Not the ‘Legacy’ she was Hoping for…Liz Longhurst bemoans lack of prosecutions under the Dangerous Pictures Act

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See article from theargus.co.uk

Campaigner Liz Longhurst has said she is disappointed that the Dangerous Pictures Act banning extreme porn has not been implemented as well as it could have been. Longhurst, who campaigner alongside former Brighton Kemptown MP David Lepper for the law, part of the 2008 Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, to be implemented, spoke on the tenth anniversary of her daughter Jane’s death. She wanted watching extreme porn to be outlawed because her daughter Jane’s killer, Graham Coutts, looked at such pornographic images before killing her. Woefully uninformed, Longhurst said: I am very disappointed that the law has not been used more. As far as I am aware it has only been used on a handful of occasions. However, I am very glad there is such a law, even if I am disappointed it is not used as often as it could be. In fact the Dangerous Pictures Act has been used countless times. It is used by police to persecute those being investigated on other charges who have had to submit their computers for police search. It is also used to add to the charge list for those prosecuted on more serious charges. However Longhurst is right in one respect, it has been used very few times for the purpose that it was originally envisaged by Longhurst and co.

Persecution Under a Liberal Government…Simon Walsh relates his experiences to the LibDems

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See  article from  libdemvoice.org

We may have a coalition Government, but as it goes about fixing the economy the CPS are prosecuting individuals based on authoritarian legislation passed by the Labour Government. The most recent of which was Simon Walsh, an Independent Councillor in the City of London, Mayoral appointee to the London Fire Authority and a Barrister had a life-changing 18 months waiting for his trial for possession of pornography. There are many aspects of this case that are so wrong, not least the length of time it has taken and the damage that inflicts on an individual mentally, reputationally and financially. Here Simon shares his very personal experience at the hands of Labour’s laws. …Read the full article

Simon Walsh: The CPS makes a fist of it!…CAAN Newsletter

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From www.CAAN.org.uk See CAAN Newsletter [pdf] Please distribute this notice as widely as possible.

If you do not know about the case brought by CPS against Simon Walsh you need to read about his trial for possession of extreme pornography. Very many people who know about the case and have commented upon it suggest that there were political or other reasons for his prosecution, but the facts are that he was prosecuted for possession of material similar to that which resulted in the acquittal of Michael Peacock in January of this year, that thelikely to cause serious injury provision of CJIA 2008 S63(7b) was unlikely to succeed and yet, despite Simon’s acquittal his life plans have been utterly destroyed. This case proves all too painfully that one does not have to be guilty or found guilty to be ruined and that anyone whose private life could be linked to porn (by personal design or otherwise), is a potential target and has good reason to be afraid. …Read the CAAN Newsletter [pdf]

Vindictive Persecution…Prosecution of Simon Walsh has shown English law in the worst possible light

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See  article from  guardian.co.uk by Nick Cohen

The Crown Prosecution Service under the current director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, is earning a deservedly bad reputation for its vexatious litigation. Her Majesty’s chief inspector estimates that almost one in 10 of its prosecutions is baseless Thousands of people plead guilty, nevertheless, just to get the CPS off their backs. …Read the full article

Misleading Newsnight Viewers about Extreme Porn…Just one of the ‘services’ of the CPS

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Thanks to sergio See  article from  penwing.me.uk

