Released 28 May 2010
Tiger Porn defendant miscarriage of justice averted
The sexual civil liberties organisation Backlash have assisted in averting a miscarriage of justice.
Andrew Holland was charged with one count of possessing extreme pornography under the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 at the Mold Crown Court.
He stood to be sentenced for the offence, having pleaded guilty mid trial under advice from his local legal team in Wrexham.
Backlash contacted Holland to offer advice to discover that he may have been misadvised by his local legal team; and that he did in fact have a defence to the charge.
Backlash provided funds for provisional legal advice and research to be performed. We put Holland in contact with our legal adviser, who is a solicitor specialising in extreme pornography offences, Myles Jackman of Audu and Co in King’s Cross, London.
Holland transferred representation to the specialist solicitors and was given leave on Friday the 28th May 2010 by His Honour Judge Rogers sitting at the Mold Crown Court to vacate his plea from Guilty back to Not Guilty.
That means that he will stand trial again; this time in the knowledge that he has a defence. However, had he not contacted Backlash in the first place he would have been sentenced for an offence for which he may have been misadvised that he did not have a defence.
Holland’s case gained notoriety as he had previously been charged with a second, separate extreme pornography charge relating to a video clip purportedly depicting a sexual act between a human and a tiger.
This charge was withdrawn when it was discovered that the prosecutor had failed to listen to the video’s soundtrack, whererin one of the “actors” made a comment about Tony the Tiger from the Frosties commercials, proving the video was an elaborate joke and the tiger was not real; leaving the prosecution deeply embarrassed.
Myles Jackman commented that: “it is ridiculous and dangerous that the CPS are trying to criminalise the posession of dirty jokes”.
Please email for contact requests: info@backlash-uk.org.uk
Notes for Editors
1. Previous coverage of Mr Holland’s case can be found at
The Daily Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6918001/Man-cleared-of-porn- charge-after-tiger-sex-image-found-to-be-joke.html
And The Register: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/06/tiger_police/
www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/22/six_second_clip/
2. Backlash is an umbrella organisation providing academic, legal and campaigning resources defending freedom of sexual expression. We support the rights of adults to participate in all consensual sexual activities and to watch, read and create any fictional interpretation of such in any media.
www.backlash.org.uk
3. Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 bans the possession of various ‘extreme images’ which can include faked images and depictions of
adults engaging in consensual sexual activities. For details of the law see:
www.backlash.org.uk/?page_id=7