The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) It is not known how many abduction cases have collapsed following the defense of “sex sleep” claims, despite the rare medical condition being abused.
Of the prosecutions of the agency of England and Wales previously committed to “strongly challenging” sexism, following a string of high-profile cases where sexual suspects were dismissed – or investigations dropped – after the disorder was raised.
The suspect was accused of sexual violence and child abuse among those who alleged that he was in a sleeping state at the time of the alleged offense so that he could not be convicted. Sleep experts say such claims are hard to disprove.
In one high-profile case, the CPS apologized and paid damages for incorrectly challenging the defendant’s claim that he had not kidnapped the woman – and instead was suffering from insomnia and was engaged in sleeping at will.
Now a freedom of information request has revealed that, despite the government’s promise to improve its treatment of sex offenders, the CPS does not know how many cases in the past five years it has dropped, or refused to bring charges, after sex offenders were raised.
He also does not know how many times the defense has been used in court, and how many times it has been successful, saying that he did not “admonish” or contribute information to the defenses of “accused” or suspects.
The CPS said all the sex sleep claims were “strongly questioned” and suggested that collecting data on sex sleep was not necessary because it undertook “separate reviews” to identify opportunities for learning.
But Jade McCrossen-Nethercott, 32, who took legal action against the CPS after a rape case was dropped in 2020.He said the lack of data collection was “absurd.” “If no records are kept, how can they identify patterns, track defense abuses, or evaluate whether reforms are actually working?” he asked.
In a major case, the legal team claimed that he – rather than the alleged assailant – had been suffering from sleep deprivation at the time of the alleged offence. CPS later sent her a “lessons learned” letter, promising that she had “taken steps” to avoid future mistakes. But McCrossen-Nethercott said the failure to collect had “significantly undermined” the pledge. “Victims deserve more than meaningful assurances. Without data, CPS is essentially operating haphazardly,” he said.
Sexsomnia is a recognized psychiatric disorder that can cause patients to engage in sexual activity while in non-REM sleep.
They can keep their eyes open, but have no consciousness or memory of their behavior. If the jury accepts the defendant’s protest that the person was in a state of “automatism,” such as trance, at the time of the alleged crime, they will not be convicted.
Lab tests and partner histories can be used to confirm whether the sex dream claim is genuine, but it is difficult to completely disprove it. Many of those on the court successfully pleading sexsomnias had no history of sleep deprivation and no formal diagnosis. Employers have requested that lab tests, bed-partner interviews, and a medical history be obtained as a minimum in all cases in which the condition is raised.
In the month of April Notice investigation identified 80 cases over the past 30 years, where the defendants have been accused of rape, sexual assault or child abuse, sleeping or working during sex sleep, including 51 in the past decade and eight last year. The figures are likely to be a significant underestimate of how many cases do not reach the public domain.
He also found evidence of law firms advertising the so-called “sex defense” and boasting of dropped charges after putting pressure on the CPS behind the scenes.
The findings prompted a warning from Dr Neil Stanley, a sleep expert who gave evidence, that the defense was being used “cynically” in some cases. “I know in my heart the cases where the guilty have taken away,” he said.
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The CPS said it has vigorously challenged all sex offender claims and pointed to three recent cases where it won convictions.
Christopher Johnson, 40, was convicted on June 16 of sex offenses after a jury rejected his defense. In September, Connor Chambers, 31, was convicted of 19 sex crimes, including 11 counts of kidnapping, claiming he had sex. He was convicted and jailed for 30 years and six on parole. Another man was jailed for 10 years in March for attacking two university students.
A spokesman said in court, “However, the defense of non-insane automatism will be questioned more vigorously in the same way as any other defense,” adding: “our litigants will always use the evidence available to defend the defense.”
They added that the CPS has introduced safeguards in sex cases, including referring decisions to lower cases for approval by senior officials. But when asked how many such reports were made, he said he did not know and that it would take too long to review manually.
Victim Support called CPS to reform her approach.
Michaela-Clare Addison, lead national sexual violence charity, has warned that there could be a new “rough sex defence”, a colloquial term for defense claims that victims agree to have been seriously injured – and sometimes killed – in rough sex that went wrong. .
As well as tracking the prevalence and incidence of cases where sexism was raised, he said the CPS should monitor whether the firm was involved before or after the outbreak.
She added: “It is vital that the CPS collect data on sleep deprivation cases to identify and tackle this growing trend.”