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Mother wins ban on violent porn [UK bans possession of violent pornography]
BBC ^ | August 30, 2006

Posted on 08/30/2006 1:23:23 PM PDT by John Jorsett

A mother whose daughter died at the hands of a man obsessed with violent internet porn has won her fight for a ban on possessing such images.

The government has announced plans to make the possession of violent porn punishable by three years in jail.

It follows a campaign by Berkshire woman Liz Longhurst whose daughter Jane, a Brighton schoolteacher, was allegedly strangled by Graham Coutts.

Mrs Longhurst's campaign was backed by MPs and a 50,000-signature petition.

Hidden body

In November last year the petition won cross-party support when it was presented to the House of Commons and was backed publicly by the solicitor general, Harriet Harman MP.

Since her daughter's death Mrs Longhurst, 74, from Reading, has fought a long campaign to ban the possession of images of sexual violence.

Jane Longhurst

Mrs Longhurst said: "My daughter Sue and myself are very pleased that after 30 months of intensive campaigning we have persuaded the government to take action against these horrific internet sites, which can have such a corrupting influence and glorify extreme sexual violence."

Jane Longhurst, 31, was found dead on Wiggonholt Common, near Pulborough, West Sussex, on 19 April 2003.

She had been strangled with a pair of tights and her body kept in storage for weeks before it was found.

In 2004, musician Coutts, 36, of Waterloo Street, Hove, West Sussex, was convicted of her murder but on appeal he was ordered to serve a minimum 26 years in jail.

Such material has no place in our society
Home Office minister Vernon Coaker

Trial jurors had been told of his obsession with strangulation and how he looked at internet sites connected with the fetish.

It is already a crime to make or publish such images but proposed legislation will outlaw possession of images such as "material featuring violence that is, or appears to be, life-threatening or is likely to result in serious and disabling injury".

Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker MP said: "Such material has no place in our society but the advent of the internet has meant that this material is more easily available and means existing controls are being by-passed - we must move to tackle this."

Mrs Longhurst said legislation, which would apply to all websites, would mean her daughter's death had not been "entirely in vain".

Reading West MP Martin Salter, who backed the campaign, said: "This campaign has taken a huge amount of time and effort but it has struck a chord right across the country.

Graham Coutts
Graham Coutts was said to have been addicted to violent porn
The move by the government would close a legal loophole.

"It is great news that the Government has not only listened but has responded to calls to outlaw access to sickening internet images, which can so easily send vulnerable people over the edge."

The new law will not target those who accidentally come into contact with obscene pornography or affect mainstream entertainment industry working within current obscenity laws.

But the proposed legislation has drawn opposition from anti-censorship groups and organisations who represent people involved in sadomasochist activities.

Shaun Gabb, director of the anti-censorship organisation the Libertarian Alliance, said: "If you are criminalising possession then you are giving police inquisitorial powers to come into your house and see what you've got, now we didn't have this in the past."

This year five Law Lords sent Coutts' case back to the Court of Appeal to "invite that court to quash the conviction".

It was argued that jurors in the original trial should have been offered the option of manslaughter as well as a murder verdict.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: animal; barbarian; censorship; collapseofthewest; forensics; moralabsolutes; murder; pornography; rape
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1 posted on 08/30/2006 1:23:27 PM PDT by John Jorsett
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To: John Jorsett

Orwell should have titled his novel "2008".

At this rate, IngSoc will be a reality.


2 posted on 08/30/2006 1:25:08 PM PDT by Killborn (Pres. Bush isn't Pres. Reagan. Then again, Pres. Regan isn't Pres. Washington. God bless them all.)
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To: John Jorsett

I have a big problem with blaming porn no matter what the kind for what sickos do.


3 posted on 08/30/2006 1:25:47 PM PDT by jmc1969
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To: jmc1969

By this logic is a Koran ban to follow?


4 posted on 08/30/2006 1:28:32 PM PDT by AustinBill (consequence is what makes our choices real)
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To: John Jorsett
While I fully agree with the ban against violent porn I wonder what the UK is going to do about violent protest speech?





