AGE — Adult Grooming and Exploitation “Grooming doesn’t stop at 15 — Protect adults now.”
AGE — Adult Grooming and Exploitation “Grooming doesn’t stop at 15 — Protect adults now.”
The Issue
AGE — Adult Grooming and Exploitation
“Grooming doesn’t stop at 15 — Protect adults now.”
Make Adult Grooming a Specific Criminal Offence — and Guarantee the Right to Report Grooming from Any Age, Past or Present
(AGE — Adult Grooming and Exploitation — is a proposed law to specifically criminalise the grooming, coercion, deception, manipulation, and exploitation of adults, including situations where consent is obtained by deception.
We call upon the UK Government and Parliament to introduce a new, specific criminal offence for the grooming of adults — and to guarantee survivors the lifelong right to report grooming that happened at any age, whether as a child, teenager, or adult, no matter how much time has passed.
UK law rightly recognises child grooming but fails to address the manipulation, coercion, deception, and exploitation of adults, including circumstances where consent is obtained by deception. Survivors of grooming — including those with disabilities, mental health conditions, learning difficulties, trauma, or social isolation — are left without protection or proper legal recognition.
This is not limited to adults legally defined as “vulnerable” under current safeguarding thresholds. Grooming can affect any adult, including those who may be isolated, experiencing trauma, or targeted due to situational or emotional vulnerability — none of which are currently protected under the law.
Grooming causes deep emotional, psychological, financial, and physical harm. Abusers use coercive control, trust-building, deception, and exploitation — sometimes for years — leaving long-lasting damage. Many survivors do not understand or disclose the abuse until much later in life due to trauma, fear, confusion, or shame. Yet the law often limits their ability to seek justice if they did not report it “in time”.
This must change.
We call on the Government to:
1. Introduce a new criminal offence for Adult Grooming, to close the gap in protection for adults, under the proposed law of AGE — Adult Grooming and Exploitation — including cases where consent is obtained by deception.
2. Guarantee the right to report grooming that happened at any age — child, teen, or adult — with no time limits or barriers to justice.
3. Provide mandatory, specialist police training to recognise, investigate, and prevent all forms of grooming, coercion, deception, and exploitation, past or present.
4. Ensure full support services are available to grooming survivors, including counselling, trauma-informed care, legal advice, and advocacy.
5. Commission a full public inquiry into the scale and impact of both current and historic Adult Grooming across the UK.
Grooming is grooming — no matter when it happened. Survivors deserve the right to report it, be heard, and seek justice at any time in their lives.
Case Studies:
In one known UK case, Kevin Wilson convinced a married woman he’d left his wife and was starting a new life — showering her with gifts and love until she broke her marriage. Only later did she discover he’d taken loans in his wife’s name. This is grooming through manipulation and deceit—why AGE must become law.
Why it matters for AGE:
This isn’t just infidelity—it’s grooming via psychological and financial coercion, highlighting the gaps in adult protection.
William Jordan — “The Other Mrs Jordan”
A serial conman and bigamist, Jordan posed as a CIA agent when he met Mary Turner Thomson in Scotland. He convinced her he was divorced and leading a secretive, exciting life. They married and had children, all based on big lies. He siphoned approximately £198,000 from her under the guise of paying off “dangerous men” linked to his fake spy work. Mary later discovered he was married, a convicted sex offender, and had multiple children with other women. In 2006, he was jailed for bigamy, fraud, and other offences, and again in 2024 for impersonation.
🌐 Guardian: “The Other Mrs Jordan” documentary summary
Why it matters for AGE:
A classic example of grooming through deception—pretending to be single, fabricating identity and intentions to exploit a woman emotionally and sexually. Many adults are groomed into leaving existing long-term relationships through lies—such as false claims that the perpetrator is divorced, single, or secretly wealthy. This type of manipulation fits squarely within the harms AGE seeks to criminalise.
