Law Weblog

Effect of public opinion and pressure groups

The possession of violent and extreme pornographic material will become a criminal offence punishable by up to three years in prison under proposed new laws announced today by Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker. The Government aims to legislate as soon as Parliamentary time allows. It follows a campaign by Berkshire woman Liz Longhurst whose daughter Jane, a Brighton schoolteacher, was killed by Graham Coutts. Coutts will probably be given a retrial, following a House of Lords ruling that manslaughter should have been put to the jury.
News report here.