Aftermath of the Simon Walsh extreme pornography court case
The unanimous jury came back with their verdict in less than 90 minutes which cleared Simon Walsh of possessing extreme pornography. This first of its kind court case brought extreme sex acts such as fisting and urethral sounding into the limelight. Now that he has been acquitted, what does this mean for the future?
Surely if they were prosecuting an average, ordinary every-man, would we even hear about this court case? Perhaps the only reason why this landmark court case even made it into most papers is because Simon Walsh is a former aide to Boris Johnson and served as a magistrate and alderman in the City of London. Because of this, Simon's personal sex life was brought out into the open for all to see. The images in question were never found on his work computer or home computer, they were simply sitting in a Hotmail account Wash had set up strictly for his sex life.
In this week long court case, each image was presented to the court and the acts depicted were defined in detail by experts. Walsh was quoted as saying, "I know the limits and I respect them." The anal fisting was especially highlighted; prosecutors brought in medical professionals to talk about the risks of anal fisting and when asked if they've ever performed surgery as a result of anal fisting, I'm sure the negative response was quite a relief to the defense!
Although Simon Wash has been cleared of all counts of possessing extreme pornography, what does this all mean? Unfortunately, Simon has not been able to work as a barrister since his arrest. His personal life is now out in the open, a life which was private and never hurt anyone. Everyone in that courtroom last week was forced to hear about and witness images of sexual practices they may not have ever wanted to know about.
On the bright side, this court case has laid the foundation stone in any similar future case in hopes that in this day and age, we no longer have to worry about getting arrested for participating in legal and consensual sexual activities. One of the most popular retweets on the #porntrial hash tag on twitter rang true: "Fifty Shades of Grey is, it seems, the bestselling book ever in Britain, whilst the CPS prosecute #porntrial. Odd society, ours."
Surely if they were prosecuting an average, ordinary every-man, would we even hear about this court case? Perhaps the only reason why this landmark court case even made it into most papers is because Simon Walsh is a former aide to Boris Johnson and served as a magistrate and alderman in the City of London. Because of this, Simon's personal sex life was brought out into the open for all to see. The images in question were never found on his work computer or home computer, they were simply sitting in a Hotmail account Wash had set up strictly for his sex life.
In this week long court case, each image was presented to the court and the acts depicted were defined in detail by experts. Walsh was quoted as saying, "I know the limits and I respect them." The anal fisting was especially highlighted; prosecutors brought in medical professionals to talk about the risks of anal fisting and when asked if they've ever performed surgery as a result of anal fisting, I'm sure the negative response was quite a relief to the defense!
Although Simon Wash has been cleared of all counts of possessing extreme pornography, what does this all mean? Unfortunately, Simon has not been able to work as a barrister since his arrest. His personal life is now out in the open, a life which was private and never hurt anyone. Everyone in that courtroom last week was forced to hear about and witness images of sexual practices they may not have ever wanted to know about.
On the bright side, this court case has laid the foundation stone in any similar future case in hopes that in this day and age, we no longer have to worry about getting arrested for participating in legal and consensual sexual activities. One of the most popular retweets on the #porntrial hash tag on twitter rang true: "Fifty Shades of Grey is, it seems, the bestselling book ever in Britain, whilst the CPS prosecute #porntrial. Odd society, ours."
9 August 2012
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