(1)The notification period for a person within section 80(1) or 81(1) is the period in the second column of the following Table opposite the description that applies to him.
TABLE
| Description of relevant offender | Notification period |
|---|---|
| A person who, in respect of the offence, is or has been sentenced to imprisonment for life [F178, to imprisonment for public protection under section 225 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 [F179 , to an indeterminate custodial sentence under Article 13(4)(a) of the Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2008F179] or to imprisonment forF178] a term of 30 months or more | An indefinite period beginning with the relevant date |
| A person who, in respect of the offence, has been made the subject of an order under section 210F(1) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (order for lifelong restriction) | An indefinite period beginning with that date |
| A person who, in respect of the offence or finding, is or has been admitted to a hospital subject to a restriction order | An indefinite period beginning with that date |
| A person who, in respect of the offence, is or has been sentenced to imprisonment for a term of more than 6 months but less than 30 months | 10 years beginning with that date |
| A person who, in respect of the offence, is or has been sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 6 months or less | 7 years beginning with that date |
| A person who, in respect of the offence or finding, is or has been admitted to a hospital without being subject to a restriction order | 7 years beginning with that date |
| A person within section 80(1)(d) | 2 years beginning with that date |
| A person in whose case an order for conditional discharge or, in Scotland, [F180a community payback order imposing an offender supervision requirementF180] , is made in respect of the offence | The period of conditional discharge or, in Scotland, [F181the specified period for the offender supervision requirementF181] |
| A person of any other description | 5 years beginning with the relevant date |
(2)Where a person is under 18 on the relevant date, subsection (1) has effect as if for any reference to a period of 10 years, 7 years, 5 years or 2 years there were substituted a reference to one-half of that period.
(3)Subsection (4) applies where a relevant offender within section 80(1)(a) or 81(1)(a) is or has been sentenced, in respect of two or more offences listed in Schedule 3—
(a)to consecutive terms of imprisonment; or
(b)to terms of imprisonment which are partly concurrent.
(4)Where this subsection applies, subsection (1) has effect as if the relevant offender were or had been sentenced, in respect of each of the offences, to a term of imprisonment which —
(a)in the case of consecutive terms, is equal to the aggregate of those terms;
(b)in the case of partly concurrent terms (X and Y, which overlap for a period Z), is equal to X plus Y minus Z.
(5)Where a relevant offender the subject of a finding within section 80(1)(c) or 81(1)(c) is subsequently tried for the offence, the notification period relating to the finding ends at the conclusion of the trial.
(6) In this Part, “relevant date” means—
(a)in the case of a person within section 80(1)(a) or 81(1)(a), the date of the conviction;
(b)in the case of a person within section 80(1)(b) or (c) or 81(1)(b) or (c), the date of the finding;
(c)in the case of a person within section 80(1)(d) or 81(1)(d), the date of the caution;
(d)in the case of a person within section 81(7), the date which, for the purposes of Part 1 of the Sex Offenders Act 1997 (c. 51), was the relevant date in relation to that person.
[F182 (7)Schedule 3A (which provides for the review and discharge of indefinite notification requirements) has effect.F182]
154.Section 82 sets out the period during which a relevant offender will be subject to the notification requirements. In the most serious cases, as reflected in the sentence passed for the offence, the person will be subject to the requirements for an indefinite period, which means the rest of his life. In less serious cases, the offender will be subject to the requirements for a fixed period. For example, where after commencement a person is cautioned for a relevant offence, the notification period is two years.
155.The notification period starts from the date of conviction, finding or caution. This is called the ‘relevant date’ (subsection (6)). The ‘relevant date’ in relation to offences in Schedule 3 that are subject to sentence thresholds is set out in section 132.
156.Subsection (2) provides that, where an adult would be subject to the notification requirements for a determinate period (that is ten, seven, five or two years), that period will be halved in the case of an offender who is under 18 on the relevant date (that is, the date of conviction, relevant finding or reprimand or final warning).
157.Subsections (3) and (4) set out how to calculate the notification period where an offender is sentenced for more than one Schedule 3 offence and these sentences are terms of imprisonment running consecutively or partly concurrently. Where the terms are consecutive, they are to be added together. For example, where an offender is sentenced to 3 months’ imprisonment for one relevant offence and 10 months’ imprisonment for another such offence, to run consecutively, the sentence would be treated as 13 months’ imprisonment for the purposes of working out the notification period (in this case, 10 years). Terms will be partly concurrent when they are imposed on different occasions. An example would be where an offender is sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for a Schedule 3 offence, and 6 years into this term he is sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment for a second Schedule 3 offence. Where this is the case, the notification period is based on the combined length of the terms minus any overlapping period. In the example given, the combined length of the sentences would be 22 years and the overlapping period would be the remaining 4 years of the 10-year sentence. So the sentence for the purposes of working out the notification period would be 18 years.
158.Subsection (5) relates to the situation where there is an initial finding that a person is under a disability and has done the act charged and he is later tried for the offence. An example would be where such a finding was made, the person was admitted to hospital under a restriction order and the notification requirements would therefore apply for an indefinite period. Where such a person was subsequently tried for the offence, the indefinite notification period will cease to apply as from the end of the trial. If the person is convicted and sentenced to, say, 12 months’ imprisonment for the offence, the new notification period would be 10 years, starting from the date of the conviction. If the person is acquitted at trial, the person ceases to be subject to the notification requirements in respect of that matter.