Clause 16 - Sections 10 to 15: marriage exception
Sexual Offences Bill [Lords]
9:30 am
Mr Dominic Grieve (Beaconsfield, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 149, in
clause 16, page 6, line 26, at end add
'and outside the United Kingdom'.
We come now to an important clause that causes me considerable anxiety. It provides a marriage exception, under which the
''Conduct of a person . . . which would otherwise be an offence under any of sections 10 to 14''—
including sexual activity with a child, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child and causing a child to watch a sexual act—would be decriminalised if A and B are lawfully married.
It would be possible, according to the laws of some foreign countries, for an individual to transact marriages with, for example, two or three wives—children perhaps as young as 12—and bring them into the UK. Indeed, there may be lower age limits in other countries—I am certainly aware of countries where the limit is as low as 12. The Solicitor-General may be able to help us with that. An individual may have sexual intercourse and carry out every other form of sexual activity with a child by virtue of the fact that it takes place in the framework of a lawful marriage. That is my understanding of how clause 16 will operate. Although I understand the origin of the clause, which lies in anxiety about respect for marriage under the Human Rights Act 1998, it is highly offensive to the majority of people in the country and will lead to potentially appalling consequences.
It is difficult to justify providing a marriage exception if people, having transacted abroad a marriage that would be unlawful in this country, wish to continue to have sexual relations in this country with their partner, bride or however else we wish to describe the person. Such a provision would provide a potential loophole for paedophiles. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that a paedophile living in the United Kingdom might go abroad, procure and lawfully marry an underage girl in that country, bring the child back to the United Kingdom and say that, because of the marriage exemption, he was allowed to continue to have sexual relations with her. I shall wait to hear from the Solicitor-General whether I have understand the position correctly.
Such matters cause me great anxiety. A halfway house cannot be established, although I suppose that we could introduce one of different ages. However, that would not tackle the problem. We set laws in this
country to protect children—those under the age of 16. The fact that the child may be married does not justify the existence of an exception and toleration of behaviour that would otherwise be regarded as improper. I appreciate that there are arguments the other way, such as the one that asks why people from perfectly respectable cultures who have come to this country, perhaps to seek asylum, should suddenly find that having underage wives—circumstances that were perfectly normal previously—is criminalised and prohibited until the girl reaches the age of 16.
However, on balance, the protection of such young children is paramount. It should be said that the laws of this country are that 16 is the age at which a person can be married and that sexual relations with children under that age are not sanctioned by the state. Of course, it would still be possible for the Director of Public Prosecutions to exercise his discretion in such matters and I very much hope that he would do so. I hope that, in approaching such cases, the Crown Prosecution Service would pay great attention to the fact that the marriage seemed to be lawful before embarking on an unpleasant and traumatic prosecution. That the Bill will simply provide a blanket exception worries me very much.