Mental Health Act 1959

Offences

125 Forgery, false statements, etc.

(1) Any person who, with intent to deceive, forges any of the following documents, that is to say,—

(a) any application under Part IV of this Act;

(b) any medical recommendation or report under this Act; or

(c) any other document required or authorised to be made for any of the purposes of this Act,

or who uses, allows another person to use or makes or has in his possession any such document which he knows to have been forged or any document so closely resembling any such document as to be calculated to deceive, shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) Any person who wilfully makes a false entry or statement in any application, recommendation, report, record or other document required or authorised to be made for any of the purposes of this Act or, with intent to deceive, makes use of any such entry or statement which he knows to be false, shall be guilty of an offence.

(3) Any person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, or to both", or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine, or to both.

(4) In this section " forge " has the same meaning as in the Forgery Act, 1913.

126 Ill-treatment of patients

(1) It shall be an offence for any person being an officer on the staff of or otherwise employed in, or being one of the managers of, a hospital or mental nursing home—

(a) to ill-treat or wilfully neglect a patient for the time being receiving treatment for mental disorder as an in-patient in that hospital or home ; or

(b) to ill-treat or wilfully neglect, on the premises of which the hospital or home forms part, a patient for the time being receiving such treatment there as an out-patient.

(2) It shall be an offence for any individual to ill-treat or wilfully neglect a mentally disordered patient who is for the time being subject to his guardianship under this Act or otherwise in his custody or care (whether by virtue of any legal or moral obligation or otherwise).

(3) Any person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, or to both ;

(b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine, or to both.

(4) No proceedings shall be instituted for an offence under this section except by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

127 Amendment of Sexual Offences Act, 1956

(1) The Sexual Offences Act, 1956, shall be amended as follows:—

(a) for section seven there shall be substituted the following section:—

“7 Intercourse with defective.

(1) It is an offence, subject to the exception mentioned in this section, for a man to have unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman who is a defective.

(2) A man is not guilty of an offence under this section because he has unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman if he does not know and has no reason to suspect her to be a defective.”;

(b) for section forty-five there shall be substituted the following section:—

“45 Meaning of ' defective '.

In this Act defective means a person suffering from severe subnormality within the meaning of the Mental Health Act, 1959.”;

and section eight of that Act shall cease to have effect.

(2) An order under section thirty-eight of the said Act made on conviction of an offence against a girl under the age of twenty-one who is a defective within the meaning of that Act may, so far as it has effect for any of the purposes of this Act, be rescinded under that section either before or after the girl has attained that age.

128 Sexual intercourse with patients

(1) Without prejudice to section seven of the Sexual Offences Act, 1956, it shall be an offence, subject to the exception mentioned in this section,—

(a) for a man who is an officer on the staff of or is otherwise employed in, or is one of the managers of, a hospital or mental nursing home to have unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman who is for the time being receiving treatment for mental disorder in that hospital or home, or to have such intercourse on the premises of which the hospital or home forms part with a woman who is for the time being receiving such treatment there as an out-patient;

(b) for a man to have unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman who is a mentally disordered patient and who is subject to his guardianship under this Act or is otherwise in his custody or care under this Act or in pursuance of arrangements under the National Health Service Act, 1946, or Part III of the National Assistance Act, 1948, or as a resident in a residential home for mentally disordered persons within the meaning of Part III of this Act.

(2) It shall not be an offence under this section for a man to have sexual intercourse with a woman if he does not know and has no reason to suspect her to be a mentally disordered patient.

(3) Any person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.

(4) No proceedings shall be instituted for an offence under this section except by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

(5) This section shall be construed as one with the Sexual Offences Act, 1956; and section forty-seven of that Act (which relates to the proof of exceptions) shall apply to the exception mentioned in this section.

129 Assisting patients to absent themselves without leave, etc.

(1) Any person who induces or knowingly assists any other person—

(a) being liable to be detained in a hospital within the meaning of Part IV of this Act, or being subject to guardianship under this Act, to absent himself without leave; or

(b) being in legal custody by virtue of section one hundred and thirty-nine of this Act, to escape from such custody;

shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) Any person who knowingly harbours a patient who is absent without leave or is otherwise at large and liable to be retaken under this Act, or gives him any assistance with intent to prevent, hinder or interfere with his being taken into custody or returned to the hospital or other place where he ought to be, shall be guilty of an offence.

(3) Any person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, or to both ;

(b) on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine, or to both.

130 Obstruction

(1) Any person who refuses to allow the inspection of any premises, or without reasonable cause refuses to allow the visiting, interviewing or examination of any person by a person authorised in that behalf by or under this Act or to produce for the inspection of any person so authorised any document or record the production of which is duly required by him, or otherwise obstructs any such person in the exercise of his functions, shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing subsection, any person who insists on being present when requested to withdraw by a person authorised as aforesaid to interview or examine a person in private, shall be guilty of an offence.

(3) Any person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, or to both.

131 Prosecutions by local authorities

(1) A local health authority may institute proceedings for any offence under this Part of this Act, but without prejudice to any provision of this Part of this Act requiring the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions for the institution of such proceedings.

(2) In relation to an offence under section one hundred and thirty of this Act in connection with the inspection of any premises, or the visiting, interviewing or examination of any patient, by a person authorised in that behalf by a registration authority within the meaning of Part III of this Act, subsection (1) of this section shall have effect as if the reference to a local health authority included a reference to that authority.