Part of Sexual Offences Bill [Lords] – in a Public Bill Committee am 3:45 pm ar 9 Medi 2003.
I simply wish to ask the Minister why mental disability was not considered to be a circumstance and did not find its way its way into clause 76(2)(e). I wish to raise again the issue referred to by the hon. Member for Woking. I had not digested the matter in quite the way that he put it. We are talking about the omission of a threat of future action. One could go to the police about a threat of future violence and that might be a good reason for not including it in the conditions. One should go to the police about such a threat. A threat of future non-payment of the mortgage would not be a criminal offence, however, and realistically, there would not be anything that a woman could do about it in the sense of having recourse to the authorities. I wonder whether there is a gap in the Bill.