, or to distribute or publish an image of a child posed or pictured indecently, for example in a sexual way. This can also include images of adults involved in indecent act where a child is present but not themselves portrayed indecently. Images can include actual photographs or video footage, drawings or tracings, or images created digitally.

‘Making’ an indecent image does not just refer to a person taking a photo or video - it can also refer to a person downloading or printing an indecent image or opening an email attachment containing an indecent image.”

For more information on the law and types of offences, please visit the CPS website. 

Officers have visited your address, acting on information provided to us by various agencies or a third-party report from a member of the public.

To prevent unnecessary attention, officers will normally attend your address in plain clothes. However, they will have their warrant cards for identification and would have presented them to you upon arrival.

Warrant

Often police will be in possession of a warrant obtained from a Magistrate or Judge at Court.

The warrant will contain information which explains what officers are searching for and why. Officers will be searching for any devices capable of storing IIOC.

Devices

Devices are electronic equipment where you can store images. This may include all family member’s devices and include items such as:

• mobile phones
• laptops
• tablets
• gaming consoles such as PlayStation and Xbox
• USB storage devices
• hard drives

Officers may request you provide the passwords for these devices. If you do not provide the correct password it may result in possible criminal offences.

Officers may attend with digital forensic experts who carry dedicated equipment to examine the devices. All devices that are examined and found not to contain IIOC, will be returned at that point or a later date should a more thorough examination be required. If devices contain IIOC, they will be removed from the address for a full forensic examination. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the work we cannot specify how long this will take.

You may be wondering what is going on and what is going to happen. You may wish to get support from family members or friends. Police will never disclose to family or friends the reasons for the arrest. This is to protect you and your family from any unwanted attention.

The officers will tell you which police station the individual will be taken for interview. It is important to understand that you will not be able to speak with them face-to-face while they are in police custody. However, they have the right to inform somebody of their choice that they are in custody – this may be by telephone. If you are unable to speak with them by telephone, the officer in the case may be able to advise you as to why you cannot speak with them at this time.

The individual has the right to independent legal advice, free of charge or they can appoint their own solicitor. It is important to understand that officers dealing with the case will be working hard gathering evidence and interviewing the individual, so there may be long periods of silence. You are more than welcome to speak to the custody officers at the police station where they are being held to ask for an update. This can be done by calling 101 and requesting to speak to the custody sergeant at the police station where the person is being held.

While they are in custody, their health and well-being is a priority and if required a doctor or a nurse will attend to give medical support.

If the individual has access to children under age 18, we will notify social services of their involvement with the person.

The procedures of children’s social services will vary from case-to-case. On receiving the police referral, social services will contact you to make further enquiries. As a result of these enquiries and checks with other agencies a decision is made on how best to support the family.

Possible outcomes include:

• the referral will close with no further action
• will close on the basis that support services are offered
• social services may undertake a further assessment and/or follow the child protection process

Depending on the severity of the offence and/or the offending history, it is possible that the individual will be remanded in custody. This means they will remain in police custody until the next available court session. They will continue to have the right to free and independent legal advice while they remain in custody.

After arrest and interview and depending on the circumstances, officers may seek to release the individual on police bail.

Police bail is when the individual has been released from police custody while the investigation is still ongoing and is required to return to the police station at a given date and time. This means, police do not have enough evidence to charge at this time and need to conduct further enquiries.

To protect vulnerable people, the individual may have certain conditions placed upon them. This is referred to as ‘Conditional Bail’ and can include conditions such as:

• living at a particular address
• not contacting certain people
• surrendering their passport to the police so they cannot leave the UK
• reporting to a police station at agreed times, for example once a week
• not to have any unsupervised access to children under the age of 18 – this may include their own children
• restrictions placed on their internet activity, for example not to delete search history, not to use a device that does not record the search history and not to use incognito mode

If they do not follow these conditions, they may commit further offences and be arrested again. This could lead to them being remanded in custody until their court hearing.

Where there are no conditions imposed, an individual on bail will still be required to attend a police station at a set date and time. This is referred to as unconditional bail.

The individual will be given a date to re-attend the police station to answer bail. If they are then charged, the conditional bail remains until they attend court.

Please be mindful that the length of time on police bail may vary throughout the investigation due to the complex nature of the case.

It is important to realise that these conditions are in place to prevent the individual from committing further offences and to safeguard the most vulnerable people in our society.

The individuals legal representative will be available to offer more advice about the police bail process.

When the police have finished their investigation, they may pass the case to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The CPS will decide whether the individual should be charged. Cases involving illicit images of children will regularly be passed to CPS for a charging decision.

