“Revenge porn” is the everyday term for sharing, or threatening to share, an intimate photograph or film of someone without their consent. In England and Wales it is no longer prosecuted under the old “revenge porn” law. Since 31 January 2024 it falls under section 66B of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, inserted by the Online Safety Act 2023.
There are four offences: the basic one is summary only and carries up to 6 months, while the three more serious versions are either way offences triable on indictment in the Crown Court carrying up to 2 years’ imprisonment and an unlimited fine.
Revenge porn describes the non consensual sharing of nude, sexual or otherwise intimate images. It is often committed by an ex-partner, but the law requires no prior relationship: a stranger, a colleague or someone who has hacked an account commits exactly the same offence.
The phrase itself is misleading, and specialists increasingly avoid it. People search for it in many ways “revenge for porn”, “revengeful porn”, “image based abuse” but the conduct rarely involves revenge in any meaningful sense, and the images are not pornography in the commercial sense.
The Law Commission, the Crown Prosecution Service and defence practitioners now use intimate image abuse or image based sexual abuse. That shift matters legally too: the old offence required proof of a motive, and the current law does not.
Yes. The governing provision is section 66B of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (SOA 2003).
The previous offence section 33 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 was repealed when Part 10 of the Online Safety Act 2023 came into force on 31 January 2024, though it remains available for offences committed before that date.
The reform followed the Law Commission’s 2022 Intimate Image Abuse report, which found the old law too narrow: it required proof of an intention to cause distress, so conduct motivated by sexual gratification fell outside it entirely.
Section 66B creates four distinct offences:
| Provision | Conduct | What the prosecution must prove |
|---|---|---|
| s.66B(1) — base offence | Sharing an intimate image | No consent and no reasonable belief in consent. No motive required. |
| s.66B(2) | Sharing to cause alarm, distress or humiliation | That intent, plus absence of consent |
| s.66B(3) | Sharing for sexual gratification | That purpose, plus absence of consent and no reasonable belief in it |
| s.66B(4) | Threatening to share | Intent that the person fears the threat is carried out, or recklessness as to that |
The base offence is the significant change: the prosecution no longer has to prove the defendant intended to cause distress. Sharing without consent is enough.
The answer depends on which subsection is charged. Section 66B(1) creates a summary offence. Sections 66B(2), (3) and (4) are either-way offences carrying a maximum of 2 years’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.
“Indictable offence” is often used loosely to mean any offence that can be tried on indictment in the Crown Court. On that broad definition, sections 66B(2) (4) qualify, because they are triable either way. None of the section 66B offences is indictable-only (unlike rape or robbery), so no case is obliged to go to the Crown Court.
| Offence | Classification | Where tried | Maximum sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| s.66B(1) | Summary only | Magistrates’ court | 6 months and/or a fine |
| s.66B(2) | Either way | Magistrates’ or Crown Court | 2 years on indictment; unlimited fine |
| s.66B(3) | Either way | Magistrates’ or Crown Court | 2 years on indictment; unlimited fine |
| s.66B(4) | Either way | Magistrates’ or Crown Court | 2 years on indictment; unlimited fine |
The definition in section 66D is deliberately broad. An image is of a person in an intimate state if it shows, or appears to show, a sexual act, something a reasonable person would consider sexual, exposed genitals, buttocks or breasts, urination or defecation, or associated personal care.
“Exposed” goes further than most people expect. It covers body parts visible through wet or transparent clothing, parts that would be exposed but for underwear, and parts obscured by an object, a body part or digital alteration where the obscured area is no larger than underwear would cover.
“Downblousing” images are caught. There is one carveout an image is not intimate if it shows something of a kind ordinarily seen in public but breastfeeding is expressly excluded from it.
Section 66B(4) is often underestimated. Where a person is charged with threatening to share, the prosecution does not have to prove the photograph or film exists, or that it genuinely shows anyone in an intimate state.
A bluff can be a criminal offence. The charge frequently arises in domestic abuse cases, alongside controlling or coercive behaviour, stalking or harassment.
Two significant expansions took effect during 2026.
Creating and requesting deepfakes from 6 February 2026. Section 138 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 inserted sections 66E to 66H into the Sexual Offences Act 2003, creating offences of creating, or requesting the creation of, a purported intimate image of an adult without consent or a reasonable belief in consent.
These are summary offences with a reasonable excuse defence. No sharing is required, and an offence is committed even if the image is never produced. A prompt typed into an image generator can be enough.
Nudification tools from 29 June 2026. Section 99 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 inserted section 66I SOA 2003, criminalising making, adapting, supplying or offering to supply a generator of purported intimate images. Notification requirements apply to anyone convicted under section 66I and sentenced to at least 12 months’ imprisonment.
A custodial sentence is not inevitable. Courts routinely impose community orders, suspended sentences or fines depending on culpability, harm and mitigation. There is no offence specific Sentencing Council guideline for section 66B, so courts apply the General guideline. The consequences that most often concern defendants are the ancillary ones:
Consent or a reasonable belief in consent is the central issue in most cases. Beyond that:
These defences are fact sensitive and turn heavily on digital evidence message threads, metadata, account attribution and device forensics.
Arrest or an invitation to a voluntary interview under caution is usually the first sign. Do not delete messages or images; it rarely helps and often makes matters worse, and do not contact the complainant. Get representation before the interview: a solicitor can seek pre interview disclosure and advise on whether to answer questions, give a prepared statement or remain silent.
Cases involving deepfakes, cloud backups or shared devices often turn on attribution, where technical challenges to the prosecution case are frequently available.
Two assumptions cause the most damage. The first is that a voluntary interview is informal and does not need a solicitor. The second is that legal advice at the police station has to be paid for. Neither is true. The interview is evidence, and representation at that stage costs nothing.
Stuart Miller Solicitors has defended sexual offence and image based abuse allegations across England and Wales for over three decades, including cases involving deepfakes, shared devices and disputed consent. We can attend police interviews, make pre charge representations to the police and CPS, and advise on plea, venue and mitigation. Contact us for an initial consultation.
It is now a sexual offence, sitting in the Sexual Offences Act 2003 which is why victim anonymity and, for section 66B(3), notification requirements apply. Under the repealed 2015 law it was a communications offence and victims had no automatic anonymity.
Yes. The base offence carries up to 6 months; sections 66B(2) (4) carry up to 2 years on conviction on indictment. Many cases result in community orders or suspended sentences instead.
Yes. Sharing with a single recipient is sharing. There is no requirement that the image was posted publicly.
Yes. Section 66B(4) does not require the image to exist.
Yes, since 6 February 2026, under section 66E of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Requesting one is a separate offence under section 66F, even if no image is ever created.
Not automatically. Notification requirements attach to convictions under section 66B(3), for sharing for sexual gratification, rather than to every section 66B conviction.
No. Consent to an image being taken is not consent to it being shared. These are two separate questions in law.
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