11. Sexual offences

Abstract

This chapter examines the law governing sexual offences found in the Sexual Offences Act 2003, focusing on non-consensual offences. Some of the controversies examined include the following: Parliament’s failure to define core elements of the offences, such as ‘consent’ and ‘sexual’ and the attempts by the courts to fill these lacunae; whether a deception perpetrated by the defendant necessarily vitiates the complainant’s consent; and the overly wide breadth of some of the offences.