Sexual Offences Act 1985

Sexual Offences Act 1985
Long titleAn Act to make, as respects England and Wales, provision for penalising in certain circumstances the soliciting of women for sexual purposes by men, and to increase the penalties under the Sexual Offences Act 1956 for certain offences against women.
Citation1956 c. 44
Territorial extent England and Wales
Dates
Royal assent16 July 1985
Commencement16 September 1985
Repealed1 April 2010[1]
Other legislation
Repealed byThe Policing and Crime Act 2009, Sch.8, Pt.2
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Sexual Offences Act 1985 (c.44) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created two offences concerning prostitution, and increased the maximum sentence for attempted rape from seven years to life imprisonment. The act was applicable in England and Wales only.

The new offences were kerb crawling and persistently soliciting women for the purposes of prostitution. In 1991 the Director of Public Prosecutions and head of the Crown Prosecution Service, Sir Allan Green KCB QC, was arrested for an offence under this Act and had to resign.[2]

Sections 3, 4(2) and (3), and 5(2) were repealed by Schedule 7 to the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

The whole Act was repealed by the Policing and Crime Act 2009.[3]

  1. ^ The Policing and Crime Act 2009 (Commencement No. 4) Order 2010 (S.I. 2010/507 (C. 37)), article 5
  2. ^ "CPS names new boss". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 22 October 1998. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  3. ^ Policing and Crime Act 2009 "Schedule 8, Part 2". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 4 May 2019.