Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009

[F154CListed offence: limitations on prosecution if country not specifiedS

This section has no associated Explanatory Notes

(1)The indictment or complaint in which a listed offence is charged need not contain information from which the country in the United Kingdom in which the act constituting the listed offence took place can be determined.

(2)If the indictment or complaint does not contain that information, prosecution in respect of the listed offence—

(a)is not competent if the person charged with the offence has been, or is being, prosecuted, in respect of the act constituting the listed offence elsewhere in the United Kingdom, and

(b)is competent only if the conditions in subsection (3) which are applicable in the case are met.

(3)Those conditions are—

(a)if it can be determined from the indictment or complaint that the act constituting the offence took place—

(i)either in Scotland or in England and Wales, or

(ii)either in Scotland or in Northern Ireland,

that before the indictment or complaint was served, the prosecutor consulted the relevant director of public prosecutions about the prosecution,

(b)if it can be determined from the indictment or complaint that the act constituting the offence took place either in England and Wales or in Northern Ireland but not in Scotland, that—

(i)before the indictment or complaint was served, the prosecutor consulted both directors of public prosecutions about the prosecution, and

(ii)the person is prosecuted, on the same indictment or complaint, in respect of an act in Scotland constituting a listed offence,

(c)if neither paragraph (a) nor (b) applies, that before the indictment or complaint was served, the prosecutor consulted both directors of public prosecutions about the prosecution.

(4)For the purposes of subsection (3)—

(a)the relevant director of public prosecutions is—

(i)in relation to subsection (3)(a)(i), the Director of Public Prosecutions (that is, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service),

(ii)in relation to subsection (3)(a)(ii), the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland,

(b)the references to both directors of public prosecutions are to the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland.

(5)For the purposes of subsection (2)(a), a person is not to be regarded as having been prosecuted in respect of the act constituting the listed offence, elsewhere in the United Kingdom, if a prosecution elsewhere in the United Kingdom was withdrawn in order to enable the prosecution of the person in Scotland.

(6)In this section, “listed offence” means an offence listed in Part 2 of schedule 4.]

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