Legal consequences of sex abuse

[rbsorted]

If a man is found guilty of molesting his child on two occasions when the child was 8, would there be a custodial sentence, and if not (and/or when he is released) what sort of contact arrangements would a court require, would the court instruct supervised contact?

The man is also dangerous, but can be very charming. The child is living with grandparents but may come and live with us. Child is now 12 and would want to see father but not ever be alone with him.

How likely would it be that the man will be found guilty based solely on a 12 year old's testimony?

I can't give any more details other than above, and am just looking for an idea of what might happen to have some forewarning.

Thank you.

Assuming the charge is sexual assault of a child, the sentencing guidelines are at www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/magistrates-court/item/sexual-assault-of-a-child-under-13/. As you say it is his child and they were 8 at the time, it sounds like it is probably category 2 culpability A, but there isn't enough information here to say that for certain. If he is convicted and the judge agrees that it falls into 2A, the starting point for sentencing is 4 years. If he pleads guilty the sentence will be discounted by up to one third, depending on when he pleads guilty.

If he is convicted of sexually assaulting his own child, he certainly won't get unsupervised contact. But this may be academic. If it is a 2A offence, the child may not be a child any more by the time he gets out of prison.

As for how likely it is he will be convicted, the CPS will only take it to court if they believe there is a realistic prospect of conviction. That is no guarantee, of course.

Thank you very much.