Revenge Porn – The Facts

A new law came in this April which enables the prosecution of people who maliciously share sexually explicit pictures of former partners. Revenge porn, which is defined as a distribution of a private sexual image of someone without their consent and with the intention of causing them distress, is now a specific offence under the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015.

Those convicted face a maximum sentence of two years in Prison. The offence includes the sharing of images both online and offline so images posted to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter will be included, as well as those shared via text messages, email and websites, and of course, the distribution of physical copies of images.

We will not go in to the explicit detail here of what type of image the offence is designed to tackle – use your imagination and look it up if you want. From a divorce lawyer’s point of view, the advice to clients has to be, no matter how embittered you feel about your other half’s behaviour during the relationship breakdown, don’t be tempted to wreak your revenge this way, if you happen to have the material to hand.

The first female prosecuted under the new law for posting explicit photos of her ex on Facebook, received a 6 week prison sentence suspended for 18 months. I am sure none of you would be so foolish.

Monday, October 26th, 2015 News