Coroners and Justice Act 2009

A new act comes into force today making the possession of indecent animation and cartoons illegal.

Sections 62 to 69 under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 have been introduced after complaints from high tech crime units and other child protection agencies across the UK. It has been found that many sex offenders are downloading and searching for indecent animation because it was not strictly illegal to do so. This meant that in some cases, cartoon images were returned to the owner after an investigation had been conducted.

However, the new legislation specifies that it will be an offence to possess an image of a child where the image shows the following:

- 'an image of an imaginary person'

- 'an image of an imaginary child'

- 'the impression conveyed by the image is that the person shown is a child'

- 'the predominant impression conveyed is that the person shown is a child despite the fact that some of the physical characteristics shown are not those of a child'

- 'a person under the age of 18'


Prosecution under the act can lead to three years imprisonment or a fine.