The Court of Appeal has held that three women who survived sexual exploitation can challenge the storage of their criminal records on the Police National Computer, in QSA & Ors, R. (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department & Anor [2020] EWCA Civ 130.
In 2018 the women were successful in challenging the government’s disclosure and barring scheme in relation to the requirement to disclose their history of convictions for street prostitution. They will now challenge the retention of those records.
Harriet
Wistrich, director of the Centre for Women’s Justice, said the storage was
‘shameful punishment by the state of women who suffered appalling abuse’.
