Will Everyone Find Out? Dealing With Publicity During a Sexual Offence Investigation.

Will my name be in the newspaper?

As former probation officers, when we began our work at Safer Lives, we often focused on telling our clients the legal consequences of an investigation. What a suspended sentence,  community order or custodial sentence actually meant in reality.

But what we heard time and again was that the bigger fear wasn’t prison. It was publicity.

Many people told us they would rather receive a prison sentence that no one knew about than stay in the community and risk being recognised or talked about.

That fear came from awareness. Ten years ago it was common to see names in local papers. Online sexual offences were still rare and made headlines.

Things have begun to change, though. Just because some cases are reported, it doesn't mean they all are.

How likely is it that your name will be reported?

We’re talking here about online offences involving indecent images or sexual communication. These arrests are now extremely common. Between 800 and 1,000 people a month are either arrested, interviewed under caution, or just have their devices taken by the police for investigation. There are nowhere near that many news stories about these cases.

In most instances, there’s no coverage at all.

Our best estimate, based on the people we’ve worked with, is that around 10 to 30 percent of cases are picked up by the press. Often less.

It depends on a few things:

• Whether a journalist is physically in the courtroom that day

• The size of the court and whether it’s regularly monitored by local media

• Whether there’s anything unusual about the case such as a public-facing job or a very large number of images. There is a higher risk of a case being reported if the person is in a safeguarding role (eg. a teacher, police officer, doctor). We’ve supported people in trusted professions and high-profile jobs where nothing was ever published and others where their case was reported.

If it’s going to happen, will I know?

Usually, yes.

Either you or your solicitor will notice if there’s a reporter in the room. They tend to sit quietly with a notepad and don’t take part in proceedings.

If someone is there from the press, it’s safest to assume they may write something. Articles can be published within a few hours or take several days. Sometimes even a week.

What we recommend

You can’t stop a journalist from reporting if they choose to. But there are a few things you can do that make a difference.

• Remove your social media. Take down Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and anything else that connects your name or photo publicly. Ask close family to do the same. Reducing your social media presence decreases the risk of being tagged on online websites or pulled into comments.

• Decide who you'd want to tell

You don’t need to tell everyone. But it’s worth deciding in advance who you’d want to hear it from you rather than seeing it online. A short, honest conversation is better than someone reading it through a journalist’s summary.

It’s normal to feel afraid

This is one of the most common fears people have. You don’t have to justify it. You don’t have to ignore it. You just need to plan for it, in a way that works for you.

Most people we support are not named publicly. Some are. Either way, it’s something we can help you prepare for.

If you’ve been affected by the issues raised in this post, you can get in touch with us for support or more information.

www.saferlives.com | @saferlives | info@saferlives.com