No sex is rough

[Gob]

The man who must notify police 24 hours before he has sex has said he is sleeping rough in a wood near York.

John O'Neill said restrictions over his use of communications devices - another condition of his Sexual Risk Order (SRO) - had restricted his ability to work and claim benefits.

A court will decide on Friday whether the interim order is to be extended. Mr O'Neill was cleared of rape last year.

North Yorkshire Police said it was satisfied the order was proportionate.

The Department for Work and Pensions has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Mr O'Neill, 45, told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme that when he contacted Universal Credit to inform them of a change in his circumstances, he was told the SRO's restrictions meant he could no longer meet the criteria for claiming unemployment benefits.

This was because, he said, the SRO states he must be able to make any communications device he uses, such as computers or telephones, available to police.

This prevented him for applying for jobs in which he would be required to use an office computer or telephone.

He said, although he was prepared to do manual labour, he had been told he could not claim benefits because he was not making himself available for all work.

Mr O'Neill claims he has also been told that, as he is no longer eligible for Universal Credit, he cannot receive legal aid.

He said this had forced him to represent himself in court.

He said the conditions of the order were "incredibly broad and extreme" and went "far away from the Home Office guidelines".

The police applied for the order in part after the judge at Mr O'Neill's rape trial - at which he was cleared - called him "dangerous". The father-of-two has denied this and said the police had misinterpreted the judge's words.

He said he had an interest in sado-masochism and used to visit a fetish club.

The SRO requires Mr O'Neill to disclose any planned sexual activity to the police or face up to five years in prison.

He is currently living rough on the outskirts of York, sleeping in a tent.

He said he was homeless four years ago, but had "thought all of [those problems] were behind me".

"There's enough to live, enough to survive," he said, referring to his living arrangements, but added: "Obviously the circumstances are far less than ideal."

Mr O'Neill told the BBC in July that he had lost contact with his children since the order was imposed.

North Yorkshire Police said in a statement it "will only make an application to the court for a Sexual Risk Order in circumstances where it is considered necessary to do so to protect the public from the risk of sexual harm".

[Jarlaxle]

What a travesty. If I'm reading that correctly, he was never actually CONVICTED of anything!

[Bicycle Bill]

What a travesty. If I'm reading that correctly, he was never actually CONVICTED of anything!

That's the way I'm reading it too; but remember, this is in Jolly Olde England where they tend to do things differently than they do here in the Land of the Free (so long as you're a white male) and the Home of the Brave (provided I've got my concealed Glock and an extra magazine with me).

-"BB"-

[RayThom]

What a travesty. If I'm reading that correctly, he was never actually CONVICTED of anything!... That's the way I'm reading it too; but remember, this is in Jolly Olde England where they tend to do things differently than they do here in the Land of the Free...

Doesn't Great Britain have three options under the law -- Guilty, Not Guilty, and Not Proven? That "not proven" can apparently encompass a multitude of sins.

[Big RR]

I think the verdict was traditionally used only in Scotland (for a while the only verdicts possible were proven and not proven), and I think there is a move to abolish it there. I don't think it is available in England.