Suspended Sentence for Sexual Communications

Case study summary

Our client came to us terrified that he would receive a prison sentence for sexual communications offences. We ensured that he received a suspended sentence after our specialist lawyers advanced extensive mitigation at his sentence hearing at Portsmouth Crown Court.

Case study

We first met our client after he came to our firm during the investigation stage of his case. He had been accused of communicating with a 13-year-old child on a social media application and was terrified that the end result would be a prison sentence.

It became clear following discussions with our client that he accepted the offences. However, he explained that he had recently been suffering with depression after breaking up with his long-term partner. He sought solace in social media applications and things had spiralled out of control during this particular conversation.

This was a case where the possibility of an immediate custodial sentence was significant and our priority was clear in ensuring that the court were aware of his circumstances so that the most appropriate sentence was given. Our client was a person of good character and had no previous dealings with the criminal justice system. It was also clear from the evidence that no other conversations with children of this nature had occurred.

We obtained character references from those close to our client and from his employer, who was aware of the case and wanted to assist in any way they could. This, along with our client's personal circumstances at the time of the offending, were advanced to the court by our instructed specialist barrister.

Having heard our client's mitigation, the court was satisfied that there was a low prospect of him being involved in offences in the future. As a result, our client received a suspended sentence and did not have to go to prison. He was able to continue in his career and being to rebuild his life.