LEYTON: MP challenges sleepwalking rape defence

2:46pm Tuesday 14th October 2008

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SLEEPWALKING will no longer be a complete defence against a charge of rape, if MP Harry Cohen gets his way.

The Leyton and Wanstead MP is due tomorrow to bring a bill to Parliament calling for an amendment to current laws, which state that a plea of "non-insane automatism" can result in acquittal.

Mr Cohen's bill, to be read out to the House of Commons under the Ten Minute Rule, calls for the Sexual Offences Act to be changed, so prosecutors can not longer be required to disprove that the defendant was not sleepwalking.

Mr Cohen said: "It is not right that the rapist walks free.

"If a rape has been committed a guilty verdict should be delivered.

"The judge should then decide the sentence based upon consideration of the factors, but a rapist sleepwalker should be deemed a danger to women and not allowed to walk away scot free.

There have been two recent cases in the UK where men have been acquitted of rape because they were sleepwalking.

In a landmark case in December 2005, barman James Bilton was cleared by jurors at York Crown Court who accepted he was sleepwalking during an attack on a woman.

And in August last year RAF serviceman Kenneth Ecott was cleared of raping a 15-year-old after the jury accepted he was asleep when he carried out the attack.

Experts are divided as to whether it is possible to unintentionally have sex with someone while sleepwalking.

Mr Cohen is expected tomorrow to quote Dr Cosmo Hallstrom, a fellow at the Royal College of Psychiatry, who said: "I would think it was extremely difficult to perform such a complex manoeuvre as having sexual intercourse while asleep, especially if the other person is unwilling."

But Dr Irshaad Ebrahim, director of the London Sleep Centre has said: "People can do all the things they can when they are awake when they are sleepwalking."

Mr Cohen is concerned that under the law there is a distinction between the defences of insanity and non-insane automatism.

The former can result in a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, while the latter can lead to an ouright acquittal.

Visit guardian-series.co.uk to see whether Mr Cohen's proposals have been accepted.