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Archive for the ‘extreme pornography’ Category

PRESS RELEASE: Schlock Horror! Stafford jury acquits fantasy porn defendant: “PRESS RELEASE: Schlock Horror! Stafford jury acquits fantasy porn defendant
By Nick | Published: January 7, 2011

For immediate release

Schlock Horror! Stafford jury acquits fantasy porn defendant

Prosecutors fail first test case to make mock erotic murder scenes illegal.

Kevin Webster, who downloaded erotic fantasy images with violent themes from the internet, (1) was found not guilty of possession of ‘extreme pornography’ (2) at Stafford Crown Court today. The jury were asked to decide whether obviously faked death images were in fact ‘realistic’ depictions of sexual violence; despite the prosecution having to accept, before the trial even began, that the images were clearly ‘staged’. In a victory for common sense and free speech the jury unanimously acquitted Mr Webster of all charges.

Mr Webster’s solicitor Myles Jackman of Audu and Co, who has now successfully defended a number of extreme pornography prosecutions (3), said: ‘The jury’s clear and unequivocal message is a damning blow to the credibility of the ill-conceived and prurient extreme pornography legislation. It has previously led to the state prosecuting the possession of dirty-jokes; and in Mr Webster’s case what were clearly unrealistic high-camp horror fantasy images’.

Expert witness Prof Feona Attwood of Sheffield Hallam University described the images in question as ‘less realistic than a British soap opera.’

According to Alexandra Dymock of Backlash, (4) the sexual civil liberties organisation who put Mr Webster in contact with his specialist legal team, said: ‘This ill-conceived, insufficiently researched and poorly written law has now been shown to be not only a waste of valuable legal aid and police resources, but that it is also out of step with the attitudes of ordinary members of the British public in the face of reasonable argument, even if they find the material itself distasteful.’

Backlash have petitioned the Coalition to include the extreme porn act in the forthcoming repeal bill and hope Mr Webster’s case illustrates the need for this repressive and intrusive legislation to be removed from the statute books.

Ends

Notes for editors

(1) http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/news/New-laws-test-landmark-trial/article-3065740-detail/article.html

(2) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/battle-lines-drawn-over-bill-to-ban-extreme-porn-1216231.html

(3) http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/06/tiger_freed/

(4) Backlash http://www.backlash-uk.org.uk/ is an umbrella organisation providing legal, academic and campaigning resources defending freedom of sexual expression.

ISPs under pressure to control online porn: “

Minister thinks of the children

Campaigners will meet with the internet minister, Ed Vaizey, to lobby for ISPs to be forced to control access to pornography.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Kent police bring obscenity charge over online chat: “

Court hearing next week

Kent Police have charged an individual with nine offences under the Obscene Publications Act 1959 (OPA) in a case that could potentially see online chat in the UK subjected to a much stricter regulation regime.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Welsh police come down hard on Octopussy porn: “

Man accused of possessing extreme porn

A man appeared before Swansea magistrates this week accused of possessing extreme porn images, including one which allegedly shows ‘a person performing an act of intercourse with a dead animal, namely a squid.’…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Man could face prison over six second ‘extreme porn’ clip: “

Oh, grrrrreat

A man has been warned he faces a custodial sentence after pleading guilty to possession of what prosecutors described as ‘extreme porn’ at Mold Crown Court last week.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Extreme Pr0n – One Year On: “

Little protection from extreme images – but pets are safe

Analysis One year on from the passage of the extreme porn laws, and it would appear that the worst fears of those who campaigned against them have, in the main, not been realised. At the same time, the case for driving a coach and horses through some basic principles of English Law feels equally unmade.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Extreme pr0n suspect has his internet access suspended: “

Heard not seen, at least not online

A new threat for those suspected of ogling extreme porn arrives today in the shape of an internet ban pending trial. This is what lawyers might term ‘an interesting idea’, and one that could come to cause grief far more widely if it catches on.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

UK prosecutors drop ‘tiger’ sex video case: “

North Wales Police missed Frosties connection

The CPS dropped a prosecution under the extreme porn law last week when it apparently accepted that the soundtrack on a clip of a tiger apparently having sex with a women rendered the video comical rather than pornographic.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Cartoon smut law to make life sucky for Olympic organisers: “

Internet + iffy logo = Ha ha!

Government zeal in pursuing anyone suspected of harbouring paedophilic tendencies may shortly rebound – with unintended consequences for the 2012 Olympic logo.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Man remanded for extreme porn offences: “

Time to dust off those disk scrubbers?

An arrest – and remand time – for being suspected of possessing extreme porn may act as wake-up call for those who thought that the new law on extreme porn would just quietly fade away.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)