I'm a year into a 10 year SHPO (sentence of 16 months) , so earliest my conviction could be spent is another 4 years, if I can get the SHPO ended early then.

On the basis it's never too early to start planning, it would be good to hear from others who tried this. 

My reasons (in no particular order) :
1. Would enable me and my wife to fully move on
2. While the conditions not onerous, they are (in my opinion) unnecessary
3. It makes all insurance costs (the car, house etc..) a lot more giving some financial hardship
4. It may restrict my ability to get an EU visa, disappointing my wife who wishes we can travel more

Any information, experiences, suggestions will be very welcome. 

Paul 

Finding a local solicitor who will take you on under legal aid, is probably the way to start. You can go to court on your own, but having someone else in your corner is always useful.

Firstly, as you may already know. If you are under the 5 year mark into your SHPO, you would need to ask police for permission to allow a full discharge. Beyond the 5 year mark you can simply apply to the courts yourself with your application to discharge.
Since you are only a year in so far, while being very unlikely the police would agree to discharge your SHPO. Your best bet is to apply to the courts and have the SHPO amended. To amend the SHPO you do not need permission from police and can apply yourself, or your solicitor can (if you have / can find one)

Should this be the step you take, there are number of things you might want to consider

1. Legal Aid - if funds are low and paying for legal support is difficult, Some solicitors may allow representation through Legal Aid. But remember, because the solicitor is not getting paid in full because of this, (in my opinion) they may not provide you with all the vital information.
Such as the Court of Appeal Q vs Smith, (https://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2011/1772.html ) you need to make sure the solicitor and barrister has a full understanding of this ruling. My first solicitor was useless and refused to acknowledge the ruling and was actually more on the side of the Police, suggesting that there was actually nothing wrong with my SHPO and it was "normal".
One key thing to make a note of, SHPOs have with in last few years been changed to allow positive actions to be drafted with them.

2. Evidence - The smith ruling I linked above should help identify anything with in your SHPO that the ruling deems disproportionate. If you have a restriction on access for under 18, for a non contact offence. It should be removed, although the likely outcome would be it will be lowered to 16. Unless, you have a good solicitor who can argue this point.
Evidence of how the SHPO is affecting your ability to live a law abiding life, highlight the areas of the SHPO which are ultimately hindering your ability to change your circumstances, you could argue the contact restriction is infringing on family life as part of Article 8 of the human rights act, you could document how much money is being wasted on insurance because of an unspent conviction, the difficulties of finding work, (if you are seeking to find work) the list goes on but you must find the evidence. I was able to win my discharge because I provided enough evidence that the SHPO it's self was the cause of preventing me from changing my circumstances (finding work / training)

3. Time - once your application to amend goes through, it could take one week, a month, a year. Courts are extremely back logged so there is no telling how long your application might take, and unless you have a half decent PPU you may have a small fight in your hands if they oppose and might not turn up at all to delay the process.
If the ruling does not go in your favor I believe there is a time limit before you apply again, which is 7 years (to my knowledge)

4. Cost - I believe if the ruling does not go in your favor, I think you can still appeal the decision. But this will not be covered by Legal Aid and might cost quite a large sum.
If Legal Aid isn't available to you because you are working etc, it might still cost a fair bit

5. Judge - There is no telling what kind of person the Judge would be, I was seen by one Judge on day one in my application to discharge, had it not been for my barrister requesting I provide further, evidence my application would have been denied then and there. Which also allowed him to request a new Judge who was more fair and read my application in more detail.

The key thing when it comes down to it, is research. Understand the information and challenge the officers who visit, document everything and use their words against them. 
The more people do this the better chances we all have at actually having Police not get away with imposing further unlawful restrictions.

Thanks for replies. 

I'm not eligible for legal aid. I'm retired, and the SHPO conditions do not impact me at all (just annoyance having it). As I have to wait 5 years anyway to get my conviction spent, that will be the time to get the SHPO set aside. 

I'm looking to challenge/ rescind my SHPO  later this year but need to see when my five years is up.  On initial hearing at magistrates I plead guilty and was put on register and had shpo applied  that day. However sentencing at crown wasn't until another 9 months, does  the SHPO imposed count from crown court or from initial hearing at magistrates. My sentence was 2 years suspended  200 hours community service  on the register and shpo for ten years.  Looking to get the order removed as want the conviction  to be spent. Also does the five years count from the date of conviction or after sentence completed ? Sorry if hijacked the thread many thanks 

 

It's sentence plus 4 years, so I'd assume from date of sentence at court. So mine will be spent after 5 years 4 months (if I get te SHPO removed) and yours after 6 years. Don't know when the SHPO itself starts, but mine is a 10 year one anyway (hence why I hope to get in cancelled when it would be possible to have my conviction spent. 

Time on the SOR starts from day you plead guilty, but SHPO usually only starts on day of sentencing. Where there is a long gap between the two, it should really be backdated, although I dont think SHPOs can be backdated, in which case it would be 5 years from date of sentencing. The SHPO therefore extends the time on the SOR and time until the conviction is spent, which would then be the same as the end date of the SHPO.