If the CPS decide there is sufficient evidence to charge, the individual will either be required to attend a police station to be charged or they will be charged on the day they answer bail.

If the CPS or police decide there is insufficient evidence to charge, the individual will be released from police bail with no further action at that time. More information can be found on the CPS website.

Depending on the circumstances, the individual may be released under investigation. This means they have no bail conditions. However, the police investigation is still ongoing, and an officer will keep the individual updated with case progress.

Following this, the individual may be required to attend a police station again for interview. At the station they may be:

• charged
• a summons may be issued to attend Court, or
• no further action will be taken

Only when the police advise the subject that the investigation is complete will the investigation conclude.

Following the individual being released under investigation a postal charge or requisition may be issued (sometimes known as “summons to court”). The postal charge or requisition is a legal document which tells the individual that they are to be charged for criminal offence/s. The requisition will tell the individual to appear before a specified Court, to answer the charge/s.

A SHPO is an order given by the Court to an individual who poses a risk of sexual harm to either the general public or to an individual. It is given to an individual who has been convicted or cautioned for an offence listed within the Sexual Offences Act 2003. An individual with a SHPO will be recorded on the Sex Offenders Register. A SHPO is recorded on the police national computer and will remain there until its expiry date or indefinitely (dependant on the length of the order).

A SHPO can last for a minimum of five years or until a further order is made.

A SHPO consists of prohibitions, which may include restricting access to vulnerable persons or that contact with children may only take place under supervised conditions. In certain circumstances contact may be supervised by a parent/guardian and/or social services.

An individual who is subject to the requirements of the Sex Offender Register will be given a police manager, which will be in addition to any assigned probation officer.

A police manager may be a plain clothes officer or police staff member who will risk assess and manage the individual to protect vulnerable persons and also reduce the likelihood of future re-offending. The number of visits by the police manager will vary and is looked at on a case-by-case basis.

The police have a duty of care to safeguard the most vulnerable people of society. Invariably in cases such as these, police and partner agencies, such as social services may feel there is a potential risk of harm to children.

You may feel like the family member in question poses no risk to the children that they are in direct contact with, for example their own children. Nevertheless, our priority is the safeguarding of children and vulnerable people.

If your child is at immediate risk of harm or you believe a criminal offence is being committed, dial 999 immediately.

Children can contact Childline on 0800 111 for free and confidential advice or visit the Childline website. 

LFF work with those affected by internet offending. Their website is a site for wives, partners, parents, all adult family members, and friends of people who have been known or suspected of accessing illicit images of children or engaging in other inappropriate sexual behaviours involving children. The site also includes a link to a ‘Family and Friends Forum’ which is a space for family and friends of people who have been accessing IIOC online.

Visit the Lucy Faithfull website for more information.

LFF also run a Stop it Now! confidential helpline for anyone with concerns around child sexual abuse: 0808 1000 900. The helpline is available from: 9am to 9pm Monday to Thursday and 9am to 5pm Fridays. See further information on Stop it Now!

Your GP should be able to help you in the first instance. If you need other specialist help, your GP will be able to refer you to the relevant support. We understand that crimes of this nature may be uncomfortable to discuss, however GPs are bound by rules of confidentiality.

The Samaritans are available for everyone, no matter what they are going through. Their help is confidential and available 24/7 365 days a year. You can call for free on: 116 123 or visit the Samaritans website for more information.

SARC provides services to victims or survivors of rape or sexual assault regardless of whether the survivor or victim chooses to report the offence to the police or not. Beech House is the local SARC in Kent.  

CrimeStoppers: Should you wish to report a crime anonymously, you can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111

Internet Watch Foundation (IWF): This organisation encourages anonymous reporting of child sexual abuse content and non-photographic child sexual abuse images.

Marie Collins Foundation: The Marie Collins Foundation works in a range of ways to ensure that at every level the needs of victims and survivors are at the forefront of all decision making. They achieve this by supporting children, young people and their families affected by technology-assisted child sexual abuse by working with them directly and indirectly.

Restitute – Supporting third party victims of crime: Supporting non-abusing partners or children of those arrested for sexual offences against children (including online). They help the forgotten victims, the parents, carers, children, close friends and partners who step in to care when the worst happens.  

Safer Living Foundation (SLF): Charitable Incorporated Organisation that adopts a multi-agency approach with a strong research component, the SLF is focused on reducing sexual offending and re-offending through rehabilitative and preventative initiatives.

Talking Forward - Peer support after the knock: Talking Forward funds peer support for anyone whose adult family member has been investigated for an online sexual offence. They offer an initial call from one of their facilitators before signposting to the zoom or face-to-face peer groups they run.