Sexual offences
Allegations of sexual offending, including allegations made many years after the events described.
Prefer to write? Make an enquiry.
What this covers
- Rape and assault by penetration
- Sexual assault
- Historic allegations, sometimes decades old
- Multi-complainant and multi-defendant trials
- Appeals against conviction and sentence
What actually happens
- Anonymity
- A complainant in a sexual offence case has automatic anonymity for life. That is why no case of this kind is named anywhere on this site, whatever its outcome, and why the two pre-charge matters that touch on one are reduced to initials.
- Delay
- There is no time limit on a prosecution. Where an allegation is many years old the defence is often about what has been lost in the meantime: records, witnesses, the ability to say where you were.
- The complainant’s history
- Section 41 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act restricts what can be asked about previous sexual behaviour. Permission has to be applied for, in writing, before the trial.
What Imran does about it
He prepares the section 41 and bad-character applications that decide what the jury hears, and cross-examines to a plan agreed in advance. In this area more than any other, the preparation is the case.
If you are facing an allegation of this kind, the earlier he is instructed the more can be done. The first account given in interview is the one the case is tested against for the next two years.
Regulated by the Bar Standards Board. Authorised to accept Public Access instructions. Not authorised to conduct litigation.