00:00A significant rise in reported cases of revenge porn and sexual offences in the Northumbria
00:05Police area has raised fresh concerns about the growing prevalence of intimate images
00:10abuse, despite laws already being in place since 2015 to criminalise such behaviour.
00:17Under new legislation being introduced in England and Wales as part of the Criminal
00:21Justice and Courts Bill, it will soon become easier to prosecute individuals found guilty
00:27of so-called revenge porn, the act of sharing private sexual materials of another person
00:33without their consent, and with the intent to cause embarrassment or distress.
00:38The offence applies both online and offline, and includes images shared via text, email,
00:44social media, or even shown in person, whether digitally or physically. Those convicted under
00:50the new laws could phase up the two years in prison and a fine. Private and sexual materials
00:55are defined under the law as content that would not normally be seen in public, ranging from
01:01explicit photos and videos to images where a person is posing in a sexually provocative
01:05manner. The law takes into account what a reasonable person would view as sexual in nature. Recent
01:13figures published by the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner paint a concerning picture.
01:19In May 2024 and May 2025, the region saw a 16% rise in sexual offence reports, up from 5,073
01:26to 5,865 incidents. Particularly striking is that a 48% increase in other sexual crimes, representing
01:36an additional 437 cases, largely attributed to newly introduced crime codes covering the sharing
01:42and threatening to share intimate images. So do you think the current laws and penalties
01:47are enough to deter people from sharing intimate images without consent, or is more needed to
01:52protect victims of image-based abuse?
01:54It feels to me like, no matter how many laws you add, nothing's going to act as a deterrent
02:02for some people. We need better funding for educational kids' TV.
02:07Yeah. Most of the schools, I guess, are also in schools.
02:12On Sesame Street, that's what I'd say. Yeah.
02:14Yeah, definitely. Happens too often.
02:17It definitely does. Yeah, at the end of the day, especially when it's online, it's kind
02:21of hard to track that someone has done it. It's so easy to release things anonymously.
02:26I feel like you are better off. There probably are more laws needed. I can't say I know that
02:30much about them, but you're probably better off educating people on, you know, don't do that.
02:35Yeah. The national trend mirrors this surge. The Revenge Porn Helpline, a UK-wide support
02:41service, reported a 20% rise in image abuse cases across 2024 alone. Sophie Mortimer, manager
02:48of the Revenge Porn Helpline, says while it's encouraging to see more victims stepping forward,
02:54the fact that it has taken a decade for many to be taken seriously remains disappointing.
02:59At that end of the day, everyone has been finding the same genau for many variations of the
03:05unserer needs of the entire community. But thank you.
03:05Thank you. And I'll see you in the next one.
03:08Oh, thank you.
03:10Yeah.