Raymond McDonald – Nursing Multiple Romances
📰 BBC News reports:
McDonald, shortly after release from prison, created fake profiles and began dating multiple women simultaneously.
He lied about being newly divorced or working secretive jobs (e.g., in the probation service or overseas) and made promises of commitment, trips, even marriage.
He manipulated and emotionally groomed these women into believing they had exclusive relationships—some even went on “honeymoons”—while duping other partners at the same time .
Why it matters for AGE:
He systematically deceived and emotionally exploited several women through lies about his personal life, demonstrating classic adult grooming tactics that fall outside current legal definitions.
Broader Example: Romance Fraud and “Scripting” Behaviors
A systematic analysis in Tainted Love: A Systematic Review of Online Romance Fraud highlights how fraudsters build trust with deep emotional scripting, often disguising deceit behind narratives of honesty and intent .
Why it’s relevant to AGE:
This research shows how adult grooming operates through psychological manipulation—emotional bonding, love-bombing, and false promises—precisely the harm AGE aims to criminalise.
💬 Real Victim Insight from BBC Reddit
A Reddit user recounts the experience of a long-term deceptive relationship:
“I have been subject to a long-term deceiving relationship where the man lived a couple of lives… You might not notice… these people… create a lot of damage… then disappear when caught.”
Why it matters for AGE:
This firsthand testimony confirms the insidious nature of adult grooming: subtle, emotionally manipulative, and deeply damaging—even among adults perceived as “functioning.”
There are many other case studies.
Conclusion:
These cases show that adult grooming is real, widespread, and harmful — even when it doesn’t involve physical violence. Whether through lies, coercion, manipulation, or exploitation, the current law fails to recognise the seriousness of this behaviour.
AGE — Adult Grooming and Exploitation — is needed now.
Who Should Sign:
• Members of the public concerned about safeguarding adults including those with mental and physical illnesses and disabilities
• Survivors and supporters of adult grooming victims
• Disability, mental health, and abuse charities
• MPs and decision-makers concerned with public protection
By: Saireen Khanum
11 June 2025
65
The Issue
AGE — Adult Grooming and Exploitation
“Grooming doesn’t stop at 15 — Protect adults now.”
Make Adult Grooming a Specific Criminal Offence — and Guarantee the Right to Report Grooming from Any Age, Past or Present
(AGE — Adult Grooming and Exploitation — is a proposed law to specifically criminalise the grooming, coercion, deception, manipulation, and exploitation of adults, including situations where consent is obtained by deception.
We call upon the UK Government and Parliament to introduce a new, specific criminal offence for the grooming of adults — and to guarantee survivors the lifelong right to report grooming that happened at any age, whether as a child, teenager, or adult, no matter how much time has passed.
UK law rightly recognises child grooming but fails to address the manipulation, coercion, deception, and exploitation of adults, including circumstances where consent is obtained by deception. Survivors of grooming — including those with disabilities, mental health conditions, learning difficulties, trauma, or social isolation — are left without protection or proper legal recognition.
This is not limited to adults legally defined as “vulnerable” under current safeguarding thresholds. Grooming can affect any adult, including those who may be isolated, experiencing trauma, or targeted due to situational or emotional vulnerability — none of which are currently protected under the law.
Grooming causes deep emotional, psychological, financial, and physical harm. Abusers use coercive control, trust-building, deception, and exploitation — sometimes for years — leaving long-lasting damage. Many survivors do not understand or disclose the abuse until much later in life due to trauma, fear, confusion, or shame. Yet the law often limits their ability to seek justice if they did not report it “in time”.
This must change.
We call on the Government to:
1. Introduce a new criminal offence for Adult Grooming, to close the gap in protection for adults, under the proposed law of AGE — Adult Grooming and Exploitation — including cases where consent is obtained by deception.
2. Guarantee the right to report grooming that happened at any age — child, teen, or adult — with no time limits or barriers to justice.