Newsnight carried a brief overview, an interview with London’s Chief Crown Prosecutor, Alison Saunders, and an interview with the acquitted defendant Simon Walsh. I want to discuss is Alison Saunders’ attempt to defend her decision made on behalf of the Crown Prosecution Service. When asked by Eddie Mair why the CPS had brought the case, Saunders replied: We brought the case because there was sufficient evidence and when we looked at the case we found that there was evidence to prosecute the offence of possessing extreme pornography. What we looked at there was whether or not there was a pornographic image and the element of the act we prosecuted under was whether or not the image showed there was likely to be harm or injury caused. I’m going to start here with her description of the test being applied – likely to be harm or injury caused . This idea of harm and injury or harm and serious injury is repeated multiple times by Alison Saunders throughout the piece. I think it is important to note here what the law actually calls for: an act which results, or is likely to result, in serious injury to a person’s anus, breasts or genitals Note, serious injury , not harm or serious injury . It has got to be likely to cause serious injury . All this talk of harm (which is a much wider term) is misleading. Serious Injury is the nature of the offence nothing less. Let’s not have the Chief Crown Prosecutor trying to widen an already too wide law and using slopping thinking to justify cases. …Read the full article Extract: Whilst on the subject of supposed ‘harm’ 11th August 2012. See  article from  janefae.wordpress.com with thanks to David The inevitable extension of power Let’s start with what looks like a very ominous development indeed: the summing up by the trial judge in which he apparently explained to the jury that serious injury could involve physical, mental or moral harm .. This is par for the course. Over the years we have seen how the courts have extended legislation on child abuse material so that making an image, which the public, I suspect, naively consider to involve some sort of recording equipment and the presence of real live children now coversdownbloading . (Cause the image gets made on your hard drive, innit?). Not that I have enormous issues with this particular extension: just that I think if the law was meant to be that, parliament should have said so. Then there’s the slide in respect of dvd’s and other material from legislating against stuff thatcauses harm to stuff that causes potential harm or is likely to cause harm . And this year we have the interesting extension of the law on Obscene Publications to bring one-to-one conversations and online chat within its remit. Again: I can see WHY the authorities might wish this to be the case…but if they do, why not be honest and legislate it? So. The fly in the ointment of this week’s case is the clear revelation that many in the judiciary have already internalised the falsehood that extreme porn legislation is a bit like Obscenity law and meant to deal with mental and moral harm despite the very clear denials by ministers and politicians just four short years ago that this law was intended to deal with depiction pure and simple. …Read the full article

Crown Persecution Service…Dangerous Pictures trials ends in victory for the defendant

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See article from guardian.co.uk

