Revenge porn abusers are being allowed to KEEP express photos of their victims as a result of prosecutors aren’t ordering their removing

Revenge porn offenders are being allowed to keep explicit images of their victims on their devices because prosecutors failed to obtain orders requiring their deletion.

In the past six months, out of 98 intimate image abuse cases concluded in the magistrates courts in England and Wales, only three led to a deprivation order.

In contrast, other cases that involved digital devices, including offences relating to indecent images of children, deprivation orders were made consistently.

A victim in a case where the perpetrator was not made to delete sexual videos said: ‘It makes my skin crawl to know that he could still be watching these, let alone uploading them on the internet again.’ 

Out of the 98 cases concluded in the magistrates courts, 54 defendants were given restraining orders lasting from one to five years.

The three cases where prosecutors did request deprivation orders included one in December in Bromley, southeast London.

Magistrates ordered a 27-year-old man be ‘deprived of the photographs used in the course of the offence’.

He was also given an eight-week suspended sentence and a five-year restraining order.

Out of 98 intimate image abuse cases concluded in the magistrates courts in England and Wales in the past six months, only three led to a deprivation order

In another case in Hull, in September, a man was jailed for 22 weeks and his phone had to be destroyed. 

In both cases the men had also been convicted of a further offence – harassment – as well as the intimate image crime.

A deprivation order was also requested by prosecutors from Chester magistrates for a man convicted of sharing intimate photos.

He was also given a 12-month suspended sentence and 200 hours of unpaid work in October. It is not clear whether the order was made.

The shocking findings first reported by the Observer, highlights systemic failings of courts to impose the orders and of prosecutors to request them. 

The Crown Prosecution Service said more action needs to be taken to ‘stop perpetrators retaining these images and continuing to take gratification from their crimes’. 

In one case earlier this month, a 35-year-old man from Swansea was rebuked by magistrates court for ‘deeply disturbing’ behaviour ‘designed to emotionally blackmail and control’ his victim.

He was given a rehabilitation order, six-month suspended sentence and a three year restraining order, but no deprivation order, meaning the police had no legal power to retain and wipe his device.

The three cases where prosecutors did request deprivation orders included one in Bromley, southeast London, one in Hull, and another in Chester

In a similar vain, a 32-year-old man from Crawley, West Sussex, was jailed for 26 weeks and given a restraining order until 2029 for sharing private sexual photos of his ex girlfriend – but no deprivation order.

Elena Michael, from the campaign group #NotYourPorn said allowing perpetrators to keep images and their devices meant they were being ‘handed back the weapon’ they used to commit their crime with.

She said the group worked with 450 victims and found the approach to the issue to be inconsistent.

The inconsistencies are revealed as the government prepares to introduce its new crime and policing bill to parliament, which seeks to tighten the law on sharing intimate images without consent.