Overview

• Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced a national rollout of voluntary chemical castration across 20 prisons and is exploring a mandatory requirement for high-risk offenders.
• The expansion follows former Justice Secretary David Gauke’s independent review recommending an extended pilot for medication to suppress problematic sexual arousal.
• Caroline Darian, daughter of Dominique Pelicot, said chemical castration could be one part of the solution for offenders who pose extreme risks.
• Dominique Pelicot received a 20-year sentence in December for drugging his wife Gisele over a decade and arranging dozens of rapes before 50 other men were convicted of abusing her.
• Gisele Pelicot waived her right to anonymity to hold the trial in public and shift the stigma onto perpetrators of drug-facilitated sexual abuse.