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Hi
Would be interested to know if anyone has any first hand knowledge/experience of using the Sarahs Law initiative. I am particularly interested to hear about views and advice regarding the timing ( ie when you first knew an ex's new partner was having contact with your kids, or earlier? ). I understand it is nothing more than a basic disclosure but something I would be very keen to pursue given the breakdown of communication with my ex.
Cheers
Mark
i'd be very interested to know my ex's new fella's background to give me peace of mind
Hello,
(My first post having only just joined this evening.)
My experience with sarah's law is pretty recent having become suspicious of my ex's new(ish) boyfriend.
What I did was phone the police (call 101), chose to speak to the police force for the area where my ex lives and then ask the question wether sarah's law is being followed in that police force.
The call handler let me know they had implemented sarah's law and then gave me a seperate number to ring which I did and got put through to somebody who went through a questionnaire with me about why I wanted to get the new bf checked out.
The first thing to note is that not all police forces in the UK are following Sarah's law.
The second is that a police force that does follow SL will not check someone out just because you ask, there has to be a reason for doing so.
In my case the new bf has shown all the signs of being a predatory groomer (I wont elaborate but life has been [censored] since this guy came onto the scene).
After this call I was informed I would be phoned back within 72 hrs (had to chase this after 4 days - my application had become misplaced!) and was dealt with pretty quickly after this.
A meeting was subsequently arranged at mine and on the day a plain clothes policeman arrived (in a normal car) and we went through the whole questionnaire again and talked openly of my fears. He was very good at explaining the process and agreed my reasons were sound for making an investigation.
I also requested that my ex was not made aware of the check because rather than think that I may have a valid concern she would more likely cause me more access issues whilst turning a bline eye to her bf's behavious.
The policeman came back to see me less than a week later with the results.
In my case the bf has come up clean but in chilling words the policeman said "it may be he's just not been caught yet".
So although Sarah's law is great in principal it only works if the person being investigated has been caught previously. The way things stand I am still suspicious and doing everything in my power (I'm a dad so have v.little legal power) to counter act the games this guy is playing.
Hope this explains things a bit,
YD
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