Advances in technology have meant that intimate images can now easily be taken or shared without consent. The technology to create realistic deepfake sexually explicit images of any person, without their consent, is also readily available. These behaviours cause untold harm to victims’ lives, particularly the women and girls who are so often targeted. We must ensure our criminal law is adequately equipped to protect victims and punish those responsible.
Today I can confirm that we will, in the crime and policing Bill which will be introduced later this year, introduce new offences for the taking of intimate images without consent and the installation of equipment with intent to enable the taking of intimate images without consent. These are crucial steps in delivering on our ambition to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. We must ensure our criminal law enables us to tackle perpetrators, better protect victims and survivors, and deliver effective justice.
To that end, we will repeal two existing voyeurism offences that relate to the recording of a person doing a private act, and recording an image beneath a person’s clothing—the so-called “upskirting” offence—in sections 67(3) and 67A(2) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 respectively and replace them with three new offences that will cover a broader range of behaviour, improving the protection for victims.
First, the legislation will create a “base” offence of taking or recording an intimate photograph or film without consent or reasonable belief in consent. Secondly, there will be an offence of taking or recording an intimate photograph or film without consent and with intent to cause alarm, distress or humiliation. Thirdly, there will be an offence of taking or recording an intimate photograph or film without consent or reasonable belief in it, and for the purpose of the sexual gratification of oneself or another. Offenders who commit the latter offence may be subject to notification requirements, commonly known as being on the “sex offenders register”. These new offences for taking an intimate photograph or film without consent cover a broader range of behaviours than current offences, providing greater protection for victims. For example, is it not currently an offence for an abusive person to take an intimate photo of their partner, without their consent, to shock and upset them or humiliate them by taking the photo of them in that intimate state. Under our new legislation, this will be criminal.
We will also introduce new offences that criminalise someone if they install or adapt, prepare or maintain equipment, and do so with the intent of enabling themselves or another to commit one of the three offences of taking or recording an intimate photograph or film without consent. Victims of any of these new offences may qualify, where applicable, for anonymity and special measures. We will also amend the sentencing code to ensure courts have the power to order, upon conviction, that the offender be deprived of any images in respect of which they were convicted of a taking or recording offence, as well as anything on which the images were stored, such as a computer or hard drive. The courts already have this power in relation to offenders convicted of sharing intimate images without consent.
These offences are designed to complement, and in some respects mirror, the offences of sharing or threatening to share, intimate images in the Sexual Offences Act 2003, as inserted by the Online Safety Act 2023. Taken together, these measures give law enforcement a holistic package of offences to effectively tackle this abhorrent behaviour. They will offer victims whose images have been taken or shared without consent the clear and comprehensive protection they deserve.
It is already a criminal offence to share, or threaten to share, a sexually explicit deepfake without consent, but not an offence to make one. The Government made a clear manifesto commitment to ban the creation of sexually explicit deepfake images, a central aspect of our commitment to halve the prevalence of violence against women and girls within the decade. We are bringing forward legislation to honour that commitment in the crime and policing Bill which will be introduced later this year, making this behaviour criminal so that perpetrators can be brought to justice.
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