Recent Judicial Decisions
| Date | 01 November 2002 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X0207500406 |
| Published date | 01 November 2002 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
ROB R. JERRARD
Retired City
of
London Police
LegalCoffespondent
htlp:llhometown.aol.co.uklrobjerrard/myhomepage/lawl
policela/policela.htm
Independent Consultant on police; criminal law; and road traffic
Email robjerrard@aol.com
RECENT JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Importing Indecent Photographs: Knowledge of Ban is
Sufficient for Guilt
Regina vForbes (Giles) House of Lords
(2001) The Times, 20 July
Knowingly concerned in a fraudulent evasion of a
prohibition on the importation of goods; importing
indecent photographs; Customs Consolidation Act; The
Protection of Children Act 1978
The statutes
Section 42 of the Customs Consolidation Act 1876 provides:
The goods enumerated and described in the following table
of prohibitions and restrictions inwards are hereby prohibited
to be imported or brought into the United Kingdom,
...
Goods prohibited to be imported
Indecent or obscene prints, paintings, photographs, books,
cards, lithographic or other engravings, or any other indecent
or obscene articles.
The provision that reinforces these prohibitions and restrictions
by subjecting their evasion to a criminal sanction is to be found
in s. 170(2) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979,
as amended by s. 114(1) of the Police and Criminal Evidence
Act 1984, which provides:
(2) Without prejudice to any other provision of the Customs
and Excise Acts 1979, if any person is, in relation to any
goods, in any way knowingly concerned in any fraudu-
lent evasion or attempt at evasion -
(b) of any prohibition or restriction for the time being in
force with respect to the goods under or by virtue of any
enactment;
340 The Police Journal, Volume 75 (2002)
he shall be guilty of an offence under this section and
may be arrested.
It is an offence at common law to publish an obscene libel, but
the Obscene Publications Act 1959, s. 2(4), provides that:
(1) Subject as hereinafter provided, any person who,
whether for gain or not, publishes an obscene article or
who has an obscene article for publication for gain
(whether gain to himself or gain to another) shall be
liable
...
The Protection of Children Act 1978, s. 1 states:
(1) It is an offence for a person
(a) to take, or permit to be taken or to make, any
indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child
...
,
or
(b) to distribute or shoot: such indecent photographs or
pseudo-photographs; or
(c) to have in his possession such indecent photographs
or pseudo-photographs, with a view to their being dis-
tributed or shown by himself or others; or
(d) to publish or cause to be published any advertise-
ment likely to be understood as conveying that the
advertiser distributes or shows such indecent photo-
graphs or pseudo-photographs, or intends to do so.
(2) For purposes of this Act, a person is to be regarded as
distributing an indecent photograph or pseudo-
photograph if he parts with possession of it to, or
exposes or offers it for acquisition by, another person.
The Criminal Justice Act 1988, s. 160 states:
(1) It is an offence for a person to have any indecent
photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child in his pos-
session.
(2) Where a person is charged with an offence under subs.
(1) above, it shall be a defence for him to prove
(a) that he had a legitimate reason for having the
photograph or pseudo-photograph in his possession;
or
(b) that he had not himself seen the photograph or
pseudo-photograph and did not know, nor had any
cause to suspect, it to be indecent; or
The Police Journal, Volume 75 (2002) 341
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