Extreme porn found on Deputy PM Green’s Commons computer became illegal just weeks later
EXTREME porn found on Deputy PM Damian Green’s Commons computer would have been illegal had it been discovered weeks later.
The computer was seized in a raid on Mr Green’s office on November 27, 2008.
The law on possessing violent hardcore images was changed on January 26, 2009. It is unclear who downloaded the material.
Some images were said to be so extreme that police took advice from the CPS on whether to prosecute.
But no relevant law was in place when Mr Green’s office was raided during an inquiry into government leaks.
The law was changed eight weeks later. It was not retrospective so did not apply to the material.
A source close to the investigation said: “Porn was being accessed on an almost virtual daily basis. Police were told nothing could be done.
“Quite simply, it was not illegal to be in possession of extreme images before January 2009.
“If the raid had happened a few weeks later it would have been.”
Married Mr Green, Theresa May’s deputy as First Secretary of State, is clinging to his job as he faces a Whitehall “sleaze” inquiry.
He said last night: “As I have said throughout I did not put or view pornography on the computers taken from my office.” It is unclear who could have downloaded the porn. It did not feature sexual images of children.
Accessing extreme porn became illegal under sections 63 to 67 of the 2008 Crime and Immigration Act which came into force on January 26, 2009.
It followed a four-year campaign by the parents of murdered Jane Longhurst. Her killer Graham Coutts, 46, of Brighton, had a strangulation fetish and accessed violent images of simulated murders and rapes.
The 2009 law made it illegal to possess images featuring acts which threaten life, cause serious injury to a person’s private parts or depict sex with animals or a corpse.
Then Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer, now a Labour front-bencher, is said to have been consulted over the images on Mr Green’s Commons computer.
Former Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said last week that he was aware porn had been found during the leaks inquiry.
But he said the alleged discovery was not relevant to the probe into Mr Green while he was shadow immigration minister.
Although no legal action can now be taken against anyone for the images, the Whitehall inquiry into Mr Green’s conduct is considering the allegations.
It was ordered by Mrs May following a claim that he made an inappropriate advance to journalist Kate Maltby. He has said the claim is “untrue and deeply hurtful”.
The porn allegations, first reported by The Sun last week emerged after a draft report from ex-Metropolitan Police chief Bob Quick, was leaked.
Mr Green vehemently denies he or his staff accessed porn and says police did not inform or question him about it at the time.
The report into Mr Green’s conduct will go to Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood, the highest-ranking civil servant, who will advise Mrs May.
The CPS did not comment last night.
