The Court of Appeal today confirmed that the operation of the multiple conviction rule in relation to the disclosure of criminal convictions arising from street prostitution (s1 Street Offences Act) is unlawful. This follows the withdrawal of the appeal on this point (the operation of the Disclosure and Barring Scheme) by the government in December. The Appeal Court has reserved judgement on the issues of whether the retention of such convictions on the police national computer is also unlawful and whether the offence itself is unlawful due to its discriminatory impact.
Fiona Broadfoot, one of the Claimants said today
“I am delighted that the court has finally confirmed that the degrading and humiliating process of having to disclose criminal convictions that are merely a record of my abuse has been confirmed as unlawful. I will continue to fight to have these records removed altogether for myself and all women affected.”
Centre for Women’s Justice will be providing a briefing note and template letter for any woman who have multiple convictions for this offence and wishes to apply for them to be filtered from disclosure.