Closed petition Introduce a statute of limitations for sexual offences

Closed on 30 March 2015

Following the recent high-profile acquittals of Nigel Evans, Dave Lee Travis, William Roche etc, it is clear that a statute of limitations must be introduced for historic allegations.

For an offence under section 9 or 15 of the Sexual Offences Act (sexual activity with person under 16) a limitation of 12 months should be re-introduced. This limitation existed for the equivalent offence under pre-2003 legislation.

For an offence of rape, sexual assault etc, a limitation of between 2 and 3 years should be introduced.

For sections 5 through 9 (sexual activity with person under 13) a limitation of 10 years should be introduced. A longer period is called for as children that age are often reluctant to report such an offence.

For all other sexual offences, a limitation of 5 years should be introduced.

These limitations of statute would bring an end to the misery suffered by those people who are falsely accused out of spite, years after the alleged "offences" took place.