The Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Prescribed Police Stations) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016

Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland

2016 No. 373

Criminal Law

The Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Prescribed Police Stations) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016

Made

3rd October 2016

Coming into operation

21st November 2016

The Department of Justice makes the following Regulations, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 87(1)(a) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003(1) and now vested in it (2)

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Prescribed Police Stations) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 and shall come into operation on 21 November 2016.

Prescribed police stations

2.  The police stations listed in the Schedule to these Regulations are prescribed for the purposes of section 87 (1)(a) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

Revocation

3.  The Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Prescribed Police Stations) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015(3) are revoked.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Justice on 3 October 2016

Claire Sugden

Minister of Justice

Regulation 2

SCHEDULE Police stations in Northern Ireland

Police Service of Northern Ireland	Antrim Police Station 24 Castle Street Antrim BT41 4AU	Antrim Road Police Station 274-280 Antrim Road Belfast BT15 5AA
	Ardmore Police Station 3 Belfast Road Newry BT34 1EF	Armagh Police Station 1-2 City View Newry Road Armagh BT60 1EP
	Ballycastle Police Station 12 Ramoan Road Ballycastle BT54 6EG	Ballymena Police Station 26 Galgorm Road Ballymena BT43 5EX
	Ballymoney Police Station 79 Charlotte Street Ballymoney BT53 6AZ	Banbridge Police Station 14 Castlewellan Road Banbridge BT32 4AX
	Bangor Police Station 1-5 Castle Park Avenue Bangor BT20 4BS	Coleraine Police Station 17 Lodge Road Coleraine BT52 1LY
	Downpatrick Police Station 3 Ballyhoran Road Downpatrick BT30 6RB	Dungannon Police Station 1 Quarry Lane Dungannon BT70 1HX
	Enniskillen Police Station 48 Queen Street Enniskillen BT74 7JR	Larne Police Station 2 Hope Street Larne BT40 1UR
	Limavady Police Station 11 Connell Street Limavady BT49 OEA	Lisburn Police Station 15 Barrack Street Lisburn BT28 1TJ
	Lurgan Police Station 62 Church Place Lurgan BT66 6HD	Magherafelt Police Station 45-47 Meeting Street Magherafelt BT45 6BW
	Musgrave Police Station 60 Victoria Street Belfast BT1 3GL	Newtownabbey Police Station 418 Shore Road Newtownabbey BT37 9RT
	Newtownards Police Station 36-40 John Street Newtownards BT23 4LX	Omagh Police Station 1 Derry Road Omagh BT78 5DR
	Strabane Police Station 23 – 25 Bowling Green Strabane BT82 8BW	Strand Road Police Station 81A Strand Road Londonderry BT48 7AA

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

The Sexual Offences Act 2003 (“the 2003 Act”) imposes notification requirements on offenders convicted of certain sexual offences. These offenders are called “relevant offenders”. The 2003 Act requires relevant offenders to notify certain personal information to the police, both at the outset and periodically thereafter. Persons subject to a Violent Offences Prevention Order (VOPO) provided for in the Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 or a Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Order (STPO), provided for in the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015, are also required to notify in the same way as a relevant offender of the 2003 Act. Provision for the STPO commenced on 1 April 2016, but provision for the VOPO is yet to commence.

Section 87(1) of the 2003 Act provides that relevant offenders of the 2003 Act and those subject to a VOPO or STPO give such notification by attending at any police station in the relevant offender’s local police area which is prescribed in regulations. These Regulations prescribe those police stations in Northern Ireland.

For the purposes of section 87 of the 2003 Act, “local police area” is defined in section 88 (3) of the 2003 Act. Section 88(3) of the 2003 Act applies as if Northern Ireland were a police area (section 88(5) of the 2003 Act). In their application to Northern Ireland references to police areas in Part 2 of the 2003 Act are to be read as references to Northern Ireland (section 136(3) of the 2003 Act).

These Regulations revoke and replace the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Prescribed Police Stations) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 (S.R.2015 No.345) so as to provide an updated list of prescribed police stations which are available in Northern Ireland, for notification purposes.

Specifically, the changes made to the list of prescribed police stations relate to: the removal of Castlereagh and Grosvenor Road police stations from the list, as they are no longer accessible to the public, and a change of address in relation to Downpatrick police station.

(1)

2003 c42.

(2)

Article 12 of, and paragraph 77 (1) and (2) of Schedule 14 to, the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (Devolution of Policing and Justice Functions) Order 2010 (S.I.2010/976) transferred the function of the Secretary of State under section 87 (1)(a) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (the 2003 Act) (in its application to Northern Ireland) to the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland; section 138(5) and (8) of the 2003 Act which makes relevant provision relating to the exercise of the section 87(1)(a) power of the Department of Justice was inserted by Article 12 of, and paragraph 77(1) and (3) of Schedule 14 to, S.I. 2010/976.

(3)

S.R.2015 No.345.