Man must tell police 24 hours before he has sex

A man who has to give police 24 hours’ notice before he has sex despite being cleared of a rape charge has said: “It puts an end to your life”.

The single man, in his 40s, admitted to previously having an interest in sado-masochistic sex and used to visit a Fifty Shades Of Grey-style fetish club with an ex-partner.

He also said he used to go on Tinder and “played around”.

But the man, a father, denied having any criminal convictions, “not even a parking ticket”, when he spoke to reporters following an adjourned hearing at York Magistrates’ Court.

He accused North Yorkshire Police of “sour grapes” in applying for a Sexual Risk Order (SRO) after he was acquitted of rape. He was cleared at a retrial, having spent 14 months on remand.

The terms of the order has a list of conditions attached.

Among them is the requirement for him to inform police 24 hours before he has sex with a new partner.

The effect has been to devastate his personal life, he said, and contravened his human rights.

“It puts an end to your life.

“I had more freedom in prison. The severity of the restrictions exceed what convicted criminals would get on a Sexual Offence Prevention Order.”

He said there was “no prospect” of a relationship at the moment.

He said: “Can you imagine, 24 hours before sex? Come on.”

He gave the example of chatting to a woman and saying: “There’s a nice French restaurant I’d like to take you to, but first the police are just going to come around for a little chat.”

The man, who cannot be identified by the media, said the SRO was made after he was cleared of raping a woman — different from the one with whom he visited the fetish club.

He said the jury at the retrial took an hour and six minutes to unanimously clear him.

He had been accused of biting and scratching the complainant, but he said the scratching came during a massage, “post-coitally”, and there was no biting.

His history of S&M sex was brought up at the trial, including evidence from a doctor with whom he had discussed his past.

He claimed the doctor misunderstood what he was discussing, saying she was confused about what was just fantasy.

Police thought what he told the doctor was a confession. “Thank God 50 Shades of Grey came out when it did, it helped my barrister normalise that,” he said.

North Yorkshire Police declined to comment.