By Phoenix24 - 26 Oct 24 3:01 PM
Hello Friends,
I hope that everyone is well? This is my first post on here and one of many I hope.
I do have a question about staying at a Hotel in London while on a ten year SHPO but first let me tell you the backstory of what has happened to myself first.
I first received "The Knock" back in July 2022 and over two years I had no less than 13 court apperances mostly were just five minuite affairs.
My last one was in July 2024 and I received a ten year SHPO and ten years on the SOR for "Making" a number of Cat C, B and a few A images.
Something I deeply regret.
During those those two years I done the Engage Plus course with the Lucy Faithfull Foundation and received specalist councelling as I was going through a
particulary dark patch. Unfortunatly for me my final court appearance was being watched by a reporter from a local rag behind his desk and screen and decided
to report my case in his paper. On top of this what he wrote was untrue as he reported on a charge that was dropped due to lack of evidence and has made me
look a lot worse than I already am.
Since then my wife and I's life has become intolerable and made the two years of various court apperances seem like a walk in the park. As its now public
knowledge and I have been dismissed from the Birdwatching Club I was a member of. We have been barred from 2 of our favorite pubs that we used to
frequent and worse of all the whole grove where we reside all know about my crimes and supposed and false charge.
Unfortunately for us we both live at the very back of the cul-de-sac (grove) and we have to walk past our neighbours to get to the car in the garage block where
I park my car. A distance of 400 feet give or take and about 20+ families on both sides. On top of this I am a full time carer for my wife and we just found out that she
will have to start dialysis next year for the rest of her life whichunfortunatly is life limiting. Our next door neighbour has took it upon herself to make both of our lives
a misery and has been in touch with all of our friendsin our local pubs. Everytime we leave the house and run what I call the gauntlet of shame were hurled with
verbal abuse. This has had a major impact on my mental health and I have become somewhat of a hermit for the time being.
On the bright side and something we are both looking forward too is that we have sold our home and our offer was accepted on a much nicer place in a much better
area. We just now have to wait for the various solicitors to do there thing before we sign the contract and arrange a moving date which I had hoped would be before
christmas this year but is likely to be next year now. Still its something to look forward to. On top of that we both have an excellent support network mainly from my
father and my wifes immediate family as well as two very close friends who know the whole story all of whome make our lives bearable for this interim period.
I recently visited my doctor due to my wife making an appointment without my knowledge (due to my unwillingness to go myself) and she has prescribed Mirtazapine for
my obvious depression and very black moods which seems to be working and which I am very grateful for.
Now onto the question at hand. Both my PO and PPU officers has said recently that I am unable to stay at a B & B or a Hotel where under 18's can stay and that the only
option available is propertly like AirBNB. I have looked at my SHPO and there is nothing there that says that. We both went on a long weekend break of four nights a few
weeks after my final court apperance and my PPU officer told me that I could not stay at the B&B that we had booked. Luckily we had found a B&B with a spererate annex
and was able to book that on the approveal of my PO.
Since than I have gone through my SHPO numerous times and the closest conditions to my situation above are as follows:
(11) Reside in any private dwelling where a child or young person under the age of 18 is present
or enter into any relationship with another person under the age of 18 or who has children under
the age of 18 without first informing the defendant's police offender manager of that other person's
full personal details with an understanding that a full [or relevant] disclosure of the defendant's
sexual offending history will be made.
(12) Having any unsupervised contact or communication of any kind with any person under the
age of 18, other than
(i) such as in inadvertant, chance meeting associating or befrending a child or young person
under the age of 18 which is not reasonably avoidable in the course of lawful daily life, or
(ii) with the prior consent of the child's parent or guardian (who has knowledge of his
convictions) and with the express prior approval of Social Services for the area.
The rest of the requirements just deal with electronic devices and contact with other offenders. on top of that
I have certain notification requirements for I presume for the SOR which state:
whether you reside or stay at lease 12 hours in a household with a
child (a child is someone who is under the age of 18). The meaning of this is described in law. If you are not sure whether it describes your circumstances, you should ask the police or solicitor for advice.
Then it has this under Notification requirements...
If you have a usual home address but you stay at another
address for 7 days or longer You must go to the police station and
tell the police within 3 days of having stayed at this new address. You
must do this if:
you stay at the new address for 7 days or morem at one time.
or if you stay at the address for two or more shorter periods that add
up to 7 days or more, during a period of 12 months.
If you reside or stay in a household for at least 12 hours where a
child resides or stays (a child is someone under the age of 18)
You must goto the police station and tell the police that there is
a child residing or staying in the same household as you. You must do
this within 3 days of the date when you began to reside or stay in the
household. The meaning of this requirement is described in law. If you
are not sure whether the requirement describes your circumstances,
you should ask the police or solicitor for advice.
My wife and I have birthdays in a few weeks time and she has booked three nights in London for us to get away from our
neighbours and have some time together celebrating our birthdays. As far as I am concerned I am able to stay at a
Premier Inn (or any other hotel for that matter) as its only three days and most of the time we will be out and about only
staying in a private room during the night.
Am I correct in this? My PPU officer has told me that its upto my PO, who I think is likely to say no on this occasion.
What advice can you give? I am inclined to just go and not tell either of them but naturally I do not want to breach any of my
conditions.
Thank you all for taking the time to read this long post and I hope that you are having a great weekend.
Thanks again.
P
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By AB2014 - 29 Oct 24 3:31 PM
+x+xIf you are under probation, you need their permission for even one night away from your approved address. At this stage, the police should be quite happy to let probation make those decisions, and they will probably find out through MAPPA anyway, so telling them shouldn't cause any problems. Everything you do that shows you to be compliant and open ought to serve you well in the longer term. By all means mention that abuse to the police, but if there was no physical violence involved then getting it followed up might cause more trouble than it's worth, if the police even bother. Ah ok, thank you for that. My PO and myself have an OK relationship anyway and cannot forsee any issues with me asking permission about staying there. If for some reason she denies my request and cannot go is there anything I can do to over turn it and does my PO have to give a reason? I am classed as a Medium risk but personally I think im a Low risk as I've not no 'Contact' conviction. Also what is MAPPA? Many thanks. P
Well, if you got ten years on the SOR, that says your sentence (prison or suspended) was more than six months but less that thirty months. If it was actual prison, your probation officer owns you. If it was suspended, that means they have a great deal of control over what you can and can't do. MAPPA is Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements. Unlock can explain it better than I can. It just means probation will liaise with your police manager while you are under probation, and any other agencies that need to become involved, such as social services. Don't make assumptions about risk levels, as I was in prison with a guy who didn't commit any contact offences and was in for possession of indecent images. Tens of thousands of them, and release from prison seems to raise risk levels automatically. I hope you're low risk, but it is probably unlikely that anyone will confirm or deny that at this stage. If your request to stay at a hotel is refused, they should at least give you a reason, in case there is a way to reduce or eliminate the risk, such as staying at one of those Warner Adult Hotels.
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