Member

We support the policy aim of the amendment, which is that victims are not further harmed by perpetrators being allowed to keep the images resulting from the offence. That is why we are amending the Sentencing Act to ensure that courts have the power to deprive offenders of any images created in connection with their conviction for this offence, as well as the hardware on which they may be stored. The courts already have this power in relation to sharing intimate images without consent, at Section 66B of the Sexual Offences Act, or sending a photograph or film of genitals, at Section 66A of that Act. We will also be ensuring that courts have the power in relation to taking an intimate image without consent when we introduce offences to tackle this behaviour in the Crime and Policing Bill. This will ensure parity across all the offences. To be clear, this power extends to any image that the offender owns. Beyond that, where images have been shared non-consensually on sites under the Online Safety Act regime, they can and should be removed.