Section 44 of Sexual Offences Act: Evidential presumptions about consent

(1) If in proceedings for an offence under this Act, it is proved—
(a) that any of the circumstances specified in subsection (2) existed; and
(b) that the accused person knew that those circumstances existed, the complainant is to be taken not to have consented to the act unless sufficient evidence is adduced to raise an issue as to whether he or she consented, and the accused is to be taken not to have reasonably believed that the complainant consented unless sufficient evidence is adduced to raise an issue as to whether he or she reasonably believed it.
(2) The circumstances are that—
(a) any person was, at the time of the offence or immediately before it began, using violence against the complainant or causing the complainant to fear that immediate violence would be used against him;
(b) any person was, at the time of the offence or immediately before it began, causing the complainant to fear that violence was being used, or that immediate violence would be used, against another person;
(c) the complainant was, and the accused was not, unlawfully detained at the time of the commission of the act;
(d) the complainant was asleep or otherwise unconscious at the time of the commission of the act;
(e) because of the complainant’s disability, the complainant would not
have been able at the time of the commission of the act to communicate to the accused whether the complainant consented;
(f) any person had administered to or caused to be taken by the complainant, without the complainant’s consent, a substance which, having regard to when it was administered or taken, was capable of causing or enabling the complainant to be stupefied or overpowered at the time of the commission of the act.
(3) In subsection (2)(a) and (b), the reference to the time immediately before the act is, in the case of an act which is one of a continuous series of sexual activities, a reference to the time immediately before the first sexual activity began.