R v Oliver, Hartrey and Baldwin
In August 2002 the Panel published its advice to the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal clarified the definitions in relation to image level classifications.
The courts held that Level 1 as it seems to us, neither nakedness
in a legitimate setting, nor the surreptitious procuring of an image,
gives rise, of itself, to a pornographic image. Accordingly, with that
amendment to the Panels proposals we categorise the relevant levels as:
(1) Images depicting erotic posing with no sexual activity;
(2) Sexual activity between children, or solo masturbation by a child;
(3) Non-penetrative sexual activity between adults and children;
(4) Penetrative sexual activity between children and adults;
(5) Sadism or bestiality.
The implication of this judgement has been to remove nudity from
the Level 1 offence however still retaining the element of erotic
posing.
Neutral Citation Number: (2002) EWCA Crim 2766
On 30 April 2007 the Sentencing Guidelines Council published its Sexual Offences Act 2003 Definitive Guidelines. See
page 109 for Part 6A: Indecent Photographs of Children including
details of sentencing levels 1 - 5, guidelines for establishing the
seriousness of child sexual abuse images.
