LEGAL EAGLE: ‘Revenge porn’ – acting on what is a criminal offence

Yes, this is a crime as per Section 33 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015. This is commonly referred to as ‘revenge porn’ and has recently been seen in the case of Georgia Harrison and Stephen Bear.

Following campaigns for a change in the law, it became an offence for someone to share a private sexual image or video of another person without their consent, with the intention to cause them distress. This can be offline, as in shared with others via message, or online including on social media platforms.

This a serious offence, and if found guilty a person could face up to two years imprisonment. To be guilty of this offence, the individual sharing the images does not even have to be the first person to share or ‘leak’ the image. The severity of sentence will depend upon how widely and publicly the images were shared, the intention of maximising distress and humiliation to the individual within the images and any degree of planning undertaken.

What kind of pictures are illegal to share? In terms of ‘revenge porn’, sharing private sexual images is breaking the law. The general definition is that if an image or video is of something not seen in public, this is to be considered ‘private’. If the image or video shows someone to be naked, or partially naked, or if a reasonable person viewing it believed it to be of a sexual nature, then it can be classed as ‘sexual’. The image disclosed must be both private and sexual to be an offence under the Act.

There are some instances where sharing these types of images is not illegal. The individual sharing the images will have a defence to this offence if:

- the sharing of the images was only to the individual shown in the image or video;

- if the sharing of the image or video was necessary for the purposes of preventing or investigating a crime;

- if the sharing of the image was made as part of journalistic material and in the public interest;

- if the individual sharing the images can demonstrate that he or she believed that the image or video had already been disclosed for ‘reward’ and they believed such disclosure to have been carried out with consent of the person within the image.

If you have been arrested for the sharing of private or sexual images without the consent of the individual, and need advice on what to do, please do contact Ben Hoare Bell LLP on 0191 565 3112. Or you can email us on [email protected]. Visit www.benhoarebell.co.uk for further information.