A North Yorkshire man is calling a court order that requires him to give local police 24 hours' notice before he has sex unjust. The 45-year-old man argued that police are "deliberately" attempting to ruin his life after he was unanimously cleared of a rape charge, according to the Telegraph.
The man, an IT Worker who hasn't been identified due to "legal reasons," also has to surrender his electronic devices for inspection as often as three times a week. "The way I'm being treated is an absolute outrage and breaches at least half the articles in the human rights act," he told reporters Wednesday. The 24 hours' notice order was issued after he refused to give police a PIN number to one of his devices, which both he and his attorney argue can't be legally forfeited.
"Thank God for Fifty Shades of Grey because it has helped people realize that people have different kinds of sexual interests and that they are harmless," the man said, referencing his attendance at the Fifty Shades-style FetSoc fetish club at York University. The man argues that his participation in club activities may have inspired the police's current actions against him.
"I do believe that it has been part of the reason the police brought this order against me," he said, the Telegraphreports. "It was back in 2010 to 2012 when I attended the club with a former partner while we were both students." According toBBC News, so-called "sexual risk orders" debuted in England and Wales in 2015. These orders can be used against "any individual who the police believe poses a risk of sexual harm," even without a criminal conviction.
The man, a father of two who argues that the order has made relationships "impossible," will head back to court in August, at which point a decision on continuing the sex ban will be reached.
