MP welcomes “Jane memorial” law

Brighton Pavilion's MP David Lepper has welcomed proposals which will make possession of a range of extreme violent images from the internet illegal.

The proposals are contained in the new Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill and will lead to a possible 2 year prison sentence.

Following horrific revelations during the trial of Graham Coutts for the murder of Brighton school teacher Jane Longhurst in 2003, the government promised to take action to curb the kind of violent internet pornography used by Coutts and which obviously fuelled his fantasies and affected his behaviour.

David Lepper says:

The MP adds, “Jane lived and taught in my constituency at what was then Uplands School in Hollingdean (now the Cedar Centre). Through my contact with the school as the last place at which I ever worked as a teacher I knew of her dedication as a teacher of children with learning difficulties. I shared the shock of the whole community when she disappeared and then the horror of what happened to her.

“Jane’s mother Liz lives in Reading and with Reading West MP Martin Salter I offered my support to her campaign to get government and if possible international action against to the kinds of violent extreme pornography described during the murder trial in which women and sometimes men are shown as victims of strangulation, rape, murder and necrophilia.

“Liz’s tenacity won the support of Amnesty for her campaign as part of its year of action against violence against women, and eventually Martin Salter and I presented a 50,000 signature petition to Parliament.

“As Home Secretaries David Blunkett and Charles Clarke met with Mrs Longhurst and vowed to take action. I pay tribute to them and to Home Office Ministers Paul Goggins and Vernon Coaker who have worked so hard to bring about proposals for new laws.

“It has proved very difficult to get the same kind of international action to deal with this kind of pornography which is being taken to deal with child pornography. Ultimately that is necessary because most of the websites carrying this material are based abroad.

“However, the proposals to outlaw possession of these images contained in clause 64 of the Bill are an important step forward in the war on this obscenity and a tribute to the determination of Liz Longhurst and her family and a memorial to Jane Longhurst.”