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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions >> Chief Constable of Kent Police v Carter [2022] EWHC 1972 (Admin) (05 July 2022) URL: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2022/1972.html Cite as: [2022] EWHC 1972 (Admin) |
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QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Royal Courts of Justice |
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B e f o r e :
and
MRS JUSTICE MAY
____________________
CHIEF CONSTABLE OF KENT POLICE |
Applicant |
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- and - |
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PHILIP CARTER |
Respondent |
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ANONYMISATION APPLIES |
____________________
Official Court Reporters and Audio Transcribers
5 New Street Square, London, EC4A 3BF
Tel: 020 7831 5627 Fax: 020 7831 7737
CACD.ACO@opus2.digital
MR N. HOON (instructed by Takk & Co. Solicitors) appeared on behalf of the Respondent.
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Crown Copyright ©
LORD JUSTICE WILLIAM DAVIS:
This is the judgment of the court.
(1) In 2007 a man reported that between 1989 and 1993, when he was aged between ten and thirteen, Mr Carter had offered him money and had made him dress up in school uniform whilst being spanked. This report went no further because the man failed thereafter to cooperate with the police.
(2) In 2011 a man reported that between 1994 and 2000 he had been dressed up by Mr Carter and spanked by him. Mr Carter had paid the man for this. The man was aged between fourteen and nineteen at the time. The matter was forwarded to the Crown Prosecution Service. They declined to authorise any charge.
(3) In the same year, a young man complained that Mr Carter had offered him money to dress up in school uniform. The young man had agreed to do so, whereafter Mr Carter had spanked the victim. Mr Carter then took his own trousers down and tried to put his penis into the young man's mouth. The young man fled the address where this happened. The Crown Prosecution Service did not authorise charge in this case.
(4) In 2016, a nineteen-year-old man with some learning difficulties reported that he had been paid to dress up in school uniform and to be filmed bending over. It was decided that the man, though he was vulnerable, had the capacity to consent and no further action was taken. In the course of the police investigation in 2020, a handwritten contract relating to the activity with this man was found at Mr Carter's home address.
(5) In July 2020, the police received information from a third party that a young man with mental health difficulties had been told by Mr Carter to dress up in school uniform and had been spanked by Mr Carter with sufficient force to cause injury. The young man, it was alleged, had been paid for this. The young man was spoken to by the police and refused to engage. When at a later date Mr Carter's address was searched, a copy of a typewritten contract, consistent with the information given to the police, was found on a computer at the address.
"What has become apparent throughout the Defendant's offending history is his explicit interest in corporal punishment for his own sexual gratification. Over many years this has led to the investigation of numerous offences of serious sexual assaults on children and young men and their incitement to participate in sexual offences. The Defendant favours as his victims individuals who are vulnerable by virtue of drug or alcohol abuse or may have some form of learning disability. The Defendant will often present as a father figure in order to secure their trust before tempting his victims with a monetary reward to secure their participation. A common trait displayed by this defendant is an obsession with seeing his male victims dressed in schoolboy uniforms and then using a schoolmaster's cane to spank their exposed buttocks across a school desk before moving on to seriously sexually assaulting them."
"(1) A chief officer of police … may by complaint to a magistrates' court apply for an order under this section (a "sexual risk order") in respect of a person ("the defendant") if it appears to the chief officer … that the following condition is met.
(2) The condition is that the defendant has, whether before or after the commencement of this Part, done an act of a sexual nature as a result of which there is reasonable cause to believe that it is necessary for a sexual risk order to be made.
…
(4) An application under subsection (1) may be made to any magistrates' court acting for a local justice area that includes—
(a) any part of a relevant police area, or
(b) any place where it is alleged that the person acted in a way mentioned in subsection (2).
…
(6) On an application under subsection (1), the court may make a sexual risk order if it is satisfied that the defendant has, whether before or after the commencement of this Part, done an act of a sexual nature as a result of which it is necessary to make such an order for the purpose of—
(a) protecting the public or any particular members of the public from harm from the defendant, or
(b) protecting children or vulnerable adults generally, or any particular children or vulnerable adults, from harm from the defendant outside the United Kingdom.
(7) Such an order—
(a) prohibits the defendant from doing anything described in the order;
(b) has effect for a fixed period (not less than 2 years) specified in the order or until further order.
…
(9) The only prohibitions that may be imposed are those necessary for the purpose of—
(a) protecting the public or any particular members of the public from harm from the defendant, or
(b) protecting children or vulnerable adults generally, or any particular children or vulnerable adults, from harm from the defendant outside the United Kingdom."
"Acts of a sexual nature are not defined in legislation and therefore will depend to a significant degree on the individual circumstances of the behaviour and its context. The term intentionally covers a broad range of behaviour. Such behaviour may, in other circumstances and contexts, have innocent intentions. It also covers acts that may not in themselves be sexual but which have a sexual motive and/or are intended to allow the perpetrator to move on to sexual abuse."
Though the statutory guidance does not make it explicit, an act of a sexual nature does not necessarily involve the commission of a sexual offence, though committing a sexual offence inevitably will involve an act of a sexual nature.
"The weight of such evidence might be limited. On the other hand, in its cumulative effect it could be cogent."
"We have heard from the two officers and the Defendant. Evidence was also referred to in a 150-page bundle submitted by the Applicant and a 15-page statement from the Defendant. We cannot be sure that a sexual act was carried out by the Defendant. We therefore refuse the application."
"An appeal by case stated is an appeal to a superior court on the basis of a set of facts specified by the inferior court for the superior court to make a decision on the application of the law to those facts."
We do not have a set of facts specified by the Magistrates' Court. We have the evidence heard by the court. We have the bare conclusion the court reached, having heard that evidence. It is quite impossible to tell from the material we have, and from the case stated, what evidence the court accepted and why.
Question 1: Yes.
Question 2: No.
Question 3: Yes.