Sex offence error: Naomi Long expresses 'deep regret' to victims

Naomi Long said any compensation claims would be robustly resisted

Justice Minister Naomi Long has expressed "deep regret" to victims affected by a decision to set aside the convictions of 15 sex offenders.

She has been outlining what caused an administrative error in legislation in 2009, which meant the cases should not have been heard in magistrates' court.

Mrs Long said the error would be corrected in new legislation.

She said any compensation claims by those whose convictions were set aside would be "robustly resisted".

Mrs Long said there was no miscarriage of justice, but rather a guilty verdict in the wrong court.

"All were convicted with the necessary authority," the minister said.

The Public Prosecution Service (PPS) will now consider whether or not to re-run the cases in a crown court.

Senior Department of Justice lawyers will also make sure measures are in place to prevent a similar problem arising again.

The cases cover offences of indecent assault or unlawful carnal knowledge which occurred between 1973 and 2009.

One was handed a prison term while others received suspended sentences.

One of the convicted offenders is still on the sex offenders register but will now be removed as a result of the error.

Independent investigation

The chairman of the justice committee, Paul Givan of the DUP, called for an independent investigation and asks for the "criminal justice inspectorate to be called in".

Emma Rogan of Sinn Féin asked Mrs Long when she intends to speak to victims to assess whether they "want to go through the stress of fresh prosecution proceedings".

Mrs Long said due to the nature of these offences she is not aware of the victim's names or details.

Victim support services will speak to individual victims about their individual cases, she added.

Ulster Unionist assembly member (MLA) Doug Beattie said Mrs Long's statement was "littered with victims being first" but says "you were told in June 2020" but victims were not "told until September and only days before the media were told".

Mrs Long told MLAs: "My department was not involved in this incident and the suggestion we would put reputational damage to the department ahead of the victims is a scurrilous thing to say."

She said there was "a complex process" involved to identify which cases where impacted before victims were informed.

"Any suggestion that there was undue delay is genuinely unfair on both the PPS and officials in my department."

As a result of the mistake, two people will be removed from the sex offenders' register.

But Mrs Long said "there are a number safeguards" in place to ensure they are not a danger to the public, including information held on the police intelligence database.

'Inadvertent' error

On Wednesday, the PPS said it was discovered that an amendment to legislation in 2009, made by the UK government, had "unintentionally removed" three specific offences from those which could be prosecuted in a magistrates' court.

That meant that from that point onwards the offences could only be prosecuted in the crown court.

As this change was inadvertent, it was not highlighted at the time to any of the agencies or practitioners in the criminal justice system, including the PPS.

It was first discovered in 2018 that a mistake had been made, with prosecutors working in the intervening period to identify the cases affected.

All the defendants were tried in magistrates' courts in Northern Ireland between 2009 and 2017.

The convictions that will be rescinded involve:

• 14 victims of indecent assault on a female contrary section 52 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861;

• One victim of indecent assault on a male contrary to section 62 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861;

• Two victims of unlawful carnal knowledge contrary to section 5(1) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885.