Section 97 Sexual Offences Act 2003

Section 97 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 is about Notification orders: applications and grounds. It provides as follows:

(1) The chief constable of the Police Service of Scotland (“the chief constable”) may by application to any sheriff, apply for an order under this section (a “notification order”) in respect of a person … if—

(a)it appears to the chief constable that the following three conditions are met with respect to the person, and

(b)the person resides in Scotland or the chief constable believes that the person is in, or is intending to come to, Scotland.

(2)The first condition is that under the law in force in a country outside the United Kingdom—

(a) the person has been convicted of a relevant offence (whether or not the person has been punished for it),

(b)a court exercising jurisdiction under that law has made in respect of a relevant offence a finding equivalent to a finding that the person is not guilty by reason of insanity,

(c)such a court has made in respect of a relevant offence a finding equivalent to a finding that the person is under a disability and did the act charged against the person in respect of the offence, or

(d) the person has been cautioned in respect of a relevant offence.

(3)The second condition is that—

(a)the first condition is met because of a conviction, finding or caution which occurred on or after 1st September 1997,

(b)the first condition is met because of a conviction or finding which occurred before that date, but the person was dealt with in respect of the offence or finding on or after that date, or has yet to be dealt with in respect of it, or

(c)the first condition is met because of a conviction or finding which occurred before that date, but on that date the person was, in respect of the offence or finding, subject under the law in force in the country concerned to detention, supervision or any other disposal equivalent to any of those mentioned in section 81(3) (read with sections 81(6) and 131).

(4)The third condition is that the period set out in section 82 (as modified by subsections (2) and (3) of section 98) in respect of the relevant offence has not expired.

(5)If on the application it is proved that the conditions in subsections (2) to (4) are met, the sheriff must make a notification order.

(5A)A record of evidence must be kept on any application for an order under this section.

(5B)The clerk of the court by which a notification order under this section is made must cause a copy of the order as so made to be—

(a)given to the person named in the order,

(b)sent to the person by registered post, or

(c)sent to the person by the recorded delivery service,

and where a copy of the order is so sent to the person, an acknowledgement or certificate of delivery issued by the Post Office is sufficient evidence of the delivery of the copy on the day specified in the acknowledgement or certificate.

(6)In this section and section 98, “relevant offence” has the meaning given by section 99.

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Source: legislation.gov.uk
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