Offences involving the possession and distribution of child exploitation material obtained from the internet, where the offender played no role in production and used the material for adult sexual gratification, do not constitute 'serious sexual offences' under the DPSOA because the connection to any particular child is too remote to be an offence 'against children'. The nature and remoteness of potential harm from possible future offending is relevant to whether the risk is 'unacceptable' for the purposes of s 13(2). The matters in s 13(4) (except s 13(4)(a)) inform the s 8 preliminary hearing, but the s 13(3) standard of proof does not directly apply at the s 8 stage.
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