3. Provide mandatory, specialist police training to recognise, investigate, and prevent all forms of grooming, coercion, deception, and exploitation, past or present.
4. Ensure full support services are available to grooming survivors, including counselling, trauma-informed care, legal advice, and advocacy.
5. Commission a full public inquiry into the scale and impact of both current and historic Adult Grooming across the UK.
Grooming is grooming — no matter when it happened. Survivors deserve the right to report it, be heard, and seek justice at any time in their lives.
Case Studies:
In one known UK case, Kevin Wilson convinced a married woman he’d left his wife and was starting a new life — showering her with gifts and love until she broke her marriage. Only later did she discover he’d taken loans in his wife’s name. This is grooming through manipulation and deceit—why AGE must become law.
Why it matters for AGE:
This isn’t just infidelity—it’s grooming via psychological and financial coercion, highlighting the gaps in adult protection.
William Jordan — “The Other Mrs Jordan”
A serial conman and bigamist, Jordan posed as a CIA agent when he met Mary Turner Thomson in Scotland. He convinced her he was divorced and leading a secretive, exciting life. They married and had children, all based on big lies. He siphoned approximately £198,000 from her under the guise of paying off “dangerous men” linked to his fake spy work. Mary later discovered he was married, a convicted sex offender, and had multiple children with other women. In 2006, he was jailed for bigamy, fraud, and other offences, and again in 2024 for impersonation.
🌐 Guardian: “The Other Mrs Jordan” documentary summary
Why it matters for AGE:
A classic example of grooming through deception—pretending to be single, fabricating identity and intentions to exploit a woman emotionally and sexually. Many adults are groomed into leaving existing long-term relationships through lies—such as false claims that the perpetrator is divorced, single, or secretly wealthy. This type of manipulation fits squarely within the harms AGE seeks to criminalise.
Raymond McDonald – Nursing Multiple Romances
📰 BBC News reports:
McDonald, shortly after release from prison, created fake profiles and began dating multiple women simultaneously.
He lied about being newly divorced or working secretive jobs (e.g., in the probation service or overseas) and made promises of commitment, trips, even marriage.
He manipulated and emotionally groomed these women into believing they had exclusive relationships—some even went on “honeymoons”—while duping other partners at the same time .
Why it matters for AGE:
He systematically deceived and emotionally exploited several women through lies about his personal life, demonstrating classic adult grooming tactics that fall outside current legal definitions.
Broader Example: Romance Fraud and “Scripting” Behaviors
A systematic analysis in Tainted Love: A Systematic Review of Online Romance Fraud highlights how fraudsters build trust with deep emotional scripting, often disguising deceit behind narratives of honesty and intent .
Why it’s relevant to AGE:
This research shows how adult grooming operates through psychological manipulation—emotional bonding, love-bombing, and false promises—precisely the harm AGE aims to criminalise.
💬 Real Victim Insight from BBC Reddit
A Reddit user recounts the experience of a long-term deceptive relationship:
“I have been subject to a long-term deceiving relationship where the man lived a couple of lives… You might not notice… these people… create a lot of damage… then disappear when caught.”
Why it matters for AGE:
This firsthand testimony confirms the insidious nature of adult grooming: subtle, emotionally manipulative, and deeply damaging—even among adults perceived as “functioning.”
There are many other case studies.
Conclusion:
These cases show that adult grooming is real, widespread, and harmful — even when it doesn’t involve physical violence. Whether through lies, coercion, manipulation, or exploitation, the current law fails to recognise the seriousness of this behaviour.
AGE — Adult Grooming and Exploitation — is needed now.
Who Should Sign:
• Members of the public concerned about safeguarding adults including those with mental and physical illnesses and disabilities
• Survivors and supporters of adult grooming victims
• Disability, mental health, and abuse charities
• MPs and decision-makers concerned with public protection
By: Saireen Khanum
11 June 2025
65
Petition created on 15 June 2025