5 posted on 08/30/2006 1:28:43 PM PDT by avacado
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To: John Jorsett

I expect the porn fanciers here will soon turn out to attack this Taliban-like decision.


6 posted on 08/30/2006 1:28:56 PM PDT by madprof98
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To: John Jorsett
Mrs Longhurst said legislation, which would apply to all websites, would mean her daughter's death had not been "entirely in vain".

I can't tell from that statement whether just viewing images via the WWW would be "possession," or whether it's referring to the servers hosting the images.

7 posted on 08/30/2006 1:29:17 PM PDT by John Jorsett (scam never sleeps)
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To: madprof98

If you put a little hat on a snowball, it will last a really long time in Hell.


8 posted on 08/30/2006 1:33:34 PM PDT by Utahrd
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To: John Jorsett

How do they plan on judging what is violent and what is not? In the denotative sense, all sex is violent, but I'm sure they mean the connotative sense, which requires subjective judgement. Does this mean they're setting up a government office where they'll have government workers look at porn all day and decide what is violent and what is not?


9 posted on 08/30/2006 1:34:58 PM PDT by thoughtomator (There is no "Islamofascism" - there is only Islam)
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To: John Jorsett

Does Emma Peel kicking the bad guy's butt qualify?
Maybe not today .....


10 posted on 08/30/2006 1:37:46 PM PDT by Waverunner
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To: John Jorsett

Meanwhile there is still no travel restriction on Bill Clinton, serial rapist, from travelling to the UK.


11 posted on 08/30/2006 1:46:26 PM PDT by weegee (Remember "Remember the Maine"? Well in the current war "Remember the Baby Milk Factory")
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To: avacado

A matter of priorities.


12 posted on 08/30/2006 1:47:12 PM PDT by weegee (Remember "Remember the Maine"? Well in the current war "Remember the Baby Milk Factory")
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To: John Jorsett

"Violent porn". Sounds great!


13 posted on 08/30/2006 1:48:06 PM PDT by Vision (God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, love and self-discipline 2Timothy1)
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To: thoughtomator

They will decide what is erotic and what is porn.

"Porn is what gets you hot, erotica is what gets me hot."


14 posted on 08/30/2006 1:48:16 PM PDT by weegee (Remember "Remember the Maine"? Well in the current war "Remember the Baby Milk Factory")
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To: John Jorsett

If there is no effort made to criminalize S&M and B&D which celebrate the actual exercise of violent and sadistic fantasies, then the ban on porn is for naught.


15 posted on 08/30/2006 1:49:46 PM PDT by weegee (Remember "Remember the Maine"? Well in the current war "Remember the Baby Milk Factory")
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To: weegee

Good thing I have two browsers open so I can download the free videos while I follow this thread.


16 posted on 08/30/2006 1:52:51 PM PDT by Westlander (Unleash the Neutron Bomb)
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To: John Jorsett
Trial jurors had been told of his obsession with strangulation and how he looked at internet sites connected with the fetish.

As usual, the crusaders mix up the causality. He obviously visited the sites because he was sick, the sites didn't make him sick.

17 posted on 08/30/2006 1:56:34 PM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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To: John Jorsett
It is already a crime to make or publish such images but proposed legislation will outlaw possession of images such as "material featuring violence that is, or appears to be, life-threatening or is likely to result in serious and disabling injury".

There isn't anything relating to pornography in that description. It's probably only a poorly-written story but I'd love to know what's really going on here.

18 posted on 08/30/2006 1:58:06 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: thoughtomator
How do they plan on judging what is violent and what is not?

They'll use the Catherine McKinnon definition -- all sex is violence against women.

19 posted on 08/30/2006 1:58:38 PM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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To: John Jorsett
I have no problem with this, but wouldn't she save more lives by winning the right of armed self-defense for English women?
20 posted on 08/30/2006 1:59:11 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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