Barrister Simon Walsh and former Boris Johnson aide has been acquitted of possessing extreme pornography in a landmark case over the boundaries of what can be described asextreme . The jury was unanimous and took less than 90 minutes to clear Walsh after a week-long trial. The case is believed to be the first to address whether images of anal fisting, a sexual practice which is legal, and urethral sounding are extreme pornography, as defined under the disgraceful law, section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. After searching Walsh’s home and office computers, the investigators found nothing incriminating. All they could come up with six email attachment images, on a Hotmail server account he set up to receive and send sexual messages. Surely this lack of substantial evidence, coupled with the desperately thin set of email attachments must have sounded a few warning bells about persecution. Anyone owning a computer must know that there are bound to be a few undesirable images hanging round somewhere, especially in email folders. It must have gone through the minds of jurors that should the police ever take an interest in their computers, then this could easily happen to them or their families. Walsh was sacked from his position on the London Fire Authority on his arrest in April last year. He was a man of impeccable character who had made an outstanding contribution to society, the court heard, and had previously chaired the City of London Corporation police authority and licensing authority. Walsh faced five charges under the 2008 act, which stipulates images are extreme if they are grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character and if they portray, in an explicit and realistic way any act which results in, or is likely to result, in serious injury to a person’s anus, breasts or genitals . The prosecution claimed three images, found in attachments in Walsh’s sent box, showed urethreal sounding, where a medical instrument is inserted into the tip of the penis to stretch the urethra and stimulate the prostate, acts that were likely to cause injury to a person’s genitals. Two images showed anal fisting, which was likely to cause injury to a person’s anus, it claimed. The defence argued there was no evidence of any serious injury in any of those images, and that the activities were low risk. Walsh had taken the urethral sounding images himself at a New Year’s Eve party and sent them only to other participants at the party, the court heard. Medical evidence was examined showing that there were risks in these activities, but these risks were not generally ‘likely’ to occur. A sixth charge, of possessing an indecent image of an underage boy, related to an attachment sent to Walsh which showed a sexually aroused male with a ligature. Walsh told the court he had no recollection of ever opening the attachment on the email, which was unsolicited and unanswered. The defence claimed the image was not of a child but an adult. It was also not possible to prove Walsh had opened the attachment, the court heard. Three defence experts viewed the image and stated in written reports that Jason was in his twenties. As a matter of legal procedure, the jury never heard this expert evidence. Instead they used their common sense and acquitted Walsh. Prosecutor Thomas Wilkins told the court Walsh was a gay man who has what he described as a strange sex life . Wilkins said: He doesn’t dispute that he uses the email account purely for his sex life. He doesn’t dispute that he is interested in bondage and sadomasochism.There was no dispute that Walsh had sent three of the images, but, added Wilkins, he disputes that they are extreme or pornographic . Trial Report: The acquittal of Simon Walsh at Kingston Crown Court See  article from  heresycorner.blogspot.com Trial Report: Prosecutors, extreme porn and 50 Shades of Grey See  article from  politics.co.uk by Alex Dymock Comment: Extreme porn trial: consensual sex and the state See  article from  guardian.co.uk by Defence Lawyer Myles Jackman Unlike the Obscene Publication Act, which covers distribution, the CJIA shifts the burden on to individuals in possession of pornography. People need to know how to modify their behaviour in accordance with the law, yet it is unclear what acts constituteextreme pornography . As well as criminalising acts which are legal to perform, the CJIA would seemingly outlaw images which have been exhibited in art galleries. In 2008, the Barbican Gallery’s Seduced exhibition included photographic images of male on male anal fisting and male urethral insertion from artist Robert Mapplethorpe’s X Portfolio. The gallery cleared them with the City of London police before the exhibition opened. Police also regularly misclassify images they discover. In the Stafford extreme pornography trial, my client was initially charged with being in possession of over 1,250 extreme images. Upon viewing them, it became clear that over 900 were of clothed performers not engaging in any form of sexual activity. That defendant was eventually acquitted by a jury of all charges. So, would you even know what material might be illegal? Have you been sent junk emails and not opened them? How much do you know about operating systems caching images attached to unopened emails? Comment: Why the porn trial verdict is no reason to celebrate See  article from  blog.indexoncensorship.org by Jane Fae Red faces over at the Crown Prosecution Service and the Metropolitan Police, as a jury took under three hours to clear former aide to London Mayor Boris Johnson , Simon Walsh of a string of charges brought under extreme porn laws. Indeed, were Twitter an accurate reflection of the nation’s views on a topic, Keir Starmer, Head of the CPS and all those involved in the prosecution would this afternoon be looking for new jobs: such has been the mix of disbelief and outrage that public money and police time should be wasted on footling state attempts to interfere in the private lives of consenting adults. … The effect of this [extreme porn] law is pernicious. It doesn’t seem to have done much to stem the tide of porn that so many politicians obsess about. It has given police and prosecution another stick with which to beat the unwary — and to punish them should they not be punishable for any other crime. … For all that this result has been embarrassing to the CPS, they continue to make progress on what is beginning to feel like a serious moral agenda at the heart of their practice.  Calls for review of prosecuting practice have followed swiftly.  Ian Dunt, of politics.co.uk, thinks it is time to look again at the culture within the CPS. Ben Goldacre wonders aloud whether it is mere coincidence that a lawyer who has made a career of bringing corrupt police officers to book should be the target of such legal manoeuvring, also suggestingwe need an inquiry into why CPS and police keep bring these [cases]. Comment: The shameful and nasty prosecution of Simon Walsh See  article from  newstatesman.com by David Allen Green It was a sensible jury decision, and one well-deserved by Walsh and his fine legal team. But this is a matter which should never have got before a jury, for this was a shameful and nasty prosecution of a good man. The law is bad to begin with. The offence in its entirety is dealt with over four sections of the relevant statute, and is perhaps the most complex as well as one of the most illiberal prohibitions in criminal law. However, the effect of the law is stark: possession of certainextreme pornographic images of adults is a serious crime even if the acts portrayed are consensual or staged.

