Jane Fae reports that a man facing charges of possessing extreme pornography has had the case against him dropped. The prosecution were unable to make the case that he intended to possess the images. Although Fae believes this spells greater ambiguity as to how the law can be prosecuted, I think there is a good case to say that the dropping of the charges in this instance emphasises that the CPS takes it that they must demonstrate capability to access the image. Possession in digital media is almost equivalent to ‘having control over’, which is not inconsistent with current case law.
Extreme porn charges against pensioner dropped
Jane Fae reports that a man facing charges of possessing extreme pornography has had the case against him dropped. The prosecution were unable to make the case that he intended to possess the images. Although Fae believes this spells greater ambiguity as to how the law can be prosecuted, I think there is a good case to say that the dropping of the charges in this instance emphasises that the CPS takes it that they must demonstrate capability to access the image. Possession in digital media is almost equivalent to ‘having control over’, which is not inconsistent with current case law.