Section 12: Causing a child to watch a sexual act

Sexual Offences Act 2003 · 2003 c. 42View on legislation.gov.uk

Part 1: Sexual Offences

A person aged 18 or over (A) commits an offence if—

for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification, he intentionally causes another person (B) to watch a third person engaging in an activity, or to look at an image of any person engaging in an activity,
the activity is sexual, and
either—
B is under 16 and A does not reasonably believe that B is 16 or over, or
B is under 13.

A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—

on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both;
on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years.

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This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.