M, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
- LORD JUSTICE MOORE-BICK
- LADY JUSTICE KING
Areas of Law
- Criminal Law and Procedure
- Human Rights Law
2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
In 1997, M was convicted of sexual offenses, resulting in lifetime notification requirements. Post-release, M allowed informal police visits without a warrant but contested them, claiming they breached Article 8 rights. The Divisional Court upheld the legality of Section 96B and police visits. On appeal, points focused on the lawfulness of informal visits and lack of a separate Section 96B exemption. The court ruled that consensual informal visits are lawful and that there’s no disproportionate interference with rights from the lack of a separate exemption process.
Judgment
Lord Justice Moore-Bick :
In 1997 the appellant, M, was convicted of a number of serious sexual offences in respect of which he was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment. As a result he became obliged to comply with the notification requirements of Part 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 for life.
The statutory framework
Section 325 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 requires chief officers of police to establish arrangements for the purpose of assessing and managing the risks posed in their areas by sexual offenders subject to the notification requirements of Part 2 of the Sexual Offences Act. Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements, known as “MAPPA”, have been established to discharge that obligation and detailed guidance on the implementation of those arrangements (“MAPPA Guidance”) has been issued by the Secretary of State under section 325(8) of that Act. The central purpose of MAPPA is to monitor registered sexual offenders in order to detect any signs of renewed offending or preparations being made for further offending. In order to achieve that end MAPPA Guidance suggests that offenders should be visited in their homes at regular intervals, more or less frequently depending on the level of risk they are deemed to pose: low risk offenders once a year, medium risk offenders every six months, high risk offenders every three months and very high risk offenders every month. Guidance issued by the Association of Chief Police Officers suggests that, in order to avoid drawing attention to such visits, in all but exceptional circumstances they should be carried out discreetly by plain clothes officers in pairs using unmarked police vehicles.
In 2006 Parliament passed the Violent Crime Reduction Act which, by section 58, introduced into Part 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 a new section 96B, which makes provision for the police to obtain warrants to enter and search the homes of those who are subject to the notification requirements. The material parts for present purposes provide as follows:
“ 96B Power of entry and search of relevant offender's home address
(1) If on an application made by a senior police officer of the relevant force a justice of the peace is satisfied that the requirements in subsection (2) are met in relation to any premises, he may issue a warrant authorising a constable of that force–
(a) to enter the premises for the purpose of assessing the risks posed by the relevant offender to which the warrant relates; and
(