The Observer’s analysis looked at cases of sharing or threatening to share intimate photos of a person without consent that have been heard in the magistrates courts since August 2024, using records from the Courtsdesk database of hearings in England and Wales.
The 35-year-old from Swansea was given a six-month suspended sentence, a rehabilitation order and a three-year restraining order – but no deprivation order, leaving the police with no legal power to retain and wipe his devices.
Of 98 cases involving intimate image abuse concluded in the magistrates courts in England and Wales in the past six months, just three resulted in a deprivation order.
A spokesperson for the CPS said: “While courts already have the power to deprive convicted offenders of nonconsensual intimate images and videos, we accept there is more we can do.” It is reviewing its guidance for prosecutors.
Perpetrators of “revenge porn” offences are being allowed to keep explicit images of their victims on their devices, after a failure by prosecutors to obtain orders requiring their deletion.
