#PornTrial - Jury acquit HJA client for possession of supposedly extreme porn

[RubyGoodnight]

Hopefully, this will be interesting to a few folks here...

Boris Johnson's former fire aide Simon Walsh was acquitted today of possession of "extreme porn" depicting pictures of consensual adult sexual activities discussed in ?Fifty Shades of Grey? and possession of an indecent image of a children received via an unsolicited email.

Hodge Jones and Allen LLP acted for Simon Walsh, who was charged with possession of extreme pornography and possession of an indecent image of a child. Simon Walsh, 49, is an Alderman of the City of London, Magistrate and barrister specialising in actions against the police. He was also Mayoral Appointee to the London Fire Authority until sacked last year when these charges arose.

Walsh was charged with two counts of possessing fisting porn and three counts of possessing urethral sounding porn. These images depicted legal sex acts between consenting adults. He was acquitted by the jury of all charges he faced.

Samira Noor-Khan, Partner at Hodge Jones & Allen LLP, commented: ?This case highlights the dreadful state of affairs where people can be prosecuted for possessing images of adults legally participating in consensual sexual acts. Simon?s personal life was placed under extreme scrutiny and his career ruined on the basis of a handful of images found on his email server. Cases of this nature must be defended robustly to ensure no-one is convicted of possessing such images?

Myles Jackman, consultant at Hodge Jones & Allen LLP commented: "An unsolicited picture was found unopened on Simon's email server. Consequently he had private life scrutinised in Court and the media. He was fired by Boris Johnson. He risked going to prison.

?Fortunately the jury were able to apply their common sense and reject an intrusive and unfounded prosecution of material depicting private and consensual sexual acts between adults?.

Notes to Editors:
Possession of extreme pornography was criminalised by section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2008/4/section/63
Background on the law here: http://www.backlash-uk.org.uk/wp/?page_id=7

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