Hi All

This seemed like a good place to answer some questions and to put some further information RE Sexual Harm Prevention Order variations/discharges for others:

Variation/Discharge

You can apply for a variation of a SHPO at any time (as can the Police). 
A SHPO can only contain prohibitions (or positive requirements) that are "necessary in order to protect the public from sexual harm" or that "protect children or vulnerable adults generally, or any particular children or vulnerable adults, from sexual harm from the offender outside the UK".
The Court cannot discharge a SHPO in its entirety within the first 5 years, without the consent of the person and the Chief Police officer. The court can still vary (add + remove conditions, change the length of the order etc) within this 5 year period and does not need the consent of the Chief Police officer.
If sentenced to a SHPO in a Crown Court, it is that Crown Court to which an application for variation/discharge must be made.
If sentenced to a SHPO in a Magistrates/Youth Court, an application should be made to the closest Magistrates Court to where the person currently resides.
There is no proscribed application form. If unrepresented, simply send an email to the court listings office, setting out in full the grounds you rely upon. A date will be listed in due course.

Some matters are dealt with "administratively". This is generally where the Police do not object to the variation/discharge being sought, and oftentimes, the Court will write back to an individual letting them know the Judge has amended/discharged the order in X terms.
If there is any disagreement with the Police, or the Court wishes to enquire further into something mentioned within the Application, generally the matter will be listed for an open court hearing.
You will receive notice of the court hearing, which is a hearing open to the public. Generally, if matters progress to this and the Police are opposing an application, they will be represented by a barrister who acts for the Chief Police officer. 
This hearing is technically classed as a "civil" hearing, although takes place in the Crown Court. Oftentimes there can be "IT issues" at these sorts of hearings, as the DCS (Defence Case System, IT system used by Courts/Barristers) does not allow details of SHPO variation matters to be listed on there, as they are not a "criminal" matter. Therefore I advise taking paper copies of all documents even if you have digitally submitted them.

The route of appeal against a decision, or refusal, to vary or discharge a SHPO is to the Court of Appeal Criminal Division, despite the variation itself being considered a civil matter.
The route is via S353 of the Sentencing Act 2020 which gives a right of appeal to the Court of Appeal (if variation took place at Crown Court), or appeal to the Crown Court if variation took place in Magistrates or Youth Court.

The "five-year period" (for purposes of determining whether the Chief Police officer needs to consent to a discharge) starts from the date the Court made the order. If you were subject to an Interim SHPO prior to sentencing, this does not count. Only when the "full" SHPO came into place does the five-year clock start, which generally will be the date of sentencing for most people.

Generally, there is no legal aid available for SHPO-related matters post-sentencing. The limited exception is that the original firm who represented you may be able to represent you under the terms of the original Legal Aid certificate - generally this would however only be possible within the first year post-sentence. Legal Aid is not available in any other circumstances and paying privately can be very expensive - this should not discourage you though as it's entirely possible to complete the application process yourself with just a bit of patience and research.

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All views, opinions & contributions are my own and do not represent the views of Unlock unless specifically stated.

Thanks, very helpful. 
What would be the best reasons to stand best chance to get the order ended? I fear the court will just look at the original hearing and conclude if it was 10 years then, why now change to 5?

Anyway, I'll discover in due course. 

"1. Would enable me and my wife to fully move on
2. While the conditions not onerous, they are (in my opinion) unnecessary
3. It makes all insurance costs (the car, house etc..) a lot more giving some financial hardship
4. It may restrict my ability to get an EU visa, disappointing my wife who wishes we can travel more"

These are good reasons to want to have the SHPO ended, but you just need to back it up with evidence.

1. You could argue the SHPO is limiting the things you and your wife can do together, although the SHPO is addressed to what you can not do, it is extending on to your wife as well. 

2. As with the case law I provided, if you have restrictions which simply should not be there in the first place, then it needs to be addressed and corrected. : Example, if you have an image offence non contact. Then having contact restrictions in your SHPO is disproportionate, you could further argue that after living with the SHPO for the last 5 years under these conditions has infringed on your rights to family life. But you may have to prove it by detailing which family members you have who have children under 18 ect. You could even argue the fact you were given a contact restriction with under 18's in stead of the default under 16's. Being given a restriction of 18's should only apply to those who have offended while in a position of trust.

3. Insurances and the extra you have to pay could be your best reason, for having an unspent conviction and being forced to disclose it. You could provide evidence how much insurance you have paid over the 5 year period compared to someone else who pays less while not having a conviction ect, if there is or has been any hardships, financial sacrifices made that would have actually benefited to a change in your circumstances could be used as evidence.

4. Even without a SHPO, I believe when it comes to travel. You are still bound by the Notification Requirements, even if your discharge was successful, you will still be on the register for the full sentence given. If there are any restrictions relating to travel with in the SHPO then technically it should be removed, because it interferes with the Notification Requirements. As I do not travel, this is not something I can really provide further opinions on.

If the SHPO is currently not hindering you that much, complying with the police during their visits may very well help with them determining what risk you pose. If you are already considered a low risk to them, then after 5 years they might even consider or suggest having your SHPO discharged early. It is rare but there are still some good officers out there who do not simply have a guilty till proven innocent approach. Challenge them, ask questions but only answer questions you are required to answer.