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Sexual Offences (Protected Material) Act 1997

Consolidated Text As Enacted Cited authorities 21 Cited in Amendments 51 Related
Vincent
JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
Citation1997 c. 39
Year1997
a statement relating to that or any other sexual offence made by any victim of the offence (whether the statement is recorded in writing or in any other form) ,a photograph or pseudo-photograph of any such victim, ora report of a medical examination of the physical condition of any such victim,the charge, summons or indictment by which the proceedings are instituted names that person as a person in relation to whom that offence was committed; orthat offence can, in the prosecutor’s opinion, be reasonably regarded as having been committed in relation to that person;references to any protected material include references to any part of any such material; andreferences to a copy of any such material include references to any part of any such copy.any protected material, ora copy of any such material,so far as it refers to a defendant having in his possession any copy of any protected material, applies to a manuscript copy made by him which is not a verbatim copy of the whole of that material.(1) In this Act—
  • “contracted out prison” means a contracted out prison within the meaning of Part IV of the Criminal Justice Act 1991;
  • “defendant”, in relation to any proceedings for a sexual offence, means any person charged with that offence (whether or not he has been convicted) ;
  • “governor”, in relation to a contracted out prison, means the director of the prison;
  • “inform” means inform in writing;
  • “legal representative”, in relation to a defendant, means F6 a person who, for the purposes of the Legal Services Act 2007, is an authorised person in relation to an activity which constitutes the exercise of a right of audience or the conduct of litigation (within the meaning of that Act) and who is acting for the defendant in connection with any proceedings for the sexual offence in question;
  • “photograph” and “pseudo-photograph” shall be construed in accordance with section 7(4) and (7) of the Protection of Children Act 1978;
  • “prison” means any prison, F1or young offender institution which is under the general superintendence of, or is provided by, the Secretary of State under the Prison Act 1952, including a contracted out prison;
  • “proceedings” means (subject to subsection (2) ) criminal proceedings;
  • “the prosecutor”, in relation to any proceedings for a sexual offence, means any person acting as prosecutor (whether an individual or a body) ;
  • “relevant proceedings”, in relation to any material which has been disclosed by the prosecutor under this Act, means any proceedings for the purposes of which it has been so disclosed or any further proceedings for the sexual offence in question;
  • “sexual offence” means one of the offences listed in the Schedule to this Act.
any appeal or application for leave to appeal brought or made by or in relation to a defendant in such proceedings;any application made to the Criminal Cases Review Commission for the reference under section 9 or 11 of the any petition to the Secretary of State requesting him to recommend the exercise of Her Majesty’s prerogative of mercy in relation to any such defendant.references to the prosecutor include references to a person acting on behalf of the prosecutor; andwhere any such copy falls to be given to the defendant’s legal representative, references to the defendant’s legal representative include references to a person acting on behalf of the defendant’s legal representative.the prosecutor shall not disclose that material to the defendant; andit shall instead be disclosed under this Act in accordance with whichever of subsections (2) and (3) below is applicable.the defendant has a legal representative, andthe defendant’s legal representative gives the prosecutor the undertaking required by section 4 (disclosure to defendant’s legal representative) ,(3) If subsection (2) is not applicable, the prosecutor shall disclose the material in question by giving a copy of it to the appropriate person for the purposes of section 5 (disclosure to unrepresented defendant) in order for that person to show that copy to the defendant under that section.may be in such form as the prosecutor thinks fit, andwhere the material consists of information which has been recorded in any form, need not be in the same form as that in which the information has already been recorded.(5) Once a copy of any material is given to any person under this Act by the prosecutor, the copy shall (in accordance with section 1(1) ) be protected material for the purposes of this Act.(1) For the purposes of this Act the undertaking which a defendant’s legal representative is required to give in relation to any protected material given to him under this Act is an undertaking by him to discharge the obligations set out in subsections (2) to (7) .that the protected material, or any copy of it, is only shown to the defendant in circumstances where it is possible to exercise adequate supervision to prevent the defendant retaining possession of the material or copy or making a copy of it, and

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