Extreme Prosecution…Anal fisting in an email attachment up for an extreme porn jury trial

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See article from obscenitylawyer.blogspot.co.uk

Today the Crown Prosecution Service will attempt to persuade a jury that images of anal fisting should be classified as extreme pornography with the risk to the defendant of three years in custody, inclusion on the sex offenders’ register and damage to his personal and professional standing. All for a type of image which is commonly viewed, of an activity which is itself is legal to perform and is even discussed in the book Fifty Shades of Grey. Nonetheless the defendant, Simon Walsh, has been charged with being in possession of extreme pornographic images under section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008: so the Prosecution must prove that the act of fisting islikely to result in serious injury to a person’s anus . The Defendant — Simon Walsh Simon, who is represented by my firm (Hodge Jones & Allen) has given his express permission for this information to be published. Before being arrested and charged with these offences, Simon was a successful professional and politician in the City who, amongst other things, prosecuted police officers accused of disciplinary offences. After being charged, Simon lost both professional and political positions, despite the fact that no pornography was found on any of his work computers. In fact, no pornography was found on Simon’s home computers either. Instead, the police had to interrogate Simon’s personal email account (server) in order to discover a few images they deemed questionable. This included an image of a man wearing a gas mask. Their expert stated that this was likely to cause serious harm, even death by asphyxiation: despite being a piece of equipment designed to assist breathing. This charge was eventually dropped. Unfortunately, by performing the interrogation of Simon’s email account in the fashion they did, the police contaminated the only source of evidence; making it impossible to identify whether images attached to emails had in fact been opened and viewed. …Read the full article Follow trial on Twitter using #porntrial

Liz Longhurst disappointed by the crap law that persecutes the innocent and doesn’t pick up on the guilty

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Thanks to emark See article from bbc.co.uk

Liz Longhurst, the woman who fought for a ban on violent online pornography after her daughter’s murder, has said she is disappointed it has not been more effective. She said: I was glad that the law had been passed in 2009 but I did not feel it was necessarily going to have a tremendously marvellous effect. I was rather surprised that really very few cases have been brought. There have been lots of cases of [connected with] child pornography but not many with adult pornography. Longhurst said she was very sad to discover the man who murdered landscape architect Jo Yeates had viewed violent pornography on the internet. [I wonder if she ever sheds a tear for the innocent people persecuted by the law over a jokey bad taste video clip, or else those people who would never dream of harming anyone, and who's tastes in porn would have been better left private?]

Police Victim…Sounds like a jokey video clip has put an end to a policeman’s career

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See article from menmedia.co.uk

A policeman caught with a supposed extreme animal pornography on his mobile phone has quit the force. Gareth Tench was arrested by fellow Manchester policeman after they found a supposedly grossly offensive 35-second video clip featuring a horse. He was spared jail after being convicted by a jury at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, but his nine-year police career is over. Tench was being investigated by fellow police over an unconnected allegation when they found the clip on both his personal phone and a folder called chill out on his computer. He admitted receiving the video in July 2006, saying it had been sent as an attachment to a text message. Tench accepted he had watched the clip once, but said he had then deleted the message and with it, he believed, the video. The court heard that when his mobile became faulty, he had data,  including photographs and images, transferred from the mobile on to a laptop, and ultimately to his home computer. The court was told that after being arrested in January 2010, he gave no comment answers to all questions about the video. Tench was found guilty of possession of extreme pornography on his phone. But the jury cleared him of an almost identical charge of having the same clip on his computer because they could not be certain he knew it was there. He was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £1,000 costs. Supt Peter Turner, from the Greater Mancheter Police Professional Standards Branch, said: Possessing extreme pornography is a serious and criminal offence and Pc Tench’s conduct has fallen well short of the high levels of professionalism and integrity expected from all our staff.

Extreme Scotland…Dangerous Pictures law comes into force in Scotland on 28th March 2011

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Thanks to AlanB See Information on the new offence of Possession of Extreme Pornographic Images [pdf] from scotland.gov.uk

The prohibition on the possession of extreme porn law is due to be come into force in Scotland on the 28th of March. It follows the format of the ban in force in the rest of the UK but extends the prohibition to include the depiction of rape and non consensual penetrative sex. The Scottish Government has provided some guidance: See Information on the new offence of Possession of Extreme Pornographic Images [pdf] from scotland.gov.uk There is a factual error in that document as it misrepresents the English law; the Scottish Government apparently doesn’t know what an anus is, regarding it as synonymous with buttocks. I’m not sure about the documents definition of severe injury which includes extensive/multiple lacerations (a vague term in itself). If anybody could clarify that, I’d be grateful. At least it makes clear that cartoon images remain legal, an issue which was discussed within the Justice Committee but without clear resolution. The bad news is that Scotland now suffers from greater restrictions to sexual freedom than probably anywhere else in the free world.