Serious Crime Bill [HL]

I am concerned by the noble Lord’s insistence on ““house arrest”” because the Committee knows that the courts of our country will not allow that to occur, as house arrest would be disproportionate. Indeed, it would be argued that it was an improper infringement on the liberty of the individual and contrary to the provisions of the Human Rights Act. We currently restrict a whole series of individuals’ activities. The noble Lord, Lord Thomas, mentioned one earlier: we restrict, with propriety, the activities of known paedophiles, who are on a register. We require them to live at a certain address and comply with certain conditions because it is necessary so to do for the prevention of injury to others, particularly children. It is not suggested that that interference with liberty is disproportionate to the risk and danger that they pose, and I do not believe that any of us could, with propriety, refer to that as ““house arrest””. If it were, we would have to derogate from the Human Rights Act, which we do not intend to do.