Sheffield teen charged with sex offences and "encouraging or assisting serious self-harm" due in court
A 17-year-old boy accused of encouraging or assisting serious self harm by another, along with a number of sex offences, is due to appear at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court today.
He cannot be named because of a reporting restriction in place due to his age.
The boy, from Sheffield, faces two counts of encouraging or assisting serious self-harm by another on May 2, 2025.
Court documents state that the defendant allegedly communicated in person with the alleged victim “in such a way that was capable of encouraging orassisting the serious self harm of another person with the intention that it would do so.”
The offence falls under the Online Safety Act 2023, which is formed of a set of laws designed to “protect children and adults online.”
The defendant is due to appear at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court today (Wednesday, September 10, 2025) for a bail application.
He also faces seven sex charges:
- Two counts of causing a female 13 or over to engage in a penetrative sexual activity
- Three counts of making indecent photographs/pseudo-photographs of a child
- One count of possessing extreme pornographic image/images portraying an act of intercourse/oral sex with a dead/alive animal
- One count of commiting an act/series of acts with intent to pervert the course of public justice.
The seven offences are alleged to have been committed between May 2, 2025 and August 13, 2025.
Please note: victims of alleged sex offences are entitled to lifelong anonymity.