A man from Romford in the UK has been the first person in country to be convicted under the UK’s new “revenge porn” legislation.
Jason Asagba, 21, was convicted of posting naked photos of his 20 year old girlfriend on Facebook, only days after the new laws came into force.
We reported on the story about the new laws that went into effect in April 2015 that specially make it illegal to post naked images of individuals online in order to cause them distress.
Prior to the new laws, prosecutors had to use existing ill-defined laws that were not created to deal with this type of crime, meaning prosecutions were difficult and penalties often light.
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“We believe that this is the first conviction of the new offence in the country, which highlights the fact that Thames Valley Police takes this crime extremely seriously and will investigate such reports,” said DC Steven Rose of the Thames Police.
The new laws under the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015, specifically Section 33, have been dubbed the “revenge porn” laws since the act of posting naked photos of former partners is referred to as revenge porn.
The new laws and subsequent conviction of Asagba demonstrates how legislation is developing in response to the growing number of crimes faced on the Internet. The Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 also makes it illegal to send naked photos through mobile phones as well as posting them on social media.
Asagba is now looking at a possible two year jail sentence.