Limiting the Scope of the Conclusive Presumptions in the Sexual Offences Act 2003

摘要

B was convicted of seven offences of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, contrary to s. 4(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. B had been in a relationship with the complainant (C) for five years. In December 2009, pretending to be an American named 'Grant', B contacted C on Facebook. An online relationship developed between C and the fictional Grant, who persuaded C to send him photographs of her posing topless. Grant then used the photographs to pressurise C into performing various sexual acts in front of a webcam. He threatened to send the photographs to C's employers and to publish them on the Internet if she did not comply with his demands. Counts 1 and 2 on the indictment related to incidents in which C filmed herself inserting her fingers and a hairbrush into her vagina.