# Sexual Offences Act 2003, Section 15A: Sexual communication with a child

Extent: E+W

(1) A person aged 18 or over (A) commits an offence if—
(a) for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification, A intentionally communicates with another person (B),
(b) the communication is sexual or is intended to encourage B to make (whether to A or to another) a communication that is sexual, and
(c) B is under 16 and A does not reasonably believe that B is 16 or over.
(2) For the purposes of this section, a communication is sexual if—
(a) any part of it relates to sexual activity, or
(b) a reasonable person would, in all the circumstances but regardless of any person's purpose, consider any part of the communication to be sexual;
and in paragraph (a) “sexual activity” means an activity that a reasonable person would, in all the circumstances but regardless of any person's purpose, consider to be sexual.
(3) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—
(a) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding the general limit in a magistrates’ court or a fine or both;
(b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/15A (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/sexual-offences-act-2003/section-15A
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.