And then the bad news
The good news from a letter received by my MP, John Redwood, from The Rt Hon David Gauke MP, Lord Chancellor & Secretary of State for Justice was that the use of Police Letters in harassment cases, much loved by groomers trying to silence their victims, is under review.
The bad news is that the messy laws that leave the victims of adult sexual grooming with no protection are not under review, and there is no CURRENT intent to review them.
(This is at odds with advice given elsewhere, but this is 'from the horse's mouth', so I give this great credence.)
In a nutshell: there are no intentions whatsoever to change the law from the Sexual Offences Act 2003, because the government considers that it is working well!!
In this instance, the government is sadly misinformed. Until a person is 15 years 364 days old, they are entitled to protection from grooming. On their 16th birthday, this changes absolutely -- there is no protection from sexual grooming for adults in the UK.
My case, Terri's case, Anna's case, all point to the fact that we have no legal recourse for the significant deception and manipulation that lured us into relationships with adult groomers.
It is therefore doubly important that we really get behind Anna Rowe's petition to have 'catfishing' recognised as a crime, as a start point for seeing government take this seriously. I urge you to sign it: Creating fake online profiles for sex is fraud. Make Catfishing a crime!
