Blunkett plans major change to 'archaic' sex laws

Social revolution: Gays win equal rights as government paper declares a war on paedophiles and those who prey on teenage prostitutes

The announcement yesterday of changes to what the Home Secretary called Britain's "archaic, incoherent and discriminatory" sex laws is the first major Government foray into this highly sensitive political arena for more than 45 years.

The Command Paper, Protecting The Public, follows lengthy consultations. It is in part the response of ministers to the growing fear of the threat to children from paedophiles and the sex industry but it also tries to address discrimination on the basis of sexuality by sweeping away gay sex laws.

The changes will replace the Sexual Offences Act 1956, which the Home Office says is based on 19th-century law. Mr Blunkett said: "Much of it belongs to an age before the light bulb or the car yet we now live in a world of global communications, with children two clicks away from internet porn sites generated by a multimillion- pound sex industry."

CHILDREN

The Home Secretary said that "sexual crime, especially against children, can tear apart the very fabric of society" and announced measures designed to protect young people from sex attackers. He added that children under 13 could never be deemed to have given consent and that any sexual intercourse with a person of that age must be considered rape.

Adults will be punished for persuading children to undress, closing a previous loophole in the law allowing paedophiles to exploit victims sexually without touching them. A new offence of grooming will be introduced to prosecute paedophiles who pose as children in internet chat rooms to dupe them into meeting. The latter proposal concerned the civil rights group Liberty, which said individuals could be prosecuted not for what they had done but for "things someone thinks they might do, because someone is second-guessing their thoughts".

But Mary Marsh, chief executive of the child protection charity NSPCC, welcomed a measure she said would guard against the "manipulative and coercive actions of potential abusers". She added: "Computers, the internet and mobile phones are providing children with a new virtual playground and an increasing risk from sex offenders exploiting these technologies for their own ends."

The Government plans a civil order that can be served on adults who are deemed to be acting in a way as to present a risk of sexual harm to children, "irrespective of whether such a person has been convicted of a sex offence or not".

VIOLENCE

The Command Paper, as well as clarifying the definition of consent in rape cases, introduces new penalties for sexual violence. And an offence of sexual assault by penetration will cover a range of attacks, with a maximum penalty of life in jail.

Another new offence is being brought in of drug-assisted rape, involving substances used to "stupefy a victim in order that they can be subjected to an indecent act without their consent". But the Government has rejected the idea of a "date-rape" offence in itself, saying: "Our view is that rape is rape, and cannot be divided in this way into more and less serious offences".

VICE TRADE

A new offence of commercial sexual exploitation of a child will introduce tough penalties for people who use child prostitutes. Buying the sexual services of someone under 13 will be punishable by a life sentence, and having sex with prostitutes of 16 or 17, over the age of consent, will carry a potential term of seven years.

To combat the international vice trade, Trafficking People for Sexual Exploitation can mean a 14- year sentence.

GAY SEX

Ministers will finally abolish laws that prevent gay men from engaging privately in sexual practices legal for heterosexuals. The Command Paper was coy in making no specific reference to the repeal of the offence of buggery, included in the 1956 Act.

The paper expressly pointed out that it was not permitting gay sex in public, sometimes called "cottaging". It said: "Concerns have been raised, encouraged by some media misrepresentation, that the replacement of these offences will result in the legalisation of cottaging and gay sex in public. This is not the case."

SEX OFFENDERS' REGISTER

The requirements of the register are to be tightened to include the names of those convicted of sex offences abroad who come to live in Britain, whether or not they are British citizens.

Sex offenders will be required to notify police of a change of address within three days and may also have to give their national insurance number so their movements can be more closely monitored.

But with 97 per cent of the people on the register complying with present requirements, the Government rejects public access to the list, despite a News of the World campaign for what it terms "Sarah's Law" in reference to eight-year-old Sarah Payne, who was murdered by the paedophile Roy Whiting.

The paper says: "Evidence from across the world demonstrates that public access to this type of register drives sex offenders underground and stops them informing police of their whereabouts. This is the very opposite of what we are trying to achieve."

NEW OFFENCES

A new offence of sexual behaviour in public will cover "overtly sexual behaviour that most people consider should take place in private". It will not cover sexual activity "outdoors but in an isolated place where one would reasonably expect not to be observed".

A new offence of voyeurism will address photographers and others who secretly install "peepholes" or cameras to spy on others when they "had a reasonable expectation of privacy".

And an offence of bestiality will address those who have sex with animals.