Criminalised for Receiving Images via WhatsApp

Two young men from the U.K. have been given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £500 for the possession of extreme porn. This in it self is a great thing, things like that need to end. The real bizarre twist of the story is, the 2 men in question did not get it themselves nor did they want it.

The got sent the imagery in the instant messenger WhatsApp, and upon seeing what it was, they deleted it without even watching it to the end. Unaware that a second copy was stored in the camera roll, they were still in possession on it and that is breaking the law.

Both pleaded guilty to possessing the images on their smartphones. Kelly pleaded guilty to one count of “possessing an extreme pornographic image likely to cause injury”, and three counts of possessing pornographic images involving animals. Ticehurst admitted one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image as well as two counts of possessing pornographic images involving animals.

The images were found after Police had stopped the two men for unrelated matters and a routine inspection of their phones was carried out. Both men defended themselves in court. Kelly said he had deleted the received videos from his WhatsApp, adding that he was unaware that images were saved to his camera roll. “I didn’t even watch the full content of the video. It was very sick and disturbing,” he told the court.

“You have pleaded guilty to possessing truly disgusting images,” Judge Worsley said adding “It makes a big difference if someone goes out of their way to seek it, or if they’re sent it by some mischievous colleague.”

Even after the judge’s leniency and appearing to have accepted the indirect means the duo were sent the offending images he still imposed a significant punishment. It is literally like trying to convict someone of possessing an e-mail selling illegal viagra. There will be lots of truly innocent individuals caught up in these kind of charges.

Thank you Sex & Censorship for providing us with this information.

Image courtesy of WhatsApp.