I have no idea what “grossly offensive” (pornographic) images are.
Why did the police search his mobile phone?
A Lowestoft teenager has become one of the first people to fall foul of a new law which bans the possession of “grossly offensive” pornographic images.
In January this year, a new law came into force as part of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 making it an offence to possess any extreme images which are deemed to be “grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character”.
Yesterday, Lowestoft teenager Damien Wentworth, of Laurel Road, was fined after police found a short video on his mobile telephone which contained an extreme image.
Wentworth pleaded guilty to possessing an extreme pornographic image.
His solicitor Richard Mann said: “Technically, he is guilty of the offence, but I would say that he didn’t even know it was an offence to have this on his phone. It is a law which came into force this year, so it is hardly a surprise that he didn’t know.”
“He was not putting it on the internet or distributing it to anybody.”
Wentworth was ordered to pay £175 in fines and costs. Magistrates also ordered the destruction of the image.
The new law covers any images, including those stored on mobile telephones, DVDs and on computer hard disks.
14 October 2009 10:08
Source: Evening News 24