No access to prostitutes for the mentally vulnerable

In October 2021 the Secretary of State for Justice successfully appealed Hayden J’s decision that a care worker would not offend s 39(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (SOA 2003) if she arranged for a 27 year -old mentally vulnerable man at his request to visit a prostitute. The man had capacity to consent to paid sex but was unable to make the arrangement himself.    

A major part of the Appeal Court’s judgment was concerned with the meaning of s 39(1) of the SOA 2003 